JAMA Medical News
What Lessons Does the VA’s Experience Building Electronic Health Records Hold for AI?
Oct 8, 2024
Stephen Fihn, a former leader in the VA’s electronic health record initiatives and a professor at the University of Washington, shares invaluable insights from nearly four decades in the field. He discusses the VA's pioneering role in adopting EHRs, highlighting initial clinician resistance and strategies to enhance patient care. Fihn explores the evolution of AI in healthcare, emphasizing the importance of ongoing model recalibration amid challenges like data drift. He also outlines future opportunities for EHRs to streamline healthcare decisions and improve patient interactions.
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Quick takeaways
- The VA learned that while integrating clinical reminders into EHR systems can enhance patient care, misalignment with workflows can lead to provider frustration and alert fatigue.
- The potential of leveraging EHR data for improved clinical decision-making underscores the need for validation of predictive models to avert issues like model drift.
Deep dives
The VA's Early Adoption of Technology
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was an early leader in integrating technology within healthcare, notably through the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs). This initiative stemmed from a pressing need to solve the problem of missing patient records, as paper records often could not be located. By leveraging affordable mini computers and innovative programming languages, the VA managed to create a standardized EHR system by the early 2000s, placing it ahead of many other healthcare systems. These advancements allowed the VA to develop clinical decision support tools, addressing issues like patient tracking and care coordination effectively.
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