LAKE WORTH, FL – The 2008 HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence recognized three practices in its ambulatory category for their achievements using electronic health records.

Palm Beach Obstetrics & Gynecology PA, Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia, and the Oklahoma Arthritis Center, P.C. stood out to the judges among the 20 applications that were submitted for this category, said David A. Collins, director, Healthcare Information Systems, HIMSS.

Palm Beach Obstetrics & Gynecology, a four-physician practice in Lake Worth, Fla., implemented an EHR from Carrolton, Ga.-based Greenway Medical Technologies in 2006.

Collins said Palm Beach stood out to because of the leadership of Samuel Lederman, MD, managing partner of the practice.

“Samuel Lederman is a champion and believer in health information technology,” said Collins. ““The vision, leadership and dedication that the practice had was what Palm Beach really had going for them.” 

Lederman said thanks to a computer science major in college he had the necessary skill set for choosing an EHR that would work for the practice.

Collins also recognized Lederman’s role in converting people over to using the technology, which he said is a huge hurdle to overcome.

“First we had to get everyone to buy into to this idea. You can’t have resistance,” Lederman said. “Participation is the key.”
Lederman said he and his colleagues learned three lessons during the implementation.

1. Hold daily meetings that tackle one or two problems people are experiencing and try to solve them.
2. Hold weekly meetings with staff to allow them to vent and talk about their frustrations.
3. Create deadlines to prevent stall out during implementation.

Creating deadlines was scary for providers at first, says Lederman but when they were met on time trust was created. 

“Try not to stall out,” he warns. “You should implement all the functions because that last 20 percent of the program can give you a huge benefit.”

“An EMR system is like a desk with a thousand drawers: in order to master it, we have to memorize what is in each one of those drawers. Once that is done, the technology becomes less visible to the user, and they can get back to taking care of patients,” Lederman said.

Education and insight is absolutely key to getting technology implemented said Collins. He said the Davies Award provides an exceptional resource because it not only shows that these healthcare IT projects can be done but shows the path to make it happen.

“We are very proud and honored to have Palm Beach Obstetrics and Gynecology as a Greenway customer,” said Justin Barnes, vice president, marketing and government affairs, Greenway. “The practice is a testament to the benefits of EHR and HIT adoption, and we wish them continued success and growth.”

“You can’t afford not to do this, Lederman says to practices that have not yet converted to digital records. “You are losing money everyday by not doing this.