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Electronic Medical Records Some Things to Think About. Bill Atkins, Exec. Vice President Health Management Consultants, LLC. Columbia, Maryland 410-715-0011 www.hmconsult.com. A Few Critical Questions. Practice readiness Is your practice ready to change?
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Electronic Medical RecordsSome Things to Think About Bill Atkins, Exec. Vice President Health Management Consultants, LLC. Columbia, Maryland 410-715-0011 www.hmconsult.com
A Few Critical Questions Practice readiness • Is your practice ready to change? The most critical factor in successful EMR implementation is the people • What are your staff’s technology skills? • What are the impacts on your work flow? • What is the resistance to change? • What are the expectations of your patients?
Requirements Analysis What are your objectives? • Critical for comparative analysis of EMR products and vendors • System features and functionality • Medication management and RX writing • Document management (imaging) • Customization and adaptability • E&M coding support, CPT and ICD-9 (ROI) • Support for the DOQ-IT initiative • Medical equipment interfaces
Requirements Analysis • Template building • Can you create and edit templates or must this be done by the vendor? ($$) • Messaging and routing of information • Remote access capability • Federal regulations and national standards • Will the software become out of date or does the vendor have a compliance strategy? What is the vendor’s level of participation in standards organizations?
Requirements Analysis • Ease of use / intuitive design • Work flow management • Preventive medicine • Interface for your PMS • Link with labs (Quest, LabCorp, etc.) • Product update policy • Software support and training
Your EMR will be Mission Critical Available 24/365 unlike PMS • Imagine a life threatening situation without access to your clinical information. • Imagine your waiting room full of “impatients”, your server is down and technical support is 2 hours away.
Your EMR will be Mission Critical • Mission Critical Requires • Business quality hardware - RAID-5 server(s), etc. • Guaranteed and frequent backups and offsite storage • Uninterruptible power supply
What to Look for in an EMR Vendor What are the resources and support practices of the vendor? • Do you get an answering machine or a real person? • What is their availability? (Hours of Support) • Do they provide onsite training and support? • Do they provide project management to ensure success? • Is it an established company?
For More Informationor a Free ConsultationJohn Stoever, Sales ManagerHealth Management Consultants, LLC.Columbia, Maryland 410-715-0011www.hmconsult.com