Tips for Transitioning to a New Electronic Health Record System

J Adv Pract Oncol 2012;3:330–332 The dreaded memo came on a Friday afternoon (as dreaded memos often seem to do). It read: “You must sign up for training for the change from Cerner to the Epic System.” Insert any vendor’s name in place of either of these two electronic health record (EHR) systems,1 and the feeling of dread it brings on is the same. My first question was “Why?” The current system seemed to be working just fine. One of the answers to that question is “financial incentive.” The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocates as much as $27 billion over 10 years to support the adoption of EHRs.