Physician advocates key for achieving MU

One of the greatest boons on the journey toward achieving meaningful use is having physicians champion health IT, according to Greg Ator, MD, chief medical informatics officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, an academic medical center based in Kansas City. Ator told Healthcare IT News the hospital pays 20 physicians to be physician informaticists, assisting their peers through the entire health IT transition. "It's a journey," Ator said, noting that change takes place with doctor-to-doctor interaction, with some physicians embracing HIT adoption right away and others pushing back at first. According to Ator, the hospital has paid for the physician informaticists to take short courses on healthcare IT. "We're trying to get them beyond 'I like EMRs and I can support their use,' to being aware of the informatics concepts involved," he said.