Strategic Plan For EHR

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that in order to realize meaningful use of the EHR technology, healthcare providers are obliged to apply the technology in a approach that enriches quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery; ebbs healthcare inconsistencies; involves patients and families; enriches care coordination; expands population and public health; and guarantees sufficient privacy and security guards for personal health information. (U.S Department of Health and

The SWOT analysis will focus on the organizations and their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Organizations will have to face challenges, but how they recover and cope with them is important. The SWOT implies that the implementation of EHR faces some challenges of improving the safety, cost, Lack of System Integration, and productivity of patient care. Legal compliance/regulations are still a problem facing the healthcare industry as they assure security of information. The investment in the EHR is a key area when addressing these concerns because of the access of healthcare supply chains increase in workflow and efficiency. Hence, the implementation of EHR requires a level of data within the system by a

The adoption of EHR has been slower than expected (Gans 1323). With numerous systems available, it is particularly difficult for a smaller practice to identify which system best meets its needs. Other notable challenges for some practices include assumption of the capital investment as well as managerial responsibilities associated with the IT infrastructure. A common implementation challenge encountered is the lack of a universal vision and definition of EHR. Since there are multiple interpretations of the definition of EHR and attendant requirements, identifying current and future needs is a complex process for potential users. Short term limited ability systems will eventually become obsolete as there is a move toward more global EHR systems. On June 18,

I would do my homework, and research the most popular EHR systems for the type of practice I was looking to implement it in.  By asking other professionals what they liked and disliked most about the EHR software they were using, I could narrow the field down considerably.  Once I had settled on the vendors whose products I was most interested in looking into purchasing, I would send each one an RFP (Request For Proposal) outlining my practice type, in addition to our available budget for the product and our practice needs and priorities.  It is recommended that these only be sent to vendors that are seriously being considered to supply their product because RFP’s require a good deal of effort to respond to.  They do allow the EHR customer to contrast and compare product features as they relate to their specific practice needs.

To better understand where my facilities progress is concerning EHR’s, I will first explain the six step process in implementing an EHR. In the first step, an organization must assess their preparedness to initiate an EHR. This includes their

Select or upgrade to a certified EHR by picking the right HE based plan depending on the needs and size of the facility

Hence, EHR 's are inherently complex amalgamations of diverse subsystems targeted toward varied users. The stakeholders are the users and must have a role in implementing any IT or EHR system into its work flow. An EHR can be customized to accommodate any environment depending on the level of expertise of the vendor and how long they have been in the business of creating an optimum system that 's customized to fit the organizations needs. For the most part, EHR 's must be designed for efficient, error free use. Ideally, an EHR is a system that encompass all the subsystems that make a hospital meet "meaningful use" criteria to acquire incentives for adopting EHR into practice. In the next five years, EHR adoption will no longer be a luxury, it will be a "MUST". EHR 's and other health information technology will be a necessity to practice medicine (econsultant.com, 2010). Rather than purchase several standalone systems, it would behoove one , in my opinion , to purchase an EHR that would satisfy all the needs of the stakeholders, the physician , nurses and other hospital staff and all parties involved in the tertiary practice too. Although LWMS 's budget is not large enough to accommodate the full cost of implementing an EHR,

Anita Ground also stresses on the huge importance of this planning stage by using a concept of system life cycle. It consists of feasibility study, analysis, design, programming, implementation, and lastly maintenance (Ground, 2011, VA TMS training material). The analysis phase in particular would coincide with what the author Yoshihashi is presenting in figuring out office strategy and researching EHR options. Identification of stakeholders and system requirement would play a critical role in EHR adoption (Ground, 2011). Stakeholders would include patients, family, clinicians, billing, registration, and coding as well as the external users such as Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Bottom line is that the new system being purchased would need to provide meaningful use to the clinic based on the current certification standards.

In the recent years, EHR implementation has been one of the biggest change that occurred in the health care delivery system. The adoption of EHR system which aims to improve the quality of healthcare, however, has met a lot of issues and barriers that are detrimental to its success. Thus, for any healthcare organization to achieve a favorable outcome after the EHR implementation, numerous factors have to be examined. Merrill (2010) has listed down the top ten factors for a successful EHR adoption. It includes right leadership, shared vision, right culture, governance, physicians, nurses and key stakeholders are engaged early and accountable to lead the clinical transformation, resources, clinical content standardization, realistic timelines and expectations, effective training and communication plan, and right vendor partnership relationship.

So much so that our political leaders and President Barack Obama have created a stimulus package called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Within this legislature, improvements to our healthcare industry and systems have been made with long-term financial savings in mind. As technology and uniformed data was becoming the standard in healthcare, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act has accelerated the speed. “The number of certified EHR vendors in the United States has increased from 605,6 to more than 10007 since mid-2008” (Sitting and Singh, 2012). Healthcare organizations now have no choice but to invest in a new

In efforts to reform the United States healthcare system and create a nationally unified data exchange system the federal government has established an incentive program to eligible professionals and hospitals. The federal government has turned to certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to help facilitate the process of broadening health IT infrastructures. The federal government views EHR system used in meaningful ways as the key to reforming the healthcare systems. Meaningful use of the EHR systems can also improve the overall quality of healthcare, insure patient safety, as well as reduce the cost of healthcare to individuals (Bigalke & Morris, 2010, p. 116).

Besides identifying the objectives required to qualify for meaningful use, we must also consider the Ambulatory care practice’s key goals of streamlining registration, billing and improving the patient record documentation process. The project team should diagram and process map the current as well as the new proposed work flow to determine their specific needs and define objectives. When considering an EHR vendor, it is suggested that the Ambulatory care practice be able to demo the product with specific scenarios applicable to the

Getting successful universal EHR is not just technology selection, implementation question it needs to address many other aspects such as physician’s acceptance, policy/laws, incentives, security, and privacy and training issues before we can concentrate or focus on technology selection and implementations. The ecosystem should be ready with all these critical elements addressed only then successful EHR implementation can sustain in US. First and foremost there is a need to have consistency around the state/federal and HIPPA regulations which defines security and privacy issues in US. Due to conflicting requirements in these regulations mass acceptance of any medical system/technology cannot be effectively done. Second biggest issue for universal EHR adoption is the acceptance of EHR by physician’s communities. The benefits of EHR has been identified and acknowledged by medical communities at large however the rate of adoption and use after implementation is sluggish. The biggest common contributor for implementation, design and use of EHR systems is physician. Physicians should be properly trained and emphasis on continual education should also be placed through continuing education credits. Unless small physician office (stand-alone offices) buy-in the adoption of EHR no matter what technology and processes we have in place, EHR won’t be universally accepted and the entire benefit and value associated with EHR can be realized with universal acceptance of EHR. Thus need for

Where all the representatives of each committee members and the boards are present and also participating other staff members as needed, I will provide the opportunity to express what made the physicians worry about implementation. I also encourage every individual to express their feeling and the way they think better than the proposed approval, if available. The opposed parties should express why they choose to ignore participating the important staff members like the CIO and IT professionals. I will encourage each group to expect that the meeting is to obtain the right solution for the problem happened. In addition, I commend all parties to have an equal perception of the system implementation rather than two separate ideas. Upon Conesus, we will continue the implementation of the EHR until the completion of the CPOE initiative because rather than waiting for the CPOE initiative, it is better consideration optimizing the performance of both systems. Hence, we will benefit from time management and effective performance of the systems. Either using the same vendor or searching for the new one has no significant effect in the implementation of the system, however, looking for a well-known vendor with various benefits such as vendor with a quality product, up-to-date, cost and the support they provide in implementation should be considered. If

Electronic health records (EHR’s) have many advantages, but there are plenty of disadvantages. EHR’s were created to manage the many aspects of healthcare information. Medical professionals use them daily and most would feel lost without it. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to adopt EHR’s in 2009 due to the fact that a bill passed known as The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). “The HITECH Act outlines criteria to achieve “meaningful use” of certified electronic records. These criteria must be met in order for providers to receive financial incentives to promote adoption of EHRs as an integral part of their daily practice”, (Conrad, Hanson, Hasenau & Stocker-Schneider, 2012).