A hospital system in Maine is having trouble retaining staff members—and its electronic medical records (EMR) system is partially to blame.
According to a report by the Portland Press Herald, about 80 of Central Maine Healthcare’s 300 doctors have left within the last fiscal year. Current and former staff members cited the hospital system’s administration, financial troubles and increasing workloads as ongoing issues, according to the report.
Due to staff cuts, some employees’ saw their workload tripled or quadrupled, which negatively impacted the amount of time doctors could spend with patients or transcribe notes. The hospital system’s new EMR system also took up a lot of time and was difficult for doctors to learn.
“For some of the physicians it was just one more thing that they just didn’t want to go through, the pain of learning a new electronic medical record,” David Tupponce, vice president of Central Maine Healthcare, said in the report. “And so they said, ‘You know what, I’d rather retire,’ or, ‘I’m going to go find somewhere else.’ Honestly, that did drive some of the turmoil.”
Recently, medical staff members at the healthcare system’s three hospitals issued votes of no confidence in Central Maine Healthcare CEO Jeff Brickman. Additionally, the hospital system’s most recent physician turnover rate was at 27.1 percent.
“Last week, the hospital system’s board of directors voted to change its bylaws to give doctors more of a say in how things are run while affirming its support of Brickman, whom it had hired two years ago to lead the financially troubled system. The day after that board vote, the president of the Bridgton and Rumford hospitals resigned,” the report said.
Danielle covers Clinical Innovation & Technology as a senior news writer for TriMed Media. Previously, she worked as a news reporter in northeast Missouri and earned a journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's also a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears and Bulls.