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The DocEHRtalk site has not been as active as we would like.  At a RIQI commmittee meeting this evening the topic came up - why are folks not participating in this site more?   The most salient answer was that we are too busy - patient care, administrative functions, meetings, etc - oh yeah, and some semblance of a personal life - family, liesure and such.  When would one have time to post questions/answers on yet another forum/site? 

In my opinion you get out of it what you put in (plus or minus some correction factor tied into the health care bill).  Participating can give you a warm fuzzy feeling if you have an idea that others can learn from - a pat on the back with the recognition that you contributed something to the community.  However, through participation one generally learns something, reads ideas, points of view, approaches one would not have thought about - to help improve your own work/practice/situation. 

I have a very detailed working knowledge of the EMR that I use, and I participate in an online forum dedicated to that EMR.  Participating in that forum was a huge advantage as I was implementing the EMR in my practice and still provides a source for ideas to help improve the efficiencies/effective use of the product five years later.  Health IT is a moving target - as soon as you feel comfortable with the level of expertise you have accomplished another layer of functionality comes before you - new features to master.  Many providers like to take what they have and be content, "I'm using the EMR, now leave me alone".  It is interesting to hear how many providers don't upgrade as new features are developed, they just stick with what they have, what they are used to using.  New features are created for a reason - they improve functionality and help create more efficiencies, better reporting, leading to "meaningful use".  Meaningful use is critical - yes there is funding if you demonstrate it, but it also signifies that you are using a system in a manner that will allow you to improve the health of your patient population - and tie that data into the HIE.  So no, we can't leave you alone, we need to continue to advance ourselves in our use of health IT until we reach a level of competence that will bring the U.S. to the forefront of medicine in the world - where it belongs.  

Back to the point - it doesn't matter what EMR system you sign up for, there is a wealth of information that every provider needs to understand and master in relation to an electronic medical office.  Which button does what and which screen shows which data is not relevant to the big picture - the purpose of the DocEHRtalk site.  My understanding of the site is to provide a site where any provider can go for information - throw a question or idea around - concepts they need help with, workflow issues, office practice issues in relation to EMR implementation and use, etc.  When I implemented the EMR I created hundreds of documents in relation to policies, procedures, workflow, etc that were not EMR vendor specific.  When we entered a PCMH pilot project in 2009 I created a ton of documents to help organize the project, again not EMR vendor specific.  Yes, there are certainly just as many EMR vendor specific documents and guidelines to assist us in running our practice, but there are so many general concepts that we can share and learn from each other that it would be a shame if we did not embrace this site as a resource for the R.I. provider community. 

Enough said.  If you were patient enough to read to this point, thank you for your attention, sorry to tie you up for so long from your work/personal life - the things that don't allow you to spend time in discussions like this. :)