KEY STEPS FOR SUCCESSFUL ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS IMPLEMENTATION

Effectively implement EMR systems with minimal disruption

Electronic medical records (EMR) systems handle everything from documenting patient data and scheduling appointments to filling prescriptions and verifying insurance. Unlike older systems and their paper-filled files and folders, you can do all this and more on a medical-grade computer or tablet.

Today’s post covers the benefits of implementing an EMR system throughout your medical group or organization. We provide stages of EMR implementation to guide in the following:

Selecting and preparing the EMR software

Ensuring compliance with privacy and security regulations

Training the organization’s care team

Troubleshooting any issues that may arise

What Is Electronic Medical Record Implementation?

An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a patient's paper chart. The first EMR system was introduced in 1972, and subsequent systems have significantly revolutionized healthcare through digital means since then.

EMR implementation refers to the process of transitioning a medical practice or a group's paper-based patient record system to a software-based system. This transition can also involve moving from existing software to a new one.

Healthcare organizations implement electronic medical records to deliver a modern standard of patient care.

Use Cases for Electronic Medical Records

Five major use cases for EMR involve:

Patient charting: Providers and medical staff can easily access a patient’s complete medical history in any connected medical computer. Updates can be made and viewed in real time.

Remote patient monitoring and assisted care: Providers can get real-time updates on a patient’s condition, whether the patient is at home, in an assisted-living facility, or another remote location.

Medical lab connectivity: An EMR can immediately retrieve a patient’s latest blood tests, X-rays, and pathology reports for review.

Medical prescription: Medications can be sent to a patient’s primary pharmacy with the touch of a button.

Billing forms: All billable transactions are in one location for the accounting and financial departments to review and charge appropriately.

Benefits of EMR Implementation

These use cases hint at the benefits of EMR systems, which revolve around higher quality of care, improved patient outcomes and safety, and enhanced communication between patients and providers.

These benefits include:

Saving space: EMR systems save on space and reduce operational costs by keeping records in one place. Medical offices and clinics won’t need to store, manage, and retrieve paper records, which can be scattered throughout a medical facility.

Optimized workflows: An EMR system reduces unnecessary or redundant work while keeping track of patients and their visitors. This frees up valuable time for the staff members to focus on other, more vital duties like caring for the patients.

Error reduction: EMRs help reduce errors during documentation, such as misspellings of a patient’s name or medication. They can also alert providers if treatments conflict with each other or prevent repeat tests by letting the provider know if a particular test has already been ordered. All these measures improve patient care.

Greater accessibility: Multiple providers can view a patient’s EMR simultaneously as long as they have permission. This allows medical teams to work from the same page in complicated procedures like organ transplants.

How Long Does EMR Implementation Take?

Numerous factors and variables affect the implementation duration of an electronic medical record (EMR) system.

A mid-to-large healthcare organization can implement a new electronic medical record system within a year. If you update your current system, this figure can be reduced to six to nine months.

A solo practitioner or small medical group may implement their EMR system in six to nine months. Some may be able to do so in only a few weeks. Again, it depends on the factors and variables involved.

Eight Steps for a Successful EMR Implementation

Implementing an electronic medical record EMR system takes significant planning, collaboration, and coordination. You and your healthcare IT team will want to ensure the implementation plan is fleshed out as much as possible. When done right, a new EMR system can significantly increase patient care quality while keeping costs the same or even reducing them.

We provide the following eight best practices and steps with action items to guide your organization’s successful EMR implementation.

1. Plan an EMR Implementation Roadmap

The first step is to create a checklist of all necessary tasks, including establishing:

Who are the stakeholders?

What’s the budget?

What are the exact features you’ll want in the EMR system?

These – and a lot more – are just some questions to ask as you and healthcare IT brainstorm the checklist.

An excellent place to start on your roadmap is deciding if EMR implementation will be done in a modular fashion or step by step:

The modular approach breaks tasks down into smaller and simpler subtasks that are independently worked upon by different people and teams.

Step-by-step, each task is fully completed before going on to the next one.

After deciding on your approach, follow these steps as you aim to implement an electronic medical records system successfully.

2. Define Your Budget

When budgeting for your EMR system, aim for improved healthcare service quality and lower costs. Many healthcare organizations have overspent during EMR implementation with little to no return on investment, so it's crucial to make wise financial decisions.

The Healthcare Financial Management Association developed a sample plan for an EMR implementation budget. Notable line items include:

Human resources expenses (training and consultancy)

Supplies (system upgrades)

Administrative costs (training fees)

The budget will be primarily determined by your organization’s size and the selected EMR software.

3. Appoint Strong Project Leaders

EMR implementation is complex and far-reaching. You’ll need a team to ensure each process and task is done on time and within the budget.

Typical members who compose such a team include:

Project management /practice manager – manages the EMR implementation, including post-rollout testing

Application analyst – responsible for the EMR’s data migration and cleansing

Application developer – customizes the EMR system

QA test engineer – responsible for EMR system testing and performance

Physician advocate – gives provider’s view on the software’s training, data, and testing

Nurse advocate – provides nurse’s view on the software’s training, data, and testing

Billing advocate – represents the billing department’s viewpoint on the software

All members must work closely to ensure the EMR software functions as intended.

4. Select the Right EMR Software

Selecting the right electronic medical record is one of the most challenging steps you and your implementation team will make. EMRs are complex programs with multiple capabilities and features. You can’t test-drive one after the other, like when shopping for a new car.

To narrow your choice, do the following:

Clarify your EMR system priorities:

Cost control

User-friendliness

Cloud-based hosting

Implementation and training

Integration with current systems

Customer service

Obtain an EMR certification from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Obtain Requests for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposals (RFP) from EMR vendors. Their system must be HIPAA compliant. If not, immediately disregard their RFI and RFP.

Have your team evaluate the RFIs and RFPs. How well do they match your goals?

Create a shortlist of the top three to four vendors.

Bring in the vendors to demonstrate their systems. Ask questions. For example, is an optimal medical-grade monitor working with the EMR?

Finally, select your vendor.

5. Prepare Your Technology Infrastructure

In this step, your team will prepare the various components of your medical office or healthcare group’s networks to handle the EMR system.

Is there enough processing power to work effectively with the software? “Processing power,” in this case, can range from data lines to wireless connectivity and storage space for cloud-based EMR systems.

Evaluate all involved hardware. Do medical-grade computers have features like RFID identification to verify user identity? The patient health records in EMR systems are protected by law. The more robust your security protocols, the easier to stay compliant.

Your group’s healthcare IT and the EMR implementation team can ensure the infrastructure is ready for the new system.

6. Test and Troubleshoot Your System

The group’s infrastructure is prepared; it is time to migrate or transfer the information from your previous medical record system.

Prepare the migration strategy. What needs to be transferred? Which fields? Have a backup strategy in case issues arise with the new EMR.

Convert paper records into electronic ones.

Clean and verify the data.

Set up the EMR database.

Migrate data to the new system.

Test and verify that all old and newly entered medical data and records are correctly placed.

7. Train Your Users

Before implementing a new EMR system, it is crucial to ensure all users are well-versed in its features and functionalities. To achieve this, it is advisable to schedule comprehensive training programs across the organization. These training sessions will ensure that all users have the knowledge and skills to effectively utilize the new EMR system, maximizing its benefits for patient care and administrative tasks.

Training can be self-paced and on-site instruction. Self-paced has staff members reading user guides and watching instructional videos on the EMR’s numerous features.

On-site instruction has an instructor, usually brought in by the vendor, who comes to the workplace to teach users.

You will need to determine which method is preferable based on your group’s workflows and personnel availability.

8. Make Continuous Improvements

EMR implementation is still ongoing once the system is live. This last step has you and your implementation team evaluating the software to ensure it meets your goals. Consider:

Assessing profitability using ROI calculations.

Ensuring prompt and thorough data entry by evaluating data error rates.

Gauging the impact on the quality of care through patient interviews.

Measuring provider satisfaction through surveys.

Once you’ve received the above information, look for ways to optimize those areas.

Make EMR Implementation a Breeze with Cybernet Computers

Electronic medical records are essential to modern healthcare, simplifying workflow issues like error reduction and prescription refills.

Implementing EMR software systems is complex due to the many functions involved, making the process potentially daunting. However, with a well-defined roadmap, a proficient implementation team, and meticulous step-by-step plans, medical groups such as yours can effectively implement EMR systems with minimal disruption.

Contact a Cybernet team professional if you’re looking to implement EMR software from your medical office to a healthcare organization. Our professionals know how our medical-grade PCs, tablets, and medical box PCs fit during implementations.

Built from the ground up to work in the most demanding healthcare environments, they’re ready to house your EMR software with security features like Imprivata Single Sign-On and compatibility with legacy medical devices and equipment.