Featured Success Story
feb 2013
The Best EHR Implementations
The plot: Our client wanted to understand the best known methods for the implementation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system in an ambulatory care work flow setting, in order to provide the most needed technical services to primary care physicians.
The research: 56 in-depth one-on-one interviews with healthcare executives in ambulatory care practices (both EHR adopters and non-adopters.)
The outcome: Due to the numerous methods of running and organizing different types of practices, EHR implementation on a practice specific basis is not only necessary, but also a major challenge. Varying methods of EHR implementation are appropriate depending on the type of practice, the practice’s timeline for implementation, and how tech savvy each individual doctor and staff member is. Successful EHR implementation relies on capabilities and flexibility of the EHR solution, tailoring it to the type of practice, number, age and experience of practitioners, as well as the number of patients, their medical history and frequency of patient encounters, and the existing processes and tools. Based on those findings a decision tree checklist was developed for the client. This tool is now used by their technical support teams to intervene with different practices in a customized way adapted to the practice’s particular EHR context for ultimately maximizing the technical efficiency and ROI of the EHR.