| Information Transformation: Botsford Hospital's Plan to Implement Electronic Medical Records |
| September 20, 2011 |
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By Chad Harris, senior vice president and group president of Healthcare Provider Applications for ACS, A Xerox Company
Health care organizations are in the midst of a huge transformation – one that currently seems like a long checklist of "to-dos," but one that will ultimately improve the way information flows throughout the health care workday. Botsford Hospital, a 330-bed hospital located in Farmington Hills, Mich., is tackling the transformation with a strategy that puts it on track to implement a comprehensive electronic medical records (EMR) system, while keeping a focus on what's most important – patients.
The EMR system allows electronic health records (EHRs) to "follow" a patient as he or she moves through different departments of the hospital, making current information immediately available to the caregivers, greatly increasing patient safety and quality of care.
Planning Ahead
Even before stimulus and meaningful use funding was available to incent hospitals to adopt EHRs, Botsford determined that an EMR system would advance the way the hospital delivers care, supports better communication between staff and patients, and improves patient safety. Since this required a significant overhaul of the hospital's IT systems, Botsford went to work on existing processes to make it more efficient and effective before the implementation of new technology. To guide the process and develop objectives for a new EMR system, Botsford also established an Office of Clinical Process Improvement, as well as an overall steering committee.
For some extra assistance with selecting an EMR vendor, Botsford engaged its long-time IT services partner, Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), A Xerox Company. As an independent teaching hospital, Botsford needed to find a vendor that could work within a well defined budget and meet very specific cost objectives. Using ACS's experience in vendor selection and knowledge of meaningful use, the hospital put a plan in place to meet reform requirements before the formal meaningful use regulations were issued. The plan included the implementation of the McKesson Paragon solution – an all-inclusive and fully-integrated hospital information system.
Communicating Change
While change is always difficult, employee acceptance and adoption of new technology and processes are critical to the success of a project like Botsford's. It was very important that the employees understood the bigger picture for why the change was happening, and that it was being done for the right reasons. Hospital leaders agreed that if employees believed the implementation was being done only to take advantage of meaningful use dollars, it would set the wrong precedent. For the implementation to be supported and accepted by the end users, it had to be done for the purpose of improving patient care, efficiency and patient safety.
Botsford intentionally involved employees in the decision-making process by asking for routine input from the nurses, physicians and the IT staff. Even the steering committee incorporates members from every department within the hospital. And because it's a long time between vendor selection and the implementation, Botsford continues to keep employees involved with regular email blasts and newsletter stories that communicate progress and remind them of the benefits. The hospital also captures challenges and solutions to keep perceptions from being more rumor than fact.
The End of One Journey and Start of Another
Botsford is now in the final phases of implementation, which includes integrated testing and end-user training. The hospital is on track to meet its financial and productivity goals with the endeavor. While it anticipates productivity improvements, the hospital expects to fund most of its investment with the healthcare stimulus money and meaningful use dollars it'll earn as a result of implementation.
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