Today’s big news is that the iPhone will soon be available on the Verizon network, and Verizon was quick to reassure potential customers that its 3G network is ready for the onslaught of new iPhone users. The chart pictured above shows the impact of the iPhone 3G on the AT&T network (source), an impact that was not anticipated by AT&T (as anyone with an AT&T iPhone can surely attest).
The reason I bring this up is simply to point out that when a product like the iPhone comes along, a product which helps users do not only the things they need to do but also the things they hadn’t yet realized they wanted to do, the adoption rate (and usage rate) of that product can exceed even the wildest expectations of industry observers. People who didn’t even think they wanted a smartphone were enticed into buying (and then exhaustively using) an iPhone. Not convinced, but enticed–an important distinction. The iPhone didn’t rely on marketing gimmicks or slick salespeople–its compelling user experience sold itself. This is what I mean by the “iPhone effect.”
\0xFEFFContrast that with the state of healthcare IT, where policymakers–frustrated with the slow adoption of EHRs–have resorted to paying health care practices (via HITECH incentives) to use EHRs. While the adoption curve is certainly moving in the right direction, I believe the best way to increase the rate of EHR adoption is to leverage the iPhone effect. Make life easier and more enjoyable for clinicians through an EHR that is intuitive, useful, and engaging, and the EHR experience will sell itself.
