Jan 21st 2012 
Written by: Katie Matlack
Her conversations were with:
- Ian Kornbluth, the owner of two private practices in New Jersey
- Hal Daugherty, the practice administrator at a five-physician cardiology practice in Alabama
- Jeanette Christopher, Amanda Trujillo, and Samantha Walker, the team behind the EMR transition of a 26-physician group in Oregon.
Here are four pieces of
advice. For more tips, check out the
original article.
1. Ask Your Doctors for Their
Opinions
Ensuring that your doctors
are fully involved in the transition to EMR can be a key
ingredient it’s hard to execute a successful switch without.
To do this, be sure to ask your team of physicians for
insight on what features they would like to see in their
product. In the experience of the team at Northwest Primary
Care Group in Oregon, getting this insight from the doctors
laid the groundwork for establishing that the doctors were
involved in the process and felt as if their input was
valued. Also, it helped the team responsible for choosing an
EMR to narrow down the options they considered.
2. Get the Software for Your
Specialty (or Plan for How You’ll Tailor It)
Getting a software product
that’s right for your specialty seemed to be a core
component of having a successful transition. After all, you
should keep in mind that the better the "fit" of the EMR to
what your practice needs, the better it can support you and
help you save time. The team at Northwest uses a product
that they can quickly adjust themselves, while another
health provider I spoke with, Ian Kornbluth, uses a
specialty-specific solution, and recounted that his
transition had been "painless" and straightforward.
3. Get Your Team Comfortable
with Computer Hardware
Some doctors who’ll be
expected to use an EHR aren’t familiar yet with how to work
a computer. So before you ask your team to capture important
data on a computer, make sure they are comfortable on a
computer. One team I spoke with, at Northwest Primary Care
Group in Oregon, said that they gave their doctors the exact
computers they’d be using several months ahead of time, so
that they could practice on the computers at home. Doing so
helped the doctors learn the basics of how to open and
organize files, join wireless networks, or even know what to
do if the battery runs out. This meant that doctors would be
comfortable with these tasks and be able to focus on the
newness of mainly the EHR--not the hardware, too--once the
switch happened.
4. Decide Who Your Decision
makers Are For the Process
As I wrote in my original
article:
While getting everyone’s input is key for garnering full support for your transition, it’s equally important to define a clear leader of the process. After the group weighs in, this leader will have the final say. The team at Northwest, whose Medical Director played this role, stressed this point. As they explained, "The doctors knew our Medical Director listened to their input, but also knew that the final decision was up to him, and they defer to him." The takeaway? Spell out who has the final say in advance, and you’ll neutralize time-consuming power struggles and hair-splitting debates before they arise.
Thank you for reading, and
please feel free to email me at
katie@softwareadvice.com
with any comments.
About the author
Katie writes about health information technology, particularly electronic medical records, for Software Advice. She has worked as a freelance writer for over two years, focusing on human-interest features related to health, nutrition and sustainable lifestyles. Katie graduated from Yale University with a degree in American Studies.
