The implementation planning phase can be done before or after the software is purchased, depending on the size of the organization and how quickly you want to go live. If you are in a multi provider environment you may want to appoint a champion physician. A champion physician is someone who is assigned by an organization who is responsible for planning, system build, testing in both simulated and live environment, training other physicians, maintaining templates/rules and managing future updates/customizations. He/she also becomes the main point of contact with the EMR vendor. When selecting a champion physician it’s important to select someone who is comfortable with technology, has adequate time available for training other physicians as well as meet with the vendor on product improvements. If possible this physician should be compensated and/or benefited to ensure that they are dedicated to this.
So what do you do with all those old records? At this point you’ll want to plan an exit strategy from the costly paper record. Tthere are many factors which affect this decision, such as number of records, number of active patients and legal implications. Whichever way you decide to go you’ll need to keep some of your old records for easy access and you’ll need to convert some charts to electronic immediately. Consider following these steps to help convert your patient records.
1) Purge your records for any patient records where you don’t expect to see the patient in the future, move these records to long term storage.
2) Purge your records for all highly active patients (whom you expect to see within the next 3-6 months). These records will be manually entered into your via manual data entry and scanning solutions. Tag these records in an easily recognizable manner so you know which records have been converted and which have not.
3) If you are also converting your financial records including AR and insurance information, you’ll need to plan on running your old practice management software alongside your new software in an effort to eventually bring over your balances to the new system
Hire an IT person if necessary to assist in setting up your computers. If this service is going to be provided by the vendor it is still recommended to have a local IT team to assist you in the event of an emergency.
If you expect resistance from one or more doctors and would like to implement the EMR in stages you may want to consider using a hybrid record. Hybrid records allow physicians to continue working their charts in a paper format but will often use the electronic super-bill or CPOE module to enter in charges. At the end of the visit all the paper from the visit is scanned into the system. Taking this approach will help remove your dependency on paper charts, allow you to use select features from the EMR, such as electronic prescriptions, electronic lab orders, electronic faxing and electronic charge posting. Once the provider(s) is ready to fully embrace the EMR technology the process to go electronic is easier, as much of the patient data is already in the system.
Once a strategy has been put in place for converting your paper records you’ll want to set a realistic time frame for your go live date. Depending on the size of your office and expected difficulty of the implementation process you’ll need to decide if you will go live towards the end on your training period or if you’ll go live at a later date once you’ve had a chance to convert most of your active patient’s records to the EMR.
Implement a project management system to track tasks, issues, requests and meetings. Tracking your issues as they arise is crucial to the long term goal of improving your system. By placing these issues into an Excel spreadsheet with an urgency level will help you keep on top of all these issues and have meetings to discuss their statuses regularly.
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