Recommandations

Milestone Three: Recommendations 4

Milestone Three: Recommendations

Featherfall Medical center has made issues in their organization on not going by their health laws and practices and policies. Had they have then they would be in a better predicament than now. With some recommendations added with rules and regulations I’m sure Featherfall Medical Center would get right back on par with their facility. Certain laws had to be put in place also with new technology to abide with the facilitated hospital.

Through its Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the government is offering physicians up to $44,000 through Medicare (or up to $63,750 through Medicaid in certain situations) over 5 years if they can demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). If providers do not achieve meaningful use by 2015, however, Medicare reimbursements will be cut by 1% per year, up to a maximum of 5%. That regulation may seem fairly straightforward, but the twist is a big one. Implementing an EHR and complying with meaningful use standards is a mammoth undertaking. It requires substantial commitments of time and money as well as expertise that many physician practices, especially small ones, do not have, all of which can make implementation challenging. Despite the challenges, 41% of office-based physicians say they plan to apply for EHR incentive payments, with most of those 79% planning to apply in 2011 or 2012, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Survey of Information Technology adoption in physician practices.

The need to effectively leverage the skills of employees is even more critical for small and mid-sized firms since most simply cannot compete with large companies when it comes to technology, physical infrastructure, or financial resources. To survive in today's marketplace, small to mid-sized businesses like Featherfall must find ways to be smarter, more productive, and more cohesive than their larger competitors. How can this be accomplished? Studies show a dramatic increase in both worker and business performance when an organization effectively sets and closely ties individual employee goals to the company's overall strategy. Yet amazingly, a mere 7% of employees today fully understand their company's business goals and strategies and what's expected of them in order to help achieve company business goals.

Once the need for a technological system has been established, it is important to commit adequate time and resources to thoroughly consider different options in terms of which system(s) to choose. We have found that this aspect of planning and the associated writing of business cases and procurement considerations are sometimes under-estimated and often rushed. It is, for example, important to be aware of the full range of system providers, and network with potential suppliers in order to understand the ethos and values of the companies with which the organization is considering embarking on a long-term relationship. Visiting other healthcare settings that have implemented similar technology can prove very helpful. Tighter goal alignment and goal visibility allows for quicker execution of company strategy by enabling your management team to more effectively allocate labor resources across various projects. By exposing redundant business initiatives, it also increases overall efficiency by ensuring employees are not duplicating the efforts of others. Plus, goal alignment strengthens the leadership at your company by allowing managers to understand more clearly all responsibilities associated with specific goals, eliminate redundancies across job titles, and focus their staffs on Featherfall most pertinent goals.

In addition to meeting the functional needs of Featherfall, an EHR must comply with privacy and security requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, ARRA, and the meaningful use regulations. Generally, organizations fall somewhere between "trust but hold accountable" and full "lock down" of patient information, according to Eric Liederman, MD, MPH, director of medical informatics for Kaiser Permanente in northern California. Determining where on that spectrum the organization wants to be will drive many decisions in the design, training, and monitoring phases of the implementation.

To eliminate wasted time, Featherfall should clarify upfront what they want to achieve by implementing an EHR. This medical center may want to meet the minimum requirements to qualify for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 incentives while changing as few procedures as possible. Others want to fully automate their workflow, integrate with billing systems, connect seamlessly with laboratories and other providers, and provide online patient communication and education tools through a linked portal. The time needed vendors, training, and costs all will vary with the practice's goals.

Reference

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Electronic Health Records Still Not Routine Part of Medical Practice, Says New Study. 2006, [http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=21882]

California HealthCare Foundation: The State of Health Information Technology in California: Use Among Physicians and Community Clinics. 2008, [http://www.chcf.org/topics/view.cfm?itemID=133640]

Gifford S, Maberry D: An integrated system for computerized patient records. Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1979, 30 (8): 532-5.