Health IT, Hospitals

NYC hospital CMIO quits over EHR implementation, cites Challenger report

The ex-CMIO of two New York City public hospitals so hated the way the city's health department was rolling out an EHR system that he quoted the official report of the 1986 Challenger disaster in his resignation letter.

By Neil Versel on March 16, 2016 5:37 pm

electronic medical records as disease alert systems

The ex-CMIO of two New York City public hospitals so hated the way the city’s health department was rolling out an electronic health records system that he quoted the official report of the 1986 Challenger disaster in his resignation letter. He warned of safety issues if the arbitrary EHR implementation deadline didn’t get pushed back.

“For a successful technology, ­reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled,” Dr. Charles Perry wrote to colleagues at NYC Health + Hospitals, according to an article in the New York Post. That comes verbatim from the official report of the Rogers Commission, which investigated the fatal explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

Perry, who was CMIO at Queens Hospital Center and Elmhurst Hospital Center, both in Queens, made the comparison to warn that the April 1 organizational deadline to turn on the Epic Systems EHR was too rushed. Queens and Elmhurst are scheduled to be the first two NYC Health + Hospitals — formerly known as New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. — facilities to go live with the $764 million implementation.

He urged an “external review” to make sure the technology would be safe to use, the Post reported.

Perry said that his bosses chose April 1 purely for financial reasons, without regard to usability or patient safety. He said he had to put up with “vehement entreaties to make the April 1st date by officials and consultants with jobs and paydays on the line.”

According to the Post, NYC Health + Hospitals President Dr. Ramanathan Raju “has repeatedly told colleagues his job is on the line if the deadline isn’t met.”

Raju declined to comment for the story, but a spokeswoman for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was quoted as saying, “The idea that we’d jeopardize patients to meet a deadline is simply wrong.” The spokeswoman told the Post that the implementation would halt if there were any issues with patient safety.

Photo: Flickr user Elvert Barnes