A system-wide EHR rollout is no walk in the park. With poor management and implementation plans, it can sap worker morale and deter long-term success. This appears to be what has transpired late May at the Athens Regional Health System in Georgia after staff unanimously voted "no confidence" for the system's CEO, who subsequently announced his resignation. Just six days later, the CIO was next to be out the door. 

Staff and clinicians of the health system had reportedly expressed several concerns over the "aggressive" rollout of its Cerner electronic health record system, which started at the beginning of May, according to a report in the Banner-Herald. 

The report cited a letter sent to CEO James Thaw and CIO Gretchen Tegethoff signed by more than a dozen clinicians, recounting cases of medication errors, misplaced orders, "emergency department patients leaving after long waits; and of an inpatient who wasn't seen by a physician for (five) days."

Clinicians even cited cases of doctors dropping staff privileges at ARMC due to the troubled EHR rollout. 

Tammy Gilland, Athens Regional Foundation vice president, confirmed the concerns in a letter sent to foundation volunteers, provided to the Banner-Herald. Wrote Gilland in the letter, "The last three weeks have been very challenging for our physicians, nurses and staff," she said, referring to the May rollout. 

In a statement to Healthcare IT News, James L. Moore, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Athens Regional, said Thaw's resignation was "not directly related to the EHR rollout."

In terms of what the health system is now doing to allay myriad staff concerns and address the "aggressive" EHR implementation, Moore said, "The staff, physicians, nurses, technicians, board, leadership and Cerner specialists are working together every day to address, prevent, anticipate and correct deficiencies with the EHR implementation and IT conversion."

Added Moore, "We will not let anything undermine the care our patients and staff expect and deserve better."

Thaw came to ARMC in 2011 from serving as CEO at Broward General Medical Center.  

Tegethoff came to ARMC in 2012 after serving as CIO at the George Washington University Hospital for some seven years. By then, the health system had already attested to Stage 1 of meaningful use.

Back in 2012, when asked how ARMC staff was doing with the meaningful use transition, Tegethoff told Billian's HealthDATA, "I think some in management and in IT may have a difficult time embracing this transition, especially with regard to selecting and implementing certified systems in specific timeframes."