Plan ahead for success
The debate surrounding the Meaningful Use program wages on with several organizations responding to six Republican senators who called for a reboot of the program. Meanwhile, other providers continue to share their advice for successful implementation of an EHR system.
For example, Larry Garber, MD, medical director for informatics, Reliant Medical Group, based in Worcester, Mass., recommended a focus on the end game to get quality, safety and efficiency improvements from your EHR, speaking during the Institute for Health Technology Transformation’s Boston Health IT Summit.
“Successful health IT implementations need to provide value, fit into real-world workflows, and earn the trust of the stakeholders,” he said.
To determine the potential value of an EHR system, Reliant held 17 site meetings to find out how practices could be improved. They came up with 127 issues with paper-based records, 100 benefits of an EHR and 140 functional requirements for an EHR. The management team enumerated financial benefits. It’s very important to align incentives, Garber said. “Everybody has to be winning” for this to work. For example, they offered food and beverages at all training sessions as well as continuing education credits. They also offered physicians financial compensation for the anticipated drop in productivity during the go live.
Garber also strongly recommended frequently communicating the benefits of EHRs to all users and stakeholders. “When the road gets bumpy—and it will get bumpy—remind them why we’re doing this.”
A solid plan for weathering that bumpy road should provide a defense against the need to replace your EHR system. According to a three-year study conducted by Software Advice, the number of buyers who purchased new EHRs to replace their current EHRs increased by almost 50 percent—from 21 percent to 31 percent between 2010 and 2013.
The company collected and analyzed data on thousands of practices looking to purchase medical software, partly to determine the impact the HITECH Act has had on EHR demand.
How has the HITECH Act impacted your organization? Please share your thoughts and experiences.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.