EHR In Health Care

As Alvin Conway once said, "Today is another valuable opportunity; not to alter the past, but to shape the future." Healthcare organizations preparing to install electronic health record (EHR) systems have an extraordinary opportunity to shape the financial future of their enterprises and provide patients valuable tools to improve outcomes.

The key to adding a system that best serves your patients and your health facility is to intentionally plan implementation based on best practices. Depending on the size of your organization, comparing systems and technology may take several weeks, or even months. Large hospital networks often spend years designing and implementing an EHR system due to the vast network of physicians, laboratories, third-party

While you can 't alter the past, you can learn from prior mistakes, and correct current issues that inhibit efficient throughput. Mapping your organization 's workflow-process and patient flow patterns provides valuable insight about what works well and which areas need improvement. This exercise will also allow administrators to identify processes and policies that may need to be modified to complement a value-based care delivery model and the vital role health IT and EHR implementation play in creating an organization-wide culture that facilitates value creation. Organizations that do not have sufficient human resources capable of dedicating 50-60 percent of their normal work hours toward process management may benefit from hiring a process management professional to assist with this phase, or discuss options with their EHR vendor.

Using Feedback to Improve Productivity

Query everyone who will interact with the new system, directly or indirectly. What looks like a "perfect plan" on paper may actually create more work or cause bottlenecks in the work flow. It is virtually impossible to create a system that everyone applauds 100 percent of the time; however, gaining insight about current challenges and asking for input on what would improve the processes in each department will help EHR design teams customize the system for your unique facility

Choose a System Designed for Your Organization

Avoid buying an out-of-the-box solution for your facility. Every EHR starts with some common features and system capabilities, but every organization has unique patient populations and care delivery protocol. A thriving orthopaedic practice requires different technology than an out-patient surgical clinic. Likewise, a five hundred bed hospital requires expanded storage and dashboard capabilities than a twenty-bed inpatient rehabilitation center. Adding an ideal system to your organization means deploying best-fit technology designed specifically for your facility. If your facility plans to participate in CMS EHR incentive programs, review the certification process before making a final decision about buying software, hardware and ancillary components.

Conclusion:

Organizations that invest time and financial resources to understand the unique needs of staff and patients position themselves to successfully rollout an EHR system. In fact, every step on the journey toward full EHR adoption from research through pre-launch testing is crucial to implementing technology solutions that will improve productivity, reduce operating costs and enable positive patient