Monday, November 9, 2015 1:00 PM

To Migrate or Not to Migrate...That is the Question!

Written by Joe Sainz, Practice Director, Professional Services, Iatric Systems

EHR-system-migration-planning-best-practices

There’s no question that the healthcare industry has made huge advances in switching from paper records to electronic health records in the last 5-10 years.

You can thank Meaningful Use for most of this, but now that we are well into Stage 2, and Stage 3 is in question, where does that leave hospitals and the future of EHRs?

Now that hospitals are settling in with their EHR systems, they’re taking a closer look to see if the system they chose is really working for them, their physicians, clinical staff, and most importantly, the patient.

According to several reports, a lot of hospitals are not happy with their current EHR and are considering switching.

For example, as reported by FierceHealth IT, a report earlier this year showed that 20% of critical access hospitals are considering switching. This is huge given the large expense they would incur.

Are you one of those hospitals considering or in the middle of a switch to a new EHR?

The decision to switch should not be taken lightly, and you should be aware of what you are getting into if you switch. A few tips to think about when considering a switch:

Do research to see what users of other systems are saying
Be clear about what problems you are attempting to fix with a new system
Really evaluate your current system to see what can be done with your existing investment to overcome your challenges
Involve your physicians and clinicians in the choice of a new system — they will welcome the opportunity to have a voice

If you are thinking of switching EHRs, you may want to check out the EHR Satisfaction survey to see where EHR vendors rank in key areas such as Interoperability, Features/Design, and Support.

There are some important questions to ask yourself before planning a migration:

Could your existing EHR be better optimized to meet your needs?
How do you do this?
Can you consider augmenting your system with less expensive, third party tools that will integrate with your EHR to fill these gaps?

If you’ve already made the decision to migrate your system, there is a whole new set of things to consider for a successful migration, including preparing the organization for change (again), and key project planning components.

How to get help:

Join us on November 11, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. ET for an educational webcast to learn ways to leverage your existing EHR investment. If you’ve already decided to migrate, you'll hear about some best practices to consider before, during, and after the migration.