HIMSS: Not all Stage 2 MU objectives are 'created equal'

NEW ORLEANS—To best prepare for Meaningful Use, attack the biggest and most complicated problems first, said Bruce Eckert, MBA, principal at consulting firm Beacon Partners, speaking during an educational session at the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual convention.

Out of the 20 objectives included in Stage 2, “not all are created equal. Some are harder but what those are for your particular organization will probably vary.”

Measures for computerized physician order entry (CPOE), for example, only increase, he said. “That really means that CPOE must be fully deployed. Partial strategies are not going to work anymore.”

Eckert suggested consolidating initiatives into one organized program. “A lot of projects proceed independently in isolated from others. Look for commonalities across these projects, Meaningful Use, ICD-10, accountable care and patient-centered medical homes all have clinical documentation improvement [CDI] embedded in them.” Design CDI projects that incorporate the requirements for all of these projects, he said.

Be proactive not reactive or inactive, Eckert to the audience. “You need plans to get through all of this.” However, traditional plans have a five-year timeline and aligned business strategy with IT. “I don’t think that model is going to be very helpful today. In just the next two years, ICD-10, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Meaningful Use will all be underway.”

The 2013 IT plan defines governance and has a strong process to “preserve focus and keep us on track.” Eckert suggested establishing a project management office, a steering committee and a process that requires IT projects to be approved by that body before they proceed. “Make sure you cross-populate project committees so you don’t end up with duplicate efforts. That’s a real risk on today’s environment.

The modern IT plan is tactical and action-oriented. It is focused on the common goals of safety, quality and efficiency and it is organized around commonalities across projects. Lastly, it encourages strong collaboration across the organization. “It may not seem we have time to plan but if we fail to plan, we plan to fail.”

Borrowing from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Eckert discussed the “sharpen-the-saw” step. “This habit sometimes suffers from the visual. The capacity to produce is ultimately what limits our results. Working harder or more isn’t necessarily the answer to getting better results. We need to expand our capacity to produce.”