Challenges & Forces Driving the Adoption of EHR/EMR

In this fourth of many segments on Electronic Healthcare records, being sponsored by Physicians Office Resource, we will look at the challenges and forces that are impacting Physicians today.  As you begin to enter the technology market place of an Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) there will be many things that you will want to consider.  Some of your choices will have very positive impacts and benefits and some of your choices can and will impact your future negatively if not thought out carefully.  In this issue, as well as issues to come, we will give you the tools to make your EHR choice a positive improvement to your practice.

E. Post Go-Live

Post Go-Live Assessment is necessary: Now that the EHR has been implemented, many practices feel as though the installation is complete. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Practice administrators must continue to assess the staffs’ level of frustration, monitor productivity, measure patient cycle times, re-evaluate workflows, assess learning curve, and determine whether the EHR is meeting the established goals.

Evaluate the Go-Live with Staff: Query the staff regarding the go-live process. Get their feedback as to what was helpful and what was lacking. This information can help with future implementations especially if new modules are to be introduced in the near future.

Best Practices continued

Provide on-Going training and support: Practice administrators should continue to offer training sessions well after the go-live for reinforcement and refreshment. Staff usually cannot absorb all the information given during the initial training sessions, and therefore follow-up training sessions should be offered. 

When it comes to clinical and operational transformation, healthcare organizations need to identify best practice solutions to various operational workflow issues and clinical concerns.  To assist practices, we have come up with numerous questions and best practice alternative solutions that practices should consider before beginning the implementation process.  

How do you determine if your new EHR has improved clinical charge capture?

What types of end-user workstations are best for your staff and for the physicians?

With numerous implementation options, which option is best for your practice?

What patient demographics, billing, and clinical data do you want to import from your current electronic systems?

What patient demographics, billing, and clinical data do you want to import from your current paper systems?

What data and customizations do you need for the Physician Dashboard template?

What data and customizations do you need for the Patient’s Summary Page?

What data and customizations do you need for the individual clinical templates?

What data and customizations do you need for Health Maintenance alerts and P4P reporting and tracking?

What are the benefits of using an e-Patient Portal and are the benefits worth the costs?

How will the new system affect Patient Appointment Scheduling and are there new workflow techniques that can improve appointment time compliance?

How will the new system affect Patient Registration and would an e-registration program reduce costs and improve data capture?

How will the new system affect Patient Eligibility Checking via batch and real-time transactions?

Given the selected EHR product, will you need to change the check-in and check-out processes? 

Given the selected EHR product, will you need to change the payment collection process?

Given the new automated workflow processes, how would you like to handle Release of Information reporting? 

Given the new automated workflow processes, how would you like to handle Incoming phone calls, tracking, and auto routing of calls? 

Given the new EHR product, how will changes in technique in capturing Family History, Social History, Current Medications and other data affect workflow and clinical data capture?

Given the new EHR product, who and how will ROS and HPI data be captured?  Pre-captured and populated by the patient, the nurse/MA, or by the physician?

Given the new automated workflow processes, how would you like to handle Lab ordering, tracking, and Results reporting ?

How will the new system affect your Physician Documentation Processes?

How will the new system affect your Physician ePrescribing processes and will you need to change your processes now that you have automated tracking of formulary compliance, drug alerts, and eRX transmissions?

How do you want to handle automated updating of patient-specific eRX medication profiles based on community physician’s eRX orders?  

What modifications are necessary to use the EHR’s patient education modules?

What modifications are necessary to use the EHR’s patient take-home clinical note?

What modifications are necessary to use the EHR’s referral letter format?

How will the new system affect patient Check-out?

How will changes in the new system affect Patient Statement processing along with Insurance claims processing and follow-up?

What type of reports need to be set up in order to meet all of your reporting requirements?

Every practice must consider best practices and recommendations towards “clinical and operational” transformation.   They assume that the vendor will implement and train, but practices want and need someone to help design the system, policies, and procedures around best practices.  

In our next issue we will discuss connecting Medical Devices to your EMR.