Case Study: Emory Healthcare cuts EHR clicks and reduces after‑hours charting time by 36% with Cerner's Dynamic Documentation

Optimal physician experience, optimal patient experience, optimal health and care

Emory Healthcare, a major Atlanta-based health system, faced rising physician workload and mounting frustration with EHR inefficiencies ahead of the ICD-10 transition. Clinicians were spending excessive time on duplicative tasks, navigating non‑specialty views, and finishing charts from home, prompting a systemwide physician optimization initiative across more than 80 outpatient sites and four hospitals.

Working with Cerner, Emory built 37 specialty workflows, rolled out Dynamic Documentation with voice recognition, and tracked targeted metrics (including “Pajama Time”). The changes removed up to one‑third of ambulatory clicks and cut time spent finishing charts outside clinic hours by 36%. Adoption and efficiency gains followed: 71% of physicians adopted Dynamic Documentation, order entry rose 74%, transcription use fell 29%, and clinician satisfaction and workflow efficiency improved.

Emory Healthcare

Julie Hollberg

Chief Medical Information Officer