How to Implement Electronic Health Records Software?

Patients, Physicians, and staff will benefit from the practice’s easier transition to the new system due to well-thought-out EHR deployment. The transition to electronic health records (EHR) from paper records can be laborious, but the advantages exceed the drawbacks by a wide margin.

This article aims to explain how to implement electronic health records? The EHR implementation plan elaborates each phase of the EHR installation process to healthcare administrators. 

Electronic Health records have replaced paper records in the healthcare sector, but the transition has been difficult. The adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems have become necessary to boost revenue and offer patients with care that is up to date.

How To Implement An Electronic Health Record System?

The implementation step of the EHR adoption process is an important step. Taking shortcuts could have disastrous consequences later. A poorly executed EHR system can undermine relationships with other healthcare professionals, reduce patient confidence, and impair your revenue cycle for months. Therefore, it is important to learn: How to implement an electronic health record system?

1.      Establishment of the Implementation team

EHR implementation team includes physicians, nurses, administrative and technical support staff. Technical staff plays the leading role to implement EHR.

2.      Set up the software

Make sure the software is HIPAA compliance. Carry out a HIPAA risk evaluation to avoid any inconvenience in practice. 

Understand well the features of EHR and make a to-do list of those functions that your EHR does not support. Integrate Patient treatment plans, medication management, medical health records and billing codes for specific treatment with PMS solutions.

EHR software can be used to create templates tailored to a specialty or doctor. With your EHR vendor, construct plans for your customized choices.

3.      Determine Hardware Requirements

An organization can save time and money with the correct plan. The type of EHR purchased determines the system hardware requirements. Physician offices may work with an IT service provider to assist with their hardware requirements. Finding the most outstanding deal on the appropriate equipment is attainable with the support of the EHR vendor and the IT service provider.

4.      Exchange data

Choose a method for transferring data from the old EHR recordkeeping system to the cloud based EHR software and other practice management modules. A practice can designate current employees to help with this process; as an alternative, the clinic can recruit extra or contract workers who can enter the patient’s demographics and medical record history before the patient’s subsequent appointment.

5.      Improve pre-implemented processes

Workflows should ideally be optimized before implementing an EHR. Some businesses put off workflow optimization because they believe that everything will be better once they have their new EHR. Introducing an EHR will worsen issues brought on by inefficient workflows or a lack of support personnel.

6.      Implementation strategy

Medical practices use the EHR implementation strategy to switch over to an EHR for all medical billing coding and patient care. This has the benefit of cutting down on time needed to manage the new electronic system and a paper record simultaneously.

Some clinics roll out their EHR gradually, turning on specific features one at a time, i.e., starting with e-prescribing and adding visit note documentation functionality a few months later. Another incremental strategy is to roll out the EHR gradually throughout the organization, starting with a few sites or departments and learning from the experience as you go.

Physicians and employees can start adjusting to the new system in the practice once they choose the EHR implementation strategy. Depending on the strategy, many implementation tactics might be employed.

7.      Build procedures when your EHR is unavailable

What will you do if there is a severe system failure or power outage? It is a good idea to create processes for times when the EHR is down so that doctors and staff have detailed workflow instructions during these times. Some crucial elements of downtime protocols include how we will communicate to doctors, employees, and patients about the downtime, as well as how patient care will continue. e.g check-in and consultation with patient records. The company should create both electronic and physical accessibility to supplies and downtime processes. Certain practices may use binders to compile procedures, with extra copies kept offsite.

8.      Start off training

Training employees and doctors is essential to ensure the success of the EHR deployment. Make a training schedule to ensure everyone is prepared to utilize the EHR when it is implemented. Some of the guiding ideas can be helpful:

Basic training

To prepare for EHR implementation, it is best to give users a basic skill set. Users find it challenging to comprehend more than this without having experienced the software. Conduct further training to assist users in honing their abilities and learning more time-saving techniques, such as creating intelligent sets and other preferences.

Team Communication

Whenever possible, arrange for coworkers to share knowledge—train super users for each sort of role and specialty. The most incredible way for physicians, surgeons, nurses and other staff members is to learn from other physicians and nurses. These team leads can then continue to be a resource for their colleagues.

Continual training sessions

Many users will discover new functions or build shortcuts after a few months that they can share with coworkers. Additional training will be needed as EHR updates with new and better features become available. Some chances to deal with these circumstances include creating a system for submitting and tracking suggestions for EHR enhancements so that the change team can proactively decide which ones to focus on. Encourage users to actively enhance the EHR as they are already dealing with it frequently. This could be a formal tracking system or online discussion board where practical advice and ideas can be shared. Also, create a system for ongoing EHR customization; physicians and staff may discover that small changes to the new EHR might improve workflow once they’ve become accustomed to it.

Keep in touch with the EHR vendor and hire continuous IT assistance for: 

• Creating new templates or further altering existing ones for data entry
• Revise or reformat correspondence forms produced by the EHR.
• If new clinical decision support rules are available, activate them.
• Implementation criteria should be modified when medical knowledge develops, or other healthcare organizations change the services they provide.
• Look for integration opportunities with other systems that the practice or providers frequently utilize.
• Prepare for any group training required for system updates and new features. Practices will probably need to miss some patient appointments to attend training. The practice and patients experience minor disturbance when preparations are made in advance.

When was electronic health records implemented?

The above section of the article discusses how to implement electronic health records? It will provide you with implementation steps for EHR to follow in your practice. Now going forward we will discuss when was electronic health records implemented and who has mandated the implementation of electronic health records?

Electronic records may seem to have always been a part of healthcare. EHRs are unremarkable and frequently the target of criticism in a society that is heavily reliant on computers. Although quality and efficiency were promised by digitization, Physicians are spending more time documenting than diagnosing. A medical profession in transition includes high rates of burnout and new difficulties in patient-provider interactions.

However, the adoption of electronic health records has not always been inevitable. EHRs were not common even ten years ago.

The Development of EHRs

One of the first significant health institutions to use an EHR was the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in the USA in the 1960s. EHRs were so expensive in the 1960s that the government only employed them in collaboration with healthcare groups. Only the most significant hospitals were permitted to utilize them and were used for scheduling and billing into the 1970s.

A new method for medical records still on paper emerged around the same time, in the 1960s. This method, known as the “problem-oriented” medical record, provided more detailed patient information and eventually developed into the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) we use today. This method marked development in medical transcription.

Setting up the ground

Since at least 1,600–3,000 BC, doctors have recorded their patients’ health. In the last century, the phrase “medical record” has given way to “health record,” implying that a patient’s chart should also contain information about their health and way of life.

The groundwork for electronic health records (EHRs) was built by emerging computer technologies in the 1960s and 1970s. A handful of academic medical centers began utilizing EHRs in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of these systems ran on massive mainframe computers, and their principal objective was to advance medical research and care.

EHRs Feasibility

Digital record-keeping began to catch on in the early 1990s. Portable and affordable hardware for computers has been getting increasingly powerful. The earliest web-based EHRs were made possible by local area networks and the Internet, which made information access quicker and simpler. The Institute of Medicine began pushing for the adoption of EHRs as the drawbacks of paper medical records became more evident.

The data entry problems, high expenses, and poor reaction from physicians prevented EHRs from being widely use. Digitizing medical records is not possible due to their high upfront costs. The implementation of EHRs was inconsistent and gradual.

Early EHR Challenges

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, it became clear that medical data in EHRs could be used for clinical decision support (CDS), creating a brand new field of medical informatics. Standards offered a shared set of data element definitions that made it possible for various EHR systems to communicate with one another.

13 per cent of US healthcare facilities were fully operational with an EHR system by 2004. Since 1990, if EHRs haven’t precisely taken off, it wasn’t for lack of technological options. Instead, the new technology implementation had significant procedural, professional, political, and, most importantly, ethical concerns. Healthcare organizations, patients, and providers have all acknowledged the need for regulations and guidelines that support data security and interoperability. 

After the implementation of EHR question arises that who has mandated the implementation of electronic health records?

The HITECH Act was passed in 2009, ensuring the use of electronic medical records. Electronic Health Records (EHR) mandates healthcare providers to digitize all medical charts. Furthermore, it is a condition of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), whose goal is to provide incentives and funds to healthcare practitioners using EHR.

Explaining the EHR Mandate

The HITECH Act, enacted in 2009 as part of ARRA, encourages health care institutions to implement EHR. The HITECH Act offers incentives for purchasing certified EHR systems and establishing privacy standards and restrictions. Furthermore, it allows Medicare and Medicaid to compensate hospitals and clinicians that determine the “meaningful use” of electronic health records.

Advances in the electronic medical record market that aim to streamline processes, increase productivity, and improve doctor-patient relationships through greater specialization of EHR systems.

Conclusion

The methods and tactics described in this article will assist you in carefully understanding your practice’s specific needs to effectively install an EHR, from the team who will drive the software and the results you can achieve from this software.

However, to reap these benefits, you must first undertake the execution process. With the proper guidance, you can configure your EHR system to flourish and adapt as the healthcare landscape evolves.