Client FAQs

At the recent Heart of America HIMSS chapter meeting, Global Healthcare IT’s (GHIT) CEO, Mike Williams presented a simple idea on how to improve any healthcare IT project outcome by 20-40%.  The current situation is, according to a Medical Economics report, 30% to 50% of all EMR implementations either partially or completely fail.  Add into this that research by the KLAS Enterprises LLC suggests that up to 50% of all large hospital facilities / extended healthcare systems intend to replace their EMR / EHR sometime in the next 3 years.  With the potential for failure so high, what can be done to prevent disaster?

First of all, you need to pick the right application.  For large hospitals and healthcare entities a robust, enterprise class system is essential.  Whilst GHIT does not have any specific ties with the EMR EHR applications industry, we do recommend both Epic, and Cerner.  There are many more applications that could be considered, but at the true enterprise level it invariably gets down to those two software packages.

After the applications has been selected, what is the most critical factor in influencing the success or failure of the project?  According to the US National Library of Medicine, 60% of respondents said better Project Managers, and 23% said higher quality Technical Resources.  That is a staggering 83% saying better people on the project would improve the likelihood of success.

The ability to secure better people for each project comes down a huge variety of variables.  Here are just a few key tips to point you in the right direction to achieving this goal:

1. Make sure you are paying average, or preferably, above average salaries.  (Being on the low side only increases attrition, leads to loss of local knowledge, and under values the importance of healthcare data at a critical juncture, when the strategic need for great data is rising with the shift into Population Health Management (PHM)).
2. Similarly, have a great benefits package, path to future training, and career progression (all essential in the long term continuity of a well-run HIT /HIM department).
3. Select the best, most motivated internal staff for the project.
4. Compare costs and quality of external resources.
5. Place value in experience and track record of successful delivery.
6. Involve Project Managers in the selection and hiring process.
7. With external staff, look for certifications such as: PMP, PMI, CPM, and for Technical Resources, application specific certifications.
8. Find people with excellent track records in delivery at multiple sites, across a variety of projects.
9. Have an interview process that runs efficiently (not so long winded that you lose candidates).
10. Place value in on-going staffing quality assurance systems.  These should track things like: staff happiness; map Consultants and internal staff to appropriate projects; identify project issues; resolve travel/expenses anomalies for Consultants;  and act as an early warning system when things are not going as planned.
11. When poor hiring decisions are made, be prepared to deal with the situation as promptly as possible.
12. And finally, although not a staffing suggestion, vital to the projects’ success is “DON’T START UNDERFUNDED PROJECTS”.  They have a 100% likelihood of failure.  Where possible, go back and get the commitment to fund the entire project, then proceed.

For more detailed advice on setting up healthcare IT/IM  projects for success contact Mike Williams, CEO, Global Healthcare IT, Inc. at [email protected]

Sources: KLAS, MPI Group, Medical Economics, and US National Library of Medicine

Help us help you.

Help us help you achieve the best results from your staffing partners, such as GHIT.  Help us help you secure the best people for your team in the most efficient manner.

In order for us to provide top-shelf candidates for you to build the best team, a collaborative approach is necessary.

Staffing is a vital part of any leadership position.  It can be very time consuming; I have yet to hear from a decision maker that it is a fun process they look forward to.  A large piece of utilizing a firm such as ours, is to help make the staffing piece easier for you and thus free up valuable time for you to focus your efforts on other pressing items on your plate.   Maybe you have several positions that have been hard to fill; you’ve determined that you need contingent staff to meet the workload of largescale projects, or you have a new hospital that will implement Epic in the next quarter yet Epic isn’t providing the amount of resources you need and you want to be prepared.  With project milestones always around the corner and a lot at stake in achieving positive results on time, you need the best, highest-quality and most-experienced talent to join your teams’ efforts.

You have your approved Epic staffing vendor ready to provide you candidates for any of the above scenarios, so now what?

Here are some basic tips, suggestions, and ideas that may help you achieve the most from collaborating with your vendor:

What is your Mission Statement?

Provide other important information about your organization to help arm us with the ability to speak best on behalf of the position, team, and company.

What is the company culture?

What do YOU enjoy about working with the organization?

Does the team take part in team-building activities?

What makes the most successful team members successful?  What are they doing differently and what traits would you like to see others adopt?

Provide information that will help us present the opportunity with a more complete picture.

Provide information which will allow us to better speak to the selling points of your organization – benefits, for example.

Offer a basic summary as to what makes your health system a great choice for prospective candidates.

Is there a clear track for upward mobility?

Do you promote, reimburse, or offer sponsorship for additional training?

How large is your particular team?

When you have a need for a consultant or FTE, be sure to notify all of your vendors.

Even if you have a firm that you rely on for one over the other, give them all a shot.  You are only limiting yourself by sticking with the same 1-2 firms.  Competition drives results.  You may be surprised to find better candidates offered at substantially lower rates by a firm you hadn’t tried before.

Establish a process with your vendors.

Once you’ve notified your firm of a need, how would you like to receive candidates?

What would you like differently for contingent needs vs. FTE?

Additional examples:

Would implementing a resume submittal deadline make sense?

This could help organize your process for reviewing resumes and coordinating interviews.

Would you like “X” number resumes all at once in one email to start, rather than three separate emails spread out over a week or two? This may make it easier for you to go back and reference the resumes if they are all in one consolidated email.

Provide detailed criteria for what you are you looking for.

You may seek or prefer candidates based off geographical conditions for various reasons.

What skillset?  Are you looking for an Ambulatory Analyst that is a strong builder, but also need to have Reporting experience as well for a double upgrade?

What is the pay bandwidth and how much experience are you expecting?

The more info you can provide, the better our search results will be, and the less time you will need to take in reviewing candidates that miss the mark.

You don’t have time to field multiple emails from multiple firms sending you resumes, asking questions, and then probing for feedback.  Try and be clear so you don’t need to repeat yourself.

Prescreening

Provide a list of prescreening questions, beyond our standard process, specific to your organization and the role even.  We can then include these responses in each candidate’s submittal.

Provide a few bullets of what you would like for us to reference in helping sell the opportunity with your organization.

Maybe provide a few actual interview questions you would like us to run past each candidate to help streamline the process.

What expectations should our firm and the candidate expect in terms of a timeline for feedback once submitted?

Set expectations as to how long we should expect candidate feedback.

Time is obviously an important factor when seeking to secure a candidate.  Keep the communication open throughout the process so we can set expectations with the candidate.

A synergistic relationship with a staffing agency, such as a GHIT Account Manager won’t happen without some level of investment of your time and resources too. Seek to establish enough trust to allow us the access we need to learn about your business and culture. The success of a partnership with your Account Manager can be a transformational component for your organization’s growth, flexibility, and sustained success.

Also, and finally, remember – we seek all of this for the greater good of freeing up time in your staffing needs, not tying it up!

Thanks so much, all!  Please feel free to add any thoughts on this.  I hope to receive feedback and your input on this to make sure I’m doing the best I can in my capacity.

Written by Justin Green, Account Manager at Global Healthcare IT.

Justin can be reached via email at [email protected]

Obtaining certifications are beneficial for both the employees, and hospital information technology departments alike. For the facility, it provides a level of surety that the Consultant or employee has the skills required to do a high quality job. It can also be used to provide additional training for current employees and can be used as an incentive Furthermore, attending Epic training and certification sessions allows the Consultant or FTE to be kept up to speed with the latest versions of Epic's software and keeps the person up to date with current best practices for implementing that particular Epic module. It also shows employees gratitude in terms of personal career growth and development.

For employees and Consultants certifications can be key to not only the factors listed above, but also broadens the number and value of opportunities available. Many hospital HIM departments specifically require that every person on the project has a valid and up to date Epic certification. In periods of high demand, this forces the hourly rates and FTE salaries up. People who get multiple Epic certification makes themselves a highly sort after item. Multiple certifications show how broad a knowledge of the subject the person has, and that they have a long term, real interest in Epic's application. Global Healthcare IT runs the largest Epic Only 4 or more multiple certification group in the world. If you are one of the few with 4+ Epic certifications and would like to network with your peer group click here to request admittance. If you want further information on Epic certifications and their value in the market place, or how to network with other Epic certified people please contact Bettsy at [email protected].

Having a multi-step process in an EMR / EHR deployment can be key in creating a successful, high quality implementation. Some of the key steps to ensuring quality actually start before the project begins. Those are:

Selecting a strong Advisory Council / Key Stakeholders, also known as the Steering Committee, in the first instance makes all the difference to the long term success of any hospitals' EMR / EHR implementation ( Epic, Cerner, MEDITECH, etc.). The team should composed of a variety of higher level hospital staff, each with their own perspective on the EMR / EHR project. They fundamentally need to be committed to the ultimate success of the project; have the financial backing of the organization; know the nuances of the hospital's structure; strong communications skills; the ability to compromise; work together as a team; have the hospital's best interests at heart; and be determined to see the project through. The make up of the Key Stakeholders will vary for each healthcare system. The Federal Government provides a good basis for the potential make up of a steering committee on their website www.healthit.gov. With a balanced Advisory Council / Key Stakeholders in place, other areas to be addressed before the EMR / EHR implementation begins are:

• Performing a needs assessment
  • The needs assessment has one primary purpose: to help you clearly define what you need in an EMR. The best way to complete a needs assessment is to involve all the stakeholders who will ultimately use the HER. It assures that you will have the appropriate feedback and create a sense of ownership.
• Performing a readiness assessment
  • This is a very important step that determines whether your organization is ready to make this change from a practice and financial standpoint. This assessment looks at both your internal and external environments. This step will also help determine your EHR roadmap.
• Performing a work flow analysis
  • A work flow analysis involves reviewing how your practice completes the work associated with the patient encounter and all related components. The workflow or processes in your practice require information intake as well as output. The work flow analysis will create a baseline for each patient encounter, domain or process.
• Creating a roadmap for selecting and implementing a system.
• The roadmap should identify the steps needed to improve your practice’s readiness and preparation prior to implementation; it should also help guide the process of selection vendors and system candidates, evaluating systems, making final selection, and negotiating the agreement. In addition, it outlines the many steps needed for a successful implementation, such as conversion of records, training, accommodating reduction in resources and productivity, change in work flows and processes.

For more information on how to run a successful EMR / EHR (Epic, Cerner, Meditech) implementation project or to get cost saving ideas, please set up an appointment with Mike Williams at [email protected] to discuss the process further.