Reference no: EM133153859
Systems Acquisition and Implementation
We began this course by looking at the definition of health information management, the advent of EMRs and the mission to use EMRs to reduce errors and improve quality of care. As the field grew, it became clear that in order to move forward on these goals, we needed to achieve interoperability not just at the individual health system level but on a national level. The goal now also included engaging patients in their care. While these goals are yet to be achieved we have seen some progress.
This week we move our focus from the broader level to the individual health system level. As health systems matured, and EMR products matured, it became clear that separate silos within an organization did not deliver value and were not efficient. In some cases they posed a barrier to quality care because the provider did not have access to complete health information even with in the same health system, or in order to get this information, special efforts were required. For example, in some case ambulatory care or outpatient services used a different system than inpatient. Changes in payment also influenced organizations to move to new EMRs.
To address these dynamics, health systems began to replace existing EMRs with more efficient effective ones that could provide information about the patient across the individual health care system, referred to as "enterprise wide" products. Some times this move was motivated by mergers and acquisitions and sometimes the change was due to outmoded products and/or anticipated changes to reimbursement.
Whatever the impetus, changing to a new EMR is a challenge. As your text and the articles for this module note, this change is about much more than technology.
It is a complicated process with many moving parts and many stakeholders.
Read the assigned chapters and articles.Select a few recent articles on a EHR system implementation project. Briefly describe the process used to implement the system. What issues arose? Your text and readings describe "what can go wrong". Did any of these occur in the EMR implementation project you reviewed. What were the "lessons learned". How might this particular organization's experience help inform other organization planning efforts. Explain.
Please use references in your discussion.