This study examined the impact that an electronic health record (EHR) system has on a pediatric practice by examining physician productivity over a 10-year period. Through a common metric of physician productivity, the relative value unit (RVU), the researcher evaluated changes in RVUs generated for each of 20 physicians who used the EHR for the entire 10-year period and compared the values to a benchmark year before the EHR was implemented. In addition, the researcher conducted in-person, in-depth interviews with each of the 20 physicians to gain insights into what each of them considered to be the benefits and challenges associated with using the EHR in the practice. The researcher evaluated the transcripts from the interviews to find themes and ultimately identified the top five themes and top five challenges associated with the use of an EHR system.

The top five benefits and top five challenges as well as the productivity information can be used by practices and administrators who may still be evaluating the adoption of an EHR system or who may be trying to understand the impact of their own implementation. The results of the study support much of the literature in so much that the implementation of an EHR did inhibit some physician productivity though not to the extent described in some of the studies. Despite the decline in productivity, the overall benefits described by the physicians from the in-person interviews outweighed the challenges indicating that the physicians may find the system to be of value.