The "beyond EHRs" continuum begins naturally with selecting and utilizing a certified EHR. Sounds straight-forward enough, right? Well, that's probably not what anyone would tell you who has been through the process.
Lessons from the trenches:
1. Think different. Steve Jobs said that, and it's true for you as well. Selecting modern EHRs is not business-as-usual. If you go about selecting your EHR based on your current grid, mindset or business model, you are more likely to choose poorly than well.
2. Begin with the end in mind. That end constitutes a whole new way of practising eye care, a patient-centered way, a team-based coordinated-care way and a way that aims at best-practice outcomes using Clinical Decision Support tools built into the software.
3. "But I thought ..." Rid yourself of the assumption that any certified EHR will do. Yes, it would appear that certification brought everyone onto a level playing field. Perhaps so in the sense that there are common certification criteria. But, just as you still want to know why you should buy one versus the other, one is still a superior choice over others. (We came across an excellent example of this at the ONC Summit. All vendors were required to have a functional CCD. So most created a viewable CCD. We were set apart as the only ones able to demonstrate a consumable CCD. Most met the letter of the law; we met the spirit of the law.)
4. Put features in their place. If you consider the five phases of the continuum we're discussing here, you won't see an EHR feature list. Instead you'll see new business requirements. So look beyond software features and assess on the basis of how the solution will help you adapt to a whole new way of thriving in reformed health care. In the long view, platform is more important than features. Like you, software must adapt to survive.
5. Think national. We've been used to practising on our own "eye care island" and not being much affected by what's happening elsewhere in healthcare. Most of the country, for example, is live on the Direct communications standard. That should tell you something significant.
6. With or without the money. If you're able to go after stimulus money, great. Go for it. But if you're not, remember health care is transforming anyway. Your Medicare volume really has nothing to do with communications for example, the step we'll be discussing next.
Disclosure: We, Jim Grue and Alistair Jackson, represent an EHR product, activEHR by EMRlogic. Our purpose in this blog is not to promote or sell activEHR rather to inform and educate eye care providers about the EHR marketplace and the bigger-picture implications and requirements to succeed as healthcare and eyecare transform.
Blog comments: Dr. David Chandler of Jacksonville, AL added a worthwhile commentary to our July 16 post. We encourage you to go back and read the Comments and Reactions link at the bottom of the post, and to respond further. EMRlogic Live becomes truly LIVE when you join the conversation.
Alistair Jackson, M.Ed.
Jim Grue, O.D.
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