EHR Roll Out  

Market Transformation

The EHR market no longer has to be a "wild-west, high-stakes poker game". A wealth of data exists and verifiable market information is emerging from fundamental market research, that can transform the selection and deployment of an EHR system from "rocket science" down to a quite manageable and consistent series of steps that any physician group practice can undertake and succeed at. The forthcoming MSP Reality EHR Selector will offer tens of thousands of group practices a tool to help them organize key information to achieve that outcome. The pages that follow provide some elementary information and the data required is contained in the various published surveys (on this site) and unpublished supplemental information necessary to inform EHR system selection.

10 Essentials to "Get It Right" Instead of "Letting It Go Wrong"

MSP has addressed the issue of EHR developer validity by offering an alternative to the CCHIT certification process that is currently being given such high visibility in the national press, but which vendors and their customers will shortly find is both an expensive and protracted affair. The keys to successful deployment are as follows:

1. Providers - Certify Your Practice™ and become informed and QUALIFIED buyers.

2. Decide on your basic approach to automation and the specific goals you wish to achieve. Be honest, not idealistic. Why are you considering EHR?

3. Do the GROUND WORK to prepare your practice. This consists of a practice CASH FLOW analysis and a practice WORKFLOW analysis. MSP provides links to firms who can help with the first and tools on its Reality EHR Selector™ that can help you do the second.

4. Involve members of all provider types (receptionists, nurses, clinical specialists, physician assistants, physicians, lab techs, technicians, etc.) in the needs assessment. Seek and work from the consensus of that group. Avoid being led off track by one strong system proponent.

5. Identify vendors whose EHR products MATCH your specific practice specialty needs. The Reality EHR Selector™ being developed can help practices with this step.5. Interview SELECTED EHR developers based on the specific workflow the practice must automate. Pay attention to standards and interoperability.

6. Submit a well-prepared RFQ to the best 3 vendors that match your needs and can demonstrate a product meets current needs and can be easily customized and adjusted by the PHYSICIAN GROUP PRACTICE (without vendor involvement) to new workflow and quality assurance standards, as these evolve AFTER initial deployment.

7. Contract the vendor for solution and after-sale support required.

8. Involve outside resources at any point in the process where you need specific expertise. The MSP site will list a broad group of consultants and a subset who have agreed to have their performance with individual clients validated and publicly reported on our site. We suggest you exhaust the later set of consultants (that encourage validation) before using those who are not willing to have their client satisfaction independently monitored and reported.

9. Invest in training and orienting all users who will be affected by the deployment.

10. Make final payment for the system contingent upon the EHR developer meeting the specific performance criteria mutually agreed and documented in the procurement contracts and documents.