A RevenueXL Article
Are you on the path to Guaranteed Failure in
Implementing an EMR Solution?
(Part 1)
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Are you on the path to Guaranteed Failure in
Implementing an EMR Solution?
This is Part 1 of our series focusing on EMR Implementation Project Management.
We have witnessed more than our fair share of EMR implementation failures across the country. Our goal with this offering is to help you identify some key issues that will help make this implementation process as flawless as possible. We don't want you to succumb to the same unfortunate fate as so many others have experienced. The reasons for failure are legion, and very few practices are fully aware of what is necessary to avoid these pitfalls.
The vendor with whom you end up working invariably includes Project Management as an integral part of the total cost of implementing the EMR and the Practice is led to believe that their implementation is in safe hands. But the unfortunate fact is the vendors trivialize the tasks that a Practice needs to complete at its end in order to successfully implement the EMR solution. Don't put your practice at risk by believing your EMR implementation is in safe hands of vendor’s Project Manager, when there may be nothing farther from the truth.
Here are 5 most common Project Management mistakes committed by practices that are on a path of failed EMR implementation.
1. Don’t adopt a formal project management process
Adopting a formal project management process involving use of a detailed project plan (use of a tool like Microsoft Project), issues management and periodic meetings, which are documented with action items clearly assigned to key personnel. If you do not adopt a formal process, you will find that issues fall through the cracks and critical dependencies will not be met, which will result in delays and worse, failed implementation.
2. Constitute an imbalanced implementation team
Implementation of an EMR encompasses pretty much all the aspects of running a
Practice and therefore requires constitution of a EMR project team that includes a Project Manager, a technical resource, one or more Clinical resources (depending on the number of clinical areas), Manager or Supervisor of the Medical Records, and a senior
representative from the business office which handles medical claims, payments and accounts receivables. Each of these areas must be represented on the team to ensure that nothing is left to chance and your Practice continues to run like a well-oiled machine.
3. Don’t customize workflow and procedures from EMR perspective
Implementing an EMR in your office will change the way that information is recorded, used and accessed in your Practice from initial patient call to office visit and required follow-up visits.
EMR solutions allow a number of clinical and non-clinical staff to collaboratively and efficiently work on addressing a patient’s needs. Instantaneous access to medical records provides tremendous optimization opportunities in a Practice hitherto not available. Similarly lab interfaces, fax server solutions (inbound and outbound), patient portals, etc. increase the information velocity which potentially has an impact on the mode of
providing services to customers. Optimization along all these parameters will make your operations more efficient. You will need to consider the features available in your chosen EMR Software and the impact they will have on the processes in your Practice.
Areas to be covered include phone-triage, check-in, initial intake, lab, check-out, billing, recall, etc.
Developing workflow and procedures is analogous to developing a blueprint on a
construction project. Imagine the consequences of trying to construct a building without a detailed blueprint! Do not depend on the vendor for guidance in creating an efficient workflow solution that fits your Practice. You know your current workflow best and are ideally suited to design the new and optimized workflow and processes.
4. Don’t identify technology requirements, preferences, and availability
EMR implementation triggers infusion of new and upgraded technology in a Practice. It includes servers, workstations, laptops, tablet PCs, scanners, fax servers, switches, routers, and other peripherals to support utilization of your EMR Software which will ultimately reduce your cost of operations. You have to assess the role played by the user and the interface options provided by the device before deciding on what technology is suitable for that user. Also note that the revised workflow would be an input into any decision making as far as technology options are concerned.
Communication bandwidth is also an important consideration depending on the number of concurrent users and use of images in the Practice.
Some of the key factors that affect the technology base include the procurement lead time, compatibility between different components and implementation plan. Even after the installation is completed, you must provide for enough time to test the connectivity between different components since sequence of installation can sometimes cause for some working components to suddenly stop working due to software configuration issues. In a way, a dry run of sort would be crucial to ensure that all technology components are working in consort.
5. Do not work out a solid data conversion strategy
When you implement a new Practice Management system, you have a way to either manually or electronically convert over the data from your old system into your new system. However, implementation of EMR Software is in a league of its own since there is no standard or defined way of ‘moving’ over existing medical records (which might comprise of paper charts, transcripts, lab reports, data and images held in medical diagnostic devices, etc.) into your new EMR solution.
You have to carefully consider each piece of medical record and the feasibility and use of migrating that information into your EMR. Just because there is a way to move over the information does not mean that it will be useful to you in the long run. You might decide on a cut-off in terms when was the patient last seen at your Clinic.
You also have to consider the need to convert the demographic and appointment information depending on the interface that the EMR Software offers with the Practice Management System. Is the interface proven to work with your kind of workflow or can it be tweaked easily to provide bi-directional updates to key pieces of demographic and appointment information?
Hope this provides you with insights into the kind of issues that you need to be thinking about if you want your EMR implementation to be successful. We will continue to provide more inputs in subsequent parts of this valuable series on EMR implementation. If there is any area that is more important to you, feel free to drop an email to [email protected].
RevenueXL Inc. provides Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Services and Medical Software including, EMR Software or Electronic Medical Records (EMR) aka Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management, and Medical Billing software and systems. When our EMR Software solutions are combined with our fully integrated Medical Billing solutions, our clients optimize their revenue cycle and significantly reduce operating costs, accelerate cash-flow, and increase net revenues. For more information, please visit www.revenuexl.com.
