Filed under: Human Resources, Notes from Elizabeth | Tags: EHR, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records, EMR, Human Resources, Medical
post by Elizabeth Oakes, SPHR
Human Resources Manager, Landrum Professional Employer Services
On March 16, 2010 Landrum Human Resource Companies and O’Sullivan Creel LLP sponsored an evening with Rosemarie Nelson. Rosemarie is a principal consultant with the MGMA Healthcare Consulting Group who specializes in medical technology. Rosemarie’s speech addressed effective strategies to implement an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system into any sized medical practice. While I do not work directly in health care, I do have a number of clients in the health care community, and the information she shared was invaluable in my opinion.
Rosemarie grabbed our attention right off the bat by listing an astonishing statistic: Were you aware it costs, on average, between $5.00 and $12.00 just to pull a patient file? Are you ready to hear a little more on the benefits of an EHR? Maybe you’re still unconvinced – for those of you still not sure if you should take the leap into the electronic records world, Rosemarie gave a list of benefits that might interest you:
- Increased patient satisfaction
- Eventual reduction in overhead cost – Rosemarie has seen, on average, a 10% reduction in labor cost in the first year after an EHR is implemented.
- Potential Medicare incentive payments
- Increased efficiency and being able to do more with less – Rosemarie has seen a 15% average higher fee-for-service collection and a 50% reduction in office supplies.
- Increased revenue – A Family Medicine group reported that after implementing an EHR each physician in the group increased their take home revenue by $3,000.00 per month.
Rosemarie also gave a little direction on where to get started and some helpful hints during the implementation process:
- Determine your goals first – when you start to become overwhelmed by the choices or the difficulty level of a product, ask yourself if what you are doing is working towards those original goals.
- Be committed to change, as well as to optimizing your work flow – An EHR is not a means to an end in and of itself, it is a tool to help you work better.
- While you should not jump on the first program you are presented, be mindful of “paralysis by analysis.”
- Remember that this is an ongoing process, and that implementation isn’t going to be overnight. Training and back scanning takes time.
- Develop a team of internal staff to head up the implementation project and most importantly, ensure there is a representative from each area of the practice. Having the team “buy in” is paramount to a successful implementation.
- Retain an attorney who specializes in technical contract writing – ensure that your contact calls for the vendor to return to your Practice after a number of milestones to ensure smooth transitions and that you are using the EHR as effectively as possible.
For those of you seriously thinking about moving to an EHR or fine tuning one you may already be using keep in mind that anything new that you introduce to your practice is going to pose a challenge not just to you, but also to your staff and to your patients. One of Rosemarie’s strongest messages throughout the evening was that problems with an EHR are always related to the system implementation, or lack thereof, and not the system’s functionality. At the end of the day implementing an EHR is all about change management. How you approach the implementation and incorporate your staff will make all the difference in reaching your goals.
Elizabeth Oakes, SPHR
Elizabeth is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the Human Resource Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management.
