Planning Electronic Health Record Implementation, Research Paper Example

An electronic health record (EHR) implementation plan is an extensive record of methods and techniques utilized by a medical care business when planning for and carrying out the adoption of an electronic-based health care system. The format and written content of an EHR implementation strategy will be different based on the specifications and needs of the organization, but it most generally includes information about software application and computer hardware upgrades , anticipated time frames , selected ways of guidance in addition to the adoption , price estimations , availability of work and obligations and workflow improvements , among other elements . The purpose is to present a specific and structured implementation program that should address the inadequate decision by WMS board to choose outside vendor without including the LWMC Hospital facility IT staff.

Problem

LWMC Hospital has been very effective in its IT efforts in an EHR environment. It was the first hospital in its region to have a clinical information system. The WMS board understood the magnitude of a quality EHR system. WMS board was being protective of the hospitals confidential information while making sure that the patient’s information was protected based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). WMS board has decided to pursue a new EHR system without the adhering to the hospitals technical implementation team and Director. According to Silow-Carroll, Edwards, and Rodin (2012),” Successful implementation depended on: strong leadership, full involvement of clinical staff in design and implementation, mandatory staff training, and strict adherence to timeline and budget” (pg.1). The results will be catastrophic because the hospital needs a solid EHR application environment that will communicate healthcare information to all the hospital departments. If an outside vendors is chosen to complete the EHR implementation the mistake will be costly. The hospital will be unorganized without the assistance of the internal technical department; the implementation will be painful and costly. The expected timeframes for implementation will miss targeted deliverables, which the internal technical team has to learn the new software and hardware because they can roll out to hospital population. The goal is to provide a specific and organized plan of attack in order to account for the many decisions and factors that contribute to an EHR upgrade.

Organizational Environment

The WMS has not taken into consideration the hospital environment that the vendors will have to learn before successful installing and implementing a new EHR system. The vendors will encounter organizational confusion because any kind of computer system change without the appropriate training will aggravate the workers, healthcare practitioners, and EHR internal technology departments. Additionally, the WMS must take into consideration the workflow changes while the hospital is still attempting to access patient’s medical records, patient scheduling, or patients current or historical diagnosis. The vendors will not have the knowledge about supporting the WMS with daily operational needs, thus, it is very important incorporate the internal technology team who has the diverse experience with implementing the EHR in a clinical hospital environment.

Challenge
The major challenge will be the vendor deciding which clinical components that should be integrated within the EHR system because they are numerous functions that the healthcare facility might or might not utilize. The vendors will not have crucial knowledge of the type of health data would need to include in the software program and computer hardware including what type’s firewalls that will safeguard the EHR system. The vendors are unfamiliar with the demands and needs of the clinicians that devote a sizable part of their day accessing and entering healthcare data into the system.

Exemplar System

The needs of the healthcare facility, WMS board and the healthcare practitioners are a simple to set up EHR system. A strong system, which is internet, based will certainly easier for the outside service provider to work with the internal IT team to rollout the new EHR computer software and computer hardware. The MediTouch system can make it very simple for all the clinical participants to adjust to the MediTouch program. The MediTouch EHR is robust healthcare system that is Internet based that utilizes innovative interactive touchscreen technology. The MediTouch EHR offers clinicians additional capabilities such as storage of historically medical data, medical charting with ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis, electronic prescribing, hospital lab tests and excellent document management. Todays , hospital require versatility using Windows or Mac ,IPad tablets , ERx for prescriptions , and no servers which this system may also be designed to fulfill the needs of any stakeholder using touchscreen technological innovation .

Rationale

The most significant reason behind choice the EHR MediTouch is primarily that the internet-based system was developed for medical center employees such as the clinicians. The clinicians are the stakeholders that invest the majority of their valuable time supplying the direct care to people. The simplicity of MediTouch program would assist the clinicians with spend much more time with communicating with the patient, rather than wasting too much time learning how to operation the EHR system. The rational is MediTouch can help the healthcare facility sustained the exact same quality of care. One the primary obstacles to EHR implementation are documentation. This system flawless controls, delivers and allow access for the entire hospital staff, which improve patients treatment and outcomes.

System Description

The HealthFusion EHR health system is one the easiest platforms to managed in a hospital setting. Many hospitals spend thousands on systems with a Unisys platform along with difficult updates to the system. However, the HealthFusion is Internet based which does not involved long drawn out process that involves hardware installing. The HealthFusion software does not require the IT department to install or maintain the software. The employee simply logs on from their desktop using Windows or Apple computers.

Stakeholders

The EHR Implementation procedure will need to include the healthcare facility stakeholders because they will be the participants that are utilizing the EHR system on a daily basis. The EMS board should really take into serious consideration that the readiness stage of the EHR Implementation should always include all the stakeholders. The hospital readiness evaluation team should include stakeholders because the guide the organization conforms to the new EHR workflow processing. In order for the vender to have great results, they much include stakeholders from diverse jobs within the organization. The vendors much maximize the hospitals clinical expertise while promoting a company buy-in. The stakeholders include the medical staff : medical doctor , nurses , physician assistants , health care assistants , Professional staff : Chief Information Officer IT , Chief Executive Officer , administrators and directors , healthcare facility staff : medical records , billing , scheduling , nurses and IT personnel . The healthcare facility will be making a grave blunder, if the stakeholders were not included in the EHR implementation process. As a result, EHR implementation stage will never be thorough enough to discover all the primary obstacles with the electronic health record (EHR) implementation.

HCI Aspects

The hospital Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has to be taken into consideration, which have been in this case the inclusion, planning, and layout of the communication between the hospital uses and the EHR computers/software. The vendors must consider the healthcare facility end users. The instruction will be a tremendous part of the implementation because they will need to understand a completely new system. The employees will need time to adapt to the new EHR system while still provide quality care to patients so the time management strategies will be crucial. The vendors and IT team must be available 24/7 to fulfill the needs of the hospital staff.

Alignment With Policies And Standards Related Issues

The brand new EHR product has to be in parallel with the existing healthcare facility polices and specifications to make sure the patients information are secure and safe. The implementation evaluation should incorporate the effect of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which requires healthcare facility to safeguard patient’s healthcare data. According to Powalisz( 2012 ) ,”The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ) of 1996 , enforced by the Office of Civil Rights , protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information”( pg .1 )

Benefits and risks

The MediTouch is a superb EHR system for the healthcare facility mainly because it saves the facility valuable time and strengthens workflows with ease of usage. There is certainly significant relationship in the risk and benefits in establishing and developing new EHR systems. The most important advantage is the healthcare facility clinical staff’s has an improved workflows and time management tools that allows for high quality patient care. There are several attributes of the HealthFusion system is price ranges because the MediTouch HER is the ability to pay for the service on a month-to-month based with membership. The hospital regular monthly membership charges incorporate all support services and training programs solutions. The HealthFusion employees are not aboard because all the customer service support is domestically located in the United States. The customer service team will and can respond 24/4 very quickly, thus the hospital IT staff is not overpowered with the training of a new EHR product.

Financial Issues
The WMS board has to be well prepared for the monetary commitment to implement a new EHR system. The EHR implementation demands a sizable investment averaging several million dollars. The vendors will be expensive because they will spend numerous hours implementing a system without the contribution of the hospital IT team that will delay the EHR implementation. The extra hours necessary for implementation could be staggering. The financial forecast is straightforward; the hospital could lose millions because of substandard strategic planning of the EHR implementation.

References

Healthfusion (2013). MediTouch EHR Electronic Health Record Software. Retrieved from http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/healthfusion-meditouch-profile/?layout=var_h

Powalisz,J.(2012,April,25). HIPAA. Retrieved from http://ehrintelligence.com/glossary/what-is-hipaa/

Silow-Carroll,S,Edwards,J.N. & Rodin,D.(2012). Using electronic health records to improve quality and efficiency: The experiences of leading hospital. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org_using_EHRs_improve_quality.pdf