As technology continues to advance, many healthcare professionals are struggling to keep up with increased demand for health professionals as well as the constant changes in standard procedures and information storage. Luckily, an Electronic Health Records (EHR) portal will ensure that your practice is running smoothly. Luckily, EHR portals are becoming a necessity for almost all types of healthcare facilities. Nearly all patients are now able to view their medical records online, with 92 percent of them reporting such. This is likely due to the rise of the patient portal and its requirements in federal incentive programs like meaningful use and MACRA. However, it’s important to know the proper steps for implementing an EHR portal. This is to ensure that your lines of communication to both patients and employees remain intact. Below we’ll provide a handful of ways that you can implement an EHR portal into your practice successfully.
Steps For implementing an EHR Portal
Put Together a Team
Do you think Iron Man or Thor could have defeated Thanos all by themselves? Okay, maybe that’s a bad example. The point is, you need a group of talented employees to ensure that the implementation process runs smoothly. The team can be comprised of clinical and practice management staff within your various departments. This will ensure that all departments have a representative that can pass on information when the implementation process begins. It’s also recommended that you hire some sort of IT company or teach someone in-house so they’re able to troubleshoot any issues that may arise once the EHR system is in place. Implementing an EHR portal takes a group effort, so make sure you have a team that can communicate and executes.
Set Goals
It’s also important that you set goals when implementing an EHR portal. Setting goals will give your team specific areas of implementation to focus on during the process. Goals should be relevant, specific, measurable, achievable, and deadline oriented. Work with members to brainstorm a set of realistic and attainable goals with a time limit and budget to achieve them. If you haven’t already, assess and fully understand the time needed to complete tasks. You also want to work with team members to set standards and requirements. A common goal is to convert patient information from paper records for easier access to clinical data. There is also the opportunity to improve workflow and to improve communication with affiliated hospitals, other clinics, labs, and pharmacies. Another goal is to increase the EHR usage so you can qualify for incentive-based government programs that can provide relief and funding to your practice.
Choose an EHR
One of the most important steps for implementing an EHR program is finding the right program for your practice. There are dozens of different companies that offer EHR programs, so it’s important that you do the necessary research. Providers should seek out reputable vendors that offer high-quality technical assistance, software support and maintenance packages for system upgrades and updates and accessible change-request forms when alterations to their systems are required.
It’s also important that you take cost into consideration. EHR systems on average cost around $12,000, so it’s important that you’re looking into a system that’s affordable. If you own a smaller practice, you might want to look into cheaper options. For larger facilities, you’ll want to pay the proper amount IT and consulting to ensure that your entire staff knows how to properly use the system. It’s also important to remember that this is an investment. If you qualify for these incentive-based programs, you will be able to increase the amount of funding you receive. This funding will pay off your investment into an EHR portal program.
Implementing an EHR portal is crucial if you want your practice to run smoothly. If you have any other EHR implementation recommendations, feel free to comment them below. As always, if you’re looking for a job in the healthcare field, check out the thousands of assignments we have available!
