Realizing Your Electronic Medical Records Implementation Plan
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So often I hear the question, “Why is it taking you so long to implement your EMR?” It is true that our scheduled eighteen month project did actually take three years in order to implement. However, although our gingerly approach seemed overly cautious to some of our associates, Project Management professionals commended our attention to care. The fact that about half of all IT systems implementations projects fail is known quite well. A strong plan is essential for success, and must account for significant changes of circumstance and other barriers to completion along the way.
Your EMR systems vendor will be able to refer you to someone who can help guide you through the implementation process. This person may be someone who knows about the electronic medical records system, or someone with experience rolling out Internet Technology projects at medical offices.
I’d recommend hiring on a certified project manager to handle this critical task. A professional project manager can transform your project into a resilient process which can adapt to multiple delays and setbacks. Standard project scheduling can’t really do much in the way of accomplishing this. The primary advantage of using a work breakdown structure is that any glitches that pop up don’t completely ruin your goal to successfully implement the EMR system. Of course, at a small practice there is more schedule flexibility. A hard deadline should most certainly be set, as part of the plan for EMR roll-out. However, with a proper plan structure your plan can roll on with the punches instead of simply rolling over.
We first implemented a Project Manager to plan the location for our new office. Our employees could use what was learned from the process, which includes how to use mind-mapping software. We have used these techniques for all major projects at our practice since then, including implementation of the electronic medical records (EMR). When we finally arrived a a place when staff had training, we posted the hard deadline to go live. There was a simulation date on a Saturday which occurred two days before launch; both dates were mandatory to attend. Although theoretically we could have pushed the launch date back, these dates helped to keep us working together and exposed risks that were faced. Now we’re about 5 months into our roll-out. The stress levels have begun to settle a bit, and we’re now tweaking our templates and getting ready for the next wave of patients to introduce to electronic medical records.
So, although people may wonder when you’ll finally get around to implementing the electronic medical records system, at least you’ll know that you have the best possible chances for a successful implementation when the time is right. This is the most important result, and the plan should be flexible in order to eventually arrive at this conclusion. Remember, hiring a certified Project Manager on from the start, to develop a resilient plan that accounts for unexpected hurdles, is the most important factor in making sure that your EMR implementation is a success.
Peter J. Polack, M.D., F.A.C.S., is founder of emedikon, a medical practice management consulting firm and president of Protodrone, a software development company specializing in medical practice applications. He is managing partner of Ocala Eye, a large multi-specialty ophthalmology practice. See Medical Practice Trends for more info.
