PORTLAND, MAINE – "What do you really hold dear to you that you want to preserve into the future as you transition to an electronic medical record?" That's the question consulting firm Innovation Partners International posed to Maine providers attending a regional extension center (REC) educational forum this week.

Bernard Mohr, a partner at the firm, said he grew up next to a farm with milking cows. The stools the farmers used to milk the cows were three-legged. He explained that they found that a stool with three legs was actually "much more stable on uneven ground than a four-legged stool."

The stool, Mohr said, is a metaphor for a different model for managing the transition to an EMR.

According to Mohr and Robert (Bob) Laliberte, who teaches the UNE Project Management Program and is also a partner at Innovation Partners International, the three legs of the "stool" of an EMR implementation are: life-giving properties, hopes and aspirations and first steps. If you can identify those three components then you'll have a better chance at having a successful transition to your EMR, they said.

Mohr and Laliberte asked the 30 providers in attendance to pair up in groups and identify the life-giving properties or the core values that give their practices vitality and that, "if not retained during the transition to their EMR, would irreparably worsen the situation."

"Autonomy is important for me," said one doctor. "And feeling like I am doing something that matters – helping people. If I end up just playing with medical records that would be the pits for me." I don't want to spend more time with a machine than the people I am trying to help." 

Laliberte told attendees they had to think of an EMR as a possibility rather than a burden. He asked providers to think about "exciting possibilities" that the technology could bring to their practices.

Providers agreed that improved quality of care and patient satisfaction were at the top of the list. They also said it was important that providers have improved satisfaction as well.

"In the end, the most important thing is that you are making a difference for your patients, that is what it is all about," said one attendee.

The last question attendees had to answer was, "what is the smallest step you could take in the next week to start moving toward your desired future?"

Attendees said identifying their goals and visions for the technology as well as talking to other providers about their experience could be possible action items for them.

Remember, said Laliberte in closing: "the EMR is at the service of the patient."

The session was part of regional forum series being held by The Maine Regional Extension Center (MEREC), overseen by HealthInfoNet, and Quality Counts, a regional healthcare collaborative committed to improving health and healthcare for the people of Maine.