The Fox Group believes in the essential, due-diligence approach, reaching all the way to the planned daily usage. Assistance with the HITECH Act incentives, your "return-on-investment" and "meaningful use" criteria compliance continues to be of significant importance in the consulting engagement we offer. The Fox Group will help you select and implement an Electronic Health Records system scaled to your organization's needs.
Choosing your first, or converting from your existing practice management system, to a better Electronic Health Record (EHR) system can be daunting. To minimize installation and conversion issues a critical due-diligence process should be employed. Surveys show that 20% of the EHR systems are being uninstalled due to technical, financial, and/or user dysfunction.
In addition to government incentives for converting your organization into a "digital office", there are still the original, basic reasons and benefits, not to be overlooked. A reminder of some of the benefits ...
Advantages of Electronic Health Records
- Better Compliance: Documentation is guided in a semi-automated fashion resulting in increased accuracy and support of procedural codes. Plus, the ease of pulling together billing and audit requests is dramatically enhanced when using an Electronic Health Record system.
- Greater Efficiency: As the saying goes … “Garbage in garbage out.” But when it comes to using an EHR system, because it guides the user into making each entry accurate and complete, all subsequent activities including billing, collections, and reporting to name a few, reap the rewards and operate with heightened efficiency resulting in improved cash flow.
Making Your EHR Investment Pay Off
Implementing an Electronic Health Records system is a transformative technology, and providers planning to meet the meaningful use criteria will require even more adjustments. The proliferation of certified EHR applications has made due diligence in selecting and implementing an EHR system even more important. Moreover, there are “free” systems, systems available on a monthly subscription basis via the internet, as well as systems with variable licensing arrangements and hardware requirements, that can turn the selection process into a confusing montage of claims and options.
Just a few of the steps a practice must undertake include:
Deciding which systems to consider in the first place, based on the needs of the practice.- Generating a list of requirements in an RFP, including an assessment of the vendor's past performance and stability.
- Evaluating the responses to an RFP, and compiling a long-term cost comparison.
- Conducting a Return-on-Investment analysis and evaluating financing options.
- Making a final selection and developing a realistic implementation plan.
Physician practices and Eligible Hospitals/CAHs should carefully consider their capabilities to conduct these assessments with internal resources.
Questions About Electronic Health Records Implementation?
If you have questions about selecting an EHR system that meets your organization's unique profile and needs, about meeting meaningful use criteria, or how the incentives in the HITECH act work, please don't hesitate to contact us. We think you'll be glad you did.