3 Ways Healthcare Providers can Increase EHR Adoption
The U.S. government has given the healthcare industry billions of dollars in incentives to make the switch from paper to electronic health records (EHR). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), 75 percent of eligible hospitals and 73 percent of healthcare providers have received incentive payments for attesting to EHR use under the meaningful use program established by the 2009 stimulus bill.
However, while many healthcare organizations have EHR software in place, CompTIA’s 4th Annual Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities study revealed that only about 60 percent are satisfied with the system they have. Furthermore, 40 percent characterized EHR implementation as “worse than expected,” while 56 percent “acknowledged being less than optimally prepared for the transition to EHR.” These forlorn statistics pave the way for low user adoption and can even lead to withdrawal of funding for organization’s that are unable to prove meaningful use in the long run.
“The federal government has spent $28 billion to drive the adoption of these records systems, and the result is that doctors don’t like the systems, they say they disrupt workflow, interrupt the doctor-patient relationship, and haven’t been worth the effort,” said Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn), chairman of the Senate Health Committee. To address these concerns the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT has recently issued a 10-year roadmap to improve EHR functionality and interoperability and healthcare providers that want to see their EHR implementation succeed are turning to performance support systems.
EHR implementation, like any large-scale software deployment, is difficult. Common pitfalls include loss of productivity during the training period coupled with high training costs, entering the wrong data into the electronic record, and fear that the system will affect the quality of care or jeopardize the doctor/patient relationship. Performance Support Systems were designed to help organizations overcome each of these situations. Here’s how:
1. Provide just-in-time training
It’s not always practical, efficient, or cost-effective to require physicians and other healthcare professionals to learn a new system through traditional learning methods – it may also affect quality of care. Healthcare providers can’t always get away from their duties, patients, or businesses to participate in classroom time, or even to complete lengthy e-learning sessions. This can also be an issue when trying to meet mandated dates for implementing EHR.
Performance Support Systems (PSS) offer just-in-time training, reducing the need for both off-site and online training sessions. Using visual recognition technologies, the performance support application “sees” the EHR screen just as the user does, and constantly monitors the user’s activities live within the application. Healthcare professionals can learn on the job with directed guidance or can complete tasks with automated field completion. This dramatically reduces training time and costs and also promotes a culture of performance assurance that is familiar and pleasing to healthcare providers and can increase user adoption.
2. Improve the patient experience
A main concern with electronic records is that it will impact the patient experience. Many primary care physicians and clinicians pride themselves on the relationships they have with their patients and the fear is that this relationship can be jeopardized when a computer enters the exam room instead of a doctor. Performance Support can help healthcare providers alleviate these fears.
Performance Support works in conjunction with the EHR to analyze the patient’s profile. It makes knowledge and information extremely accessible, by displaying overlaid tooltips on top of the application itself, at the moment of need, so that healthcare professionals can focus on the patient and provide personalized service. Learn more here.
3. Prevent human errors
In the medical field, human errors can have catastrophic outcomes. Numerous quality, compliance, and patient safety initiatives have been set in an attempt to reduce negligence. With the introduction of a new Health IT system, every aspect needs to be carefully and thoroughly combed over to ensure minimal risk.
Performance Support System can be designed to identify errors in real-time, based on pre-defined rules. Wizards guide users with clear instructions throughout the application and no technical skills are needed. The system prevents disastrous or costly errors by alerting users within the application and directing them through the correct steps to follow. More sophisticated systems, such as the Leo system also has a built-in automation function that can complete the task for the user with the click of a button.
At the end of the day, healthcare organizations that pair their EHR or other Health IT system with performance support solutions can feel confident that they are providing their network with the resources, support and automation they need for the transition. With performance support systems in place, healthcare professional at all levels can navigate through complex applications and processes quickly and error-free to provide the highest level of care.
Watch this short video to see how Performance Support guides users in real time on the live application:
Kryon Systemsis committed to assisting organizations realize their key performance indicators (KPI) by providing performance improvement solutions which support both the end-user and IT automation efforts alike. To this end, we offer a comprehensive solution to the business user in the form of Leo Performance Support as well as a cost-effective answer to efficient process execution with Leo Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
Interested in learning more about Nintex Kryon RPA and what it can do for your organization? Click here to request a demo.
