It's one thing for a large hospital with a fully-staffed IT department to complete EHR implementation, but quite another for a single-physician practice to do so. While these providers may face challenges larger organizations do not, experts say that these difficulties are far from insurmountable.

Speaking at the Rhode Island Quality Institute's Health IT Expo on December 8, pediatrician Chad Nevola said that he was once very nervous about the hurdles to EHR implementation facing his small practice, Cardiovascular Business reports. In particular, he was concerned with disrupting his practice's workflow.

However, he said that once he moved past this fear, EHR implementation actually went much easier than he assumed it would. He said that simply changing one's mindset and looking at the benefits of health IT rather than the challenges it presents leads to smoother adoption.

"It's difficult for us to change the way we think, the way we behave and the way we document, but it's that mindset," he said, according to the news source. "Once you put your mind to it, it's not that difficult."

A recent article in Family Practice Magazine pointed out that by setting up a qualified team, planning a transition and selecting the right EHR vendor, implementation can go much more smoothly for smaller practices.