Modern medicine has been revolutionized by the electronic health record (EHR). Electronic Medical Records are also useful to help you manage patient care and simplify your day. One study showed that EHR investments were recouped within ten months of implementation by primary care clinics. This is most likely why providers took advantage electronic processes.
How can you make sure your facility converts to these emr systems? This blog post will provide five strategies and tips to successfully implement EMR/EHR in your medical practice.
1. Form an Implementation Team
It is crucial to identify who will manage the implementation. Your team should also have three key players.
- Lead physician This physician oversees the system’s use and works with administrative and technical staff. Consider a tech-savvy physician as your lead physician to embrace new processes.
- Project manager – The project manager coordinates with vendors and other staff to keep stakeholders on track and monitors the progress of projects.
- Lead super user: This person will be the EHR expert. He must also be able design smart workflows and templates while responding quickly to problems.
2. Install the Software, Hardware and Network
Make sure your EHR is compliant with HIPPA security requirements. Work with your IT vendor to ensure that the software you use conforms to HIPAA requirements. Your EMR/EHR should also be compatible to your IT system and hardware in order to manage increased workloads. This will ensure that the system is as efficient and up-to-date as possible.
3. Data Transfer
Once the hardware, software, and network are all in place, it is time to transfer data. Important is the migration of your EHR records to the new EHR.
This step can be done in one of three ways:
- First, you should assign staff members to upload data into the EHR. It might be a good idea to hire a temporary staff member or an additional staff member in order to upload demographics as well as past medical, family, and medication history.
- A second step is to create a list of items that you will need to input into your EHR. This will ensure that no important information is left out.
- Calculate the average time it takes to transfer information. Staff can then set realistic completion dates for each patient and assign work accordingly.
These steps will help you ensure smooth implementation of your EMR/EHR.
4. Remove Adoption Barriers
Psychological barriers are often what prevent clinicians from moving to computers. Encouragement of interaction and dialogue encourages staff to come up with new ideas to adapt to the new system. The next step is to assess the hardware’s ability to support traffic and software.
Estimate your EHR implementation costs and set a budget
You have your team in place and you have your to-do-list. Now it’s time to ask: How much will it cost for an EHR to be implemented?
However, a budget that includes these factors will help to prevent unexpected costs from arising.
- Upgrades of hardware and networks
- Overtime for temporary and permanent employees
- Reduce productivity (some estimates suggest a drop of 50% in patient throughput).
- The consultation can be customized with the EHR vendor
- Training fees for vendors
- Consultation fees
- Backup and storage of data are often included in cloud EHR cost.
The average practice will spend $6,200 per user for their software.
What is EMR/EHR implementation?
To prepare and implement an EHR system, many healthcare organizations use an electronic record implementation plan. It can be difficult for a healthcare professional who has only worked with an older EMR/EHR or paper EMR to adapt to a new EMR/EHR. For easy implementation and adaptation, security and privacy are key. A thoughtful EMR/EHR implementation is also beneficial to all patients, staff, physicians, and other healthcare professionals.
WHAT ARE SOME ELECTRONIC HELTH RECORDS EHRS BEST PRACTICES?
These are the best Electronic Health Records practices for hospitals or medical groups:
- Integrate your EHR with employee workflows.
- Only train employees on features they will use.
- Identify potential EHR failure modes to prevent future problems.
- Get EHRs implemented with the assistance of experts