Best Practices for EMR system Implementation

According to the CMS guidelines, the implementation would start from conducting the current workflow at Vila health in each department for three or four days. This process would entail definingthe needs and preferences of having EHR at Vila to operate in the next one to three months. The needs would include hardware and software needs as well as training of the users. Education of the staff would go for one month, and the plan for complete roll-out from go-live to complete adoption would take about eight months. Testing the EHR system would be necessary as it ensures data files are loading correctly (Jeyakumar et al., 2021). Besides, testing the scope and environment required would show the infrastructural, training, and configuration readiness.

Required Environment and Testing Scope

Testing the scope and environment required would show the infrastructural, training, and configuration readiness. Most of the health care information procurements rely on assumed benefits. This always results in complications on the agreement on shared vision across the health care organization. The testing required at Vila health would include evaluation of the printers, workstations, security measures, wireless devices, and servers. This part of the preparation would also include testing the workflows, processes, and areas in need of clinical record design. The tests would be carried out using patient data but on a different database section that is not in production. The testing aims to mimic how the system would behave when it goes live.

Building Consensus

The professional, management and administrative staff must agree on the new system and approve its implementation process. For instance, the implementation team would need to build the aims of the clinic around the strategic vision and create the goals of the clinic based on the proposed new system. Strategic leadership and administration are vital in the success of the proposed plan. Besides, it is essential to involve and get the buy-in of different professionals at the clinic. For instance, doctors, managers, administrative staff, and nurses need complete involvement with the team to ensure commitment and facilitate co-ownership of the new system (Jeyakumar et al., 2021). This balance would best be attained through the development of a high-level strategic unit that does not only include the senior management at Vila health but also administrativeand clinical leaders representing various end-user groups.

An important factor that the clinic would keep in mind is that all the attempts to align the perspectives by building consensus activities require skilled professionals. One approach would be to identify domains with extensive agreement from professionals and different stakeholders. Promoting the participation of different groups would come from the active involvement of these professionals in all the stages of implementation (Jeyakumar et al., 2021). This process would be important in achieving a coordinated implementation effort of the new system. For instance, nurses would require different needs as those of the doctors. However, all the group would tend to agree that achieving high standards of care should be the focus of most activities in the plan.

Control Procedures

After establishing the need for the new technological system at Vila health, it is essential to allocate control measures as well as resources that would favor the entireimplementation process. The clinic would need to have information on a wide range of system providers and connect with the potential suppliers who understand the values and ethos of the organization (Jin, 2018). Vila health would decide on the need to develop a long-term relationship with the service providers to ensure the effective functioning of the new system. Besides, visiting other healthcare settings that have implemented the new system in the past would as well prove helpful in the implementation process.

Once an available commercial system like Electronic Health Records has been appraised, it is important to reflect on customizing the system to meet the local needs of the clinic. EHR provides numerous options of customization, allowing Vila health to design the new system to align with its current operations and meet the needs of its patients. The increased opportunity to customize the new system would as would affect the value of the system by reducing the cost of operating the clinic (Jin, 2018). This process would positively impact the cost of health care at Vila Health.

Evaluation

After the complete implementation of the new system, there is a need to receive formative feedback on the new system’s operation. The analysis of the feedback would allow the management to redesign the new system to meet the desired needs of the company (Cresswell et al., 2020). Besides, the evaluation process provides the actual value of the new system at system. The evaluation would start from assessing the existing and anticipated workflows, monitoring the desired and undesired outcomes, and tracking new innovative ways of operating the new system.

Timeline

The entire implementation of the HER system at Villa health would take 13 months. In the first three days, an evaluation of the current workflow of the clinic will be performed by the selected experts. Training of the users and identification of needs and preferences of the organizations would take about three months. In fourth month, the team would begin testing the EHR, its scope, and the required environment. This exercise would go for two months. In the 6^th month, the plan for complete roll-out from go-live to complete adoption would take about eight months

Conclusion

Implementing EHR health information at Vila health requires effective preparation for the new system. The clinic’s professional team needs to understand some of the tiny loopholes required to implement the new system. However, effective communication and collaboration with the IT team would help implement the new system. The need to develop a communication channels where all employees at the clinic can learn the new system and how it would affect the current operation of the clinic.

References

Cresswell, K., Williams, R., & Sheikh, A. (2020). Developing and applying a formative evaluation framework for health information technology implementations: qualitative investigation. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(6), e15068. https://doi.org/10.2196/15068

Jeyakumar, T., McClure, S., Lowe, M., Hodges, B., Fur, K., Javier-Brozo, M., … & Wiljer, D. (2021). An Education Framework for Effective Implementation of a Health Information System: Scoping Review. Journal of medical Internet research, 23(2), e24691. https://doi.org/10.2196/24691

Jin, Z. (2018). Research and Implementation of Regional Health Information System for Smart Healthcare. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 2(3), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.29422%2fjocem.2018.03.001