Computerized physician order entry is among the most difficult IT projects for a hospital to undertake, and it's a task made even harder when there's a voluntary medical staff rather than legions of employed physicians. CIO Kara Marx at Methodist Hospital of Southern California understood this when the Arcadia, CA, facility began a multiyear rollout of an EMR. So the 460-bed community hospital conditioned its doctors for the transition to CPOE by first setting up a physician portal to provide remote access to the Eclipsys EMR.

"The theory was that if we were able to change some of their behavior ahead of time and identify barriers to use, then the future adoption of CPOE would be an easier affair," Marx, a registered nurse, writes in the current issue of Healthcare Informatics. Methodist installed a wireless network and set up a 24/7 help desk to help physicians through the portal, where they could view test results, images, any available electronic documentation and the hospital's protocols and paper-based order sets. This convenience demonstrated value to the medical staff as the IT department added incremental functionality and requirements.

"With our physicians comfortable with the portal, requiring them to sign deficiencies online became much less of a learning curve," Marx writes. "By leading with the portal, we now have an incredibly valuable, established technology relationship with the doctors."

For more on the Methodist experience:
- read Marx's Healthcare Informatics case study