CEO Resigns Amid Troubled Cerner EHR Rollout

'Aggressive' [Cerner] EHR rollout and myriad staff concerns at center

A system-wide EHR rollout is no walk in the park. With poor management and implementation plans, it can sap worker morale and deter long-term success. This appears to be what has transpired this week at the Athens Regional Health System in Georgia after staff unanimously voted "no confidence" for the system's CEO, who has effectively announced his resignation.

Staff and clinicians of the health system had reportedly expressed several concerns over the "aggressive" rollout of its Cerner electronic health record system, which started beginning of May, according to a report in the Banner-Herald. The report cited a letter sent to CEO James Thaw, signed by more than a dozen clinicians, recounting cases of medication errors, misplaced orders, "emergency department patients leaving after long waits; and of an inpatient who wasn't seen by a physician for (five) days."...