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Course Outline

Section I. EHR Overview
This section presents an overview of current statistical data related to electronic health records. We will identify critical success factors that are essential for a well planned, organized EHR rollout that meets clinical and business goals and objectives.

• Benefits of a practice wide EHR system
• Facts and figures about EHR project success & failure
• Critical success factors
• Obtaining provider and staff buy-in

Section II. Federal & State Health Information Technology Initiatives (HIT)
We will focus on federal and state components of HIT which will include the national health information infrastructure, interconnectivity, interoperable standards, provider adoption of technology and electronic health/health records.

• Understand President Obama’s “American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009
• Current and evolving HIT initiatives
• Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs)

Section III. Pre-Implementation Considerations
Converting to an electronic health record system is an expensive and very complex process. During this section we will explore tools for determining implementation, training and ongoing maintenance costs as well as interoperability challenges with legacy systems.

• Techniques for determining EHR cost estimates and hardware needs
• Provider and staff computer skills evaluation
• Third party interface issues
• Paper chart and data conversion considerations

Section IV. EHR Vendor Selection
With 400 plus EHR vendors in the marketplace to select from, we will identify tools and techniques for determining the best fit for your practice based on size, specialty, growth potential, software costs and value-added services.

• Tools and techniques for vendor selection
• Financial considerations
• Cost benefit analysis and return on investment
• Putting together an effective selection team

Section V. Vendor Contracting
A clear understanding between you and your selected EHR vendor concerning implementation, training, support, maintenance and updates will save you money and headaches in the future. We will identify best practices for vendor contracting and identify common loopholes that could cost your practice time and money.

• Request for proposal guidelines
• Analyzing and reviewing a contract to avoid common pitfalls
• What value-added services does the vendor need to provide
• Identifying future support and maintenance needs

Section VI. Implementation Considerations
Establishing clear and concise project requirements with realistic time parameters and sufficient resources dedicated to the project will help insure a successful implementation. This section focuses on project management best practices currently used in many industries.

• Identifying practice EHR goals and objectives (clinical & business)
• Establishing a realistic project time line for rollout
• Six Sigma and System Development Life Cycle methodologies
• Building a successful implementation team

Section VII. Third Party Interoperability
Stark Laws have complicated interoperability and interconnectivity between medical practices, hospitals and labs. We will explore the recent changes made related to the Stark Laws and how they might affect your future decisions and opportunities.

• Stark Laws and connectivity issues
• Interoperability considerations with hospitals labs, and medical practices
• Interfacing with third party software
• Maximizing EDI and your EHR

Section VIII. IT Security & Liability Issues
Maintaining a secure environment of all medical data whether in paper or digital format is essential. In this section we will review several case studies of medical data breaches and what you can do to prevent this expensive and ever increasing problem from happening to your practice.

We will look at case studies of medical system breaches.

• Identifying practice vulnerability
• Establishing paper and digital security measures
• Wireless capabilities and HIPAA
• Steps to avoiding employee misuse of data