EHR Optimization
Staff integration and engagement tips
Has your staff mastered the practice’s electronic health record (EHR)? Do you have a team who can fully implement and use the EHR? Creating an effective EHR team is vital to staying up-to-date with the EHR. This team will be critical in helping you implement the EHR, but they should also carry on after implementation to achieve full optimization.
Follow these tips to help your staff understand the ins and outs of the EHR system. Your team should be experts on how to input, update, and retrieve data within the system consistently.
1. Designate leaders and engage all staff
Physicians, nurses, medical assistants, physician assistants, and other staff members will all have a part in using the EHR and inputting patient information. The leadership team should be identified in advance and should have different backgrounds and roles of expertise.
These leaders will create guidelines and update policies and procedures for inputting and updating information into the EHR accurately and in a timely manner.
Each staff member has different skill sets, so make sure the team member’s strength is used to maximum benefit.
2. Use the Office of National Coordinator (ONC) guidelines to set your leadership team up for success
- This resource created by ONC (PDF) is intended to aid providers and health informaticist in identifying a leadership team for a successful EHR implementation. You can use the template to learn more about different EHR implementation team roles. It also offers guidance on documenting important planning decisions.
3. Make sure all new and current staff have completed comprehensive training on using the EHR
- Identify any gaps in training that may impact efficiency.
4. Review data in the EHR to ensure that staff are meeting quality guidelines and complying with HIPAA
- All dermatology practices are required by law to have some form of annual HIPAA Awareness training and certification.
5. Carry out coaching and additional training to address any identified gaps
- Inadequate EHR training can cause a delay or major problems with patient care delivery or billing processes.
- This will shorten the adjustment period if new changes arise in the future.
6. Optimize EHR interfaces to make it easy for practice staff to enter any required data
Consider adopting further measures to improve efficiency and reduce burdens.
Scribes relieve dermatologists of recording information and reduce burdens of documenting and billing in the EHR. Voice recognition software can also help.
Integrate your EHR and practice management software into one system to save time with entering notes and data, creating appointments and sending secure messaging through patient portals, and so much more.
Additional AAD resources
Read an interview with a dermatologist about his experience using scribes to enter data into the EHR.
Read this DermWorld article on best practices and helpful tips in optimizing your EHR.
Read a DermWorld feature on different approaches for easing document during encounters.
A guide to help you comply with HIPAA and prevent security breaches.
Read about the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Use these tips to get the most out of your EHR and optimize office workflow.
