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Preparing for the Transition to EHRs 1Take inventory of your practice needs. Not all systems work for all practices. If you don’t really know your needs, take inventory now. Otherwise you run the risk of being dazzled by a demo, only to be disappointed when a system doesn’t support the services you provide. 2Learn from the mistakes of others. Understand how work flows will have to be redesigned to accommodate EHRs. Solicit input from all physicians and staff members in the practice. Align clinical and managerial interests. Think about how to connect EHR technology with quality-of-care goals. And have reasonable performance expectations. Click here for a useful report from the California Healthcare Foundation on how small practices have dealt with these issues. 3Investigate the potential return on investment. Think of the money you can save if your staff spends less time chasing charts, ordering prescriptions, and scrambling for test results. An EHR system might save you more than you think. 4Collect reliable information. Some good sources:
5Shop around. eHealth Initiative, a nonprofit organization, offers a free “Master Quotation Guide.” It allows you to solicit and easily compare bids from competing vendors. It also highlights potential problem areas. Related Stories:
Contact: Nileen Verbeten, 916/444-5532 or nverbeten@cmanet.org.
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