by
Nancy Ryerson, Staff Writer | February 22, 2013
From the January/February 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
While challenging, CIOs agree that the patient portal can help improve patient care and experience. For example, the patient-accessible EHRs are required to include medication lists.
“I know a problem with a lot of elderly people is that people don’t know the names of the medicine they’re on,” says May. “You have to make patients and families understand that they’re going to improve patient safety and care by being involved [with the electronic records].”
Prior planning is a plus
As with most projects, the best advice is to start early, health IT experts say. That means creating a plan of attack and keeping in close contact with vendors.
“A lot of facilities will have to implement a new module, such as one for medication reconciliation,” says Flick. “Plan ahead with the vendor and get [the plan] into a schedule so you’re not in a time crunch.”
If you don’t keep your vendors and IT staff notified of your needs, efforts might result in a difficult-to-use system rather than a user-friendly product, Berkowitz says.
“What is needed is ‘human-centered design,’ which is a more dynamic interaction where the IT team will observe users to understand how they do their job much more intimately, and then work with them very iteratively to design the best solution,” he says.
And once stage 2 initiatives have been met, CIOs at hospitals successful with IT say not to stop there. Besides continuing to enjoy the benefits of a robust health IT program, those who continue growing EHR use can get a head start on future initiatives.
“My only criticism of meaningful use is that I think it’s a fast pace in a year to meet so many initiatives, but I think it’s a needed pace,” says May. “I think four years from now, anybody that does not have a full blown EMR [system] can’t compete in health care. I really do believe that it’s a benefit for patient safety and patient care. It’s definitely needed.”
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