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Jan 02

With A New Year Comes New Tech & A New Outlook

By AI in Healthcare, EHR, Make Health IT Easier

With a New Year Comes New Tech & a New Outlook

What does Healthcare IT look like in 2024, Technology Meeting Humanity

As the confetti settles and the resolutions settle in, a familiar buzz takes hold – the annual energy of new beginnings. In the exhilarating realm of healthcare IT, this buzz translates into something even more potent: a chance to reimagine, reinvent, and reshape the future of patient care.

Here at EHR Concepts, we’re embracing this New Year not just with open arms but with open minds and a thirst for innovation. We see 2024 as a year brimming with possibilities, powered by emerging technologies, and driven by a renewed focus on what truly matters: putting patients first.

What Tech is on the Horizon?

  • AI Ascendant: Artificial intelligence is no longer a sci-fi trope; it’s a reality with the potential to revolutionize healthcare. Imagine AI-powered assistants streamlining administrative tasks, analyzing medical data to predict and prevent illness, or even personalizing treatment plans for optimal outcomes.
  • Interoperability Unleashed: Data silos are crumbling, paving the way for seamless information exchange between EHRs, wearables, and other healthcare platforms. This interconnectedness promises a holistic view of the patient, empowering clinicians to deliver truly informed care.
  • Telehealth Takes Flight: The genie is out of the bottle – telehealth is here to stay. In 2024, we expect advancements in virtual reality and telehealth infrastructure to further bridge the gap between patients and providers, especially in remote and underserved areas.

But Wait, Healthcare has to be more than just tech!

While technology is a powerful tool, it’s the Human Touch that truly makes the difference. In 2024, EHR Concepts is committed to:

  • Putting Patients in the Driver’s Seat: Empowering patients with access to their health data and tools to actively participate in their care decisions.
  • Prioritizing Clinician Well-Being: Recognizing the burnout crisis and implementing solutions that streamline workflows, reduce administrative burdens, and foster a culture of support.
  • Championing Diversity: Building healthcare IT solutions that cater to the needs of all populations, ensuring equitable access to quality care.

At EHR Concepts, we’re not just supporting software; we’re building a future where Technology and Humanity meet to create a healthier world. Join us as we embark on this exciting journey in 2024. Let’s harness the power of new technology, stay true to our core values, and together, shape a new era of healthcare, one pixel at a time.

Let’s make 2024 a year of transformation in healthcare – together!

Happy New Year from EHR Concepts!

P.S. We’re always on the lookout for talented individuals who share our passion for healthcare IT. Please email us at staffing@ehrconcepts.com for current openings and join our journey!

📞 888.674.0999
📩 info@ehrconcepts.com

Jun 14
future AI

The Future of AI in Healthcare 

By Make Health IT Easier

The Future of AI in Healthcare  

The potential for Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is enormous, and we are just scratching the surface of what is possible. We can expect to see more AI applications in patient care, such as robotic surgery, virtual nurses, and chatbots for patient support. However, it is essential to remember that AI is not a replacement for human healthcare providers but a tool that can assist those providers in delivering more effective and personalized care to patients.  

Future of AI 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword in many industries, and the revolution is also taking healthcare by storm. Many of us are familiar with healthcare’s apprehension around EHR adoption, so it is no surprise that similar hesitations are arising around the use of AI in patient care. Although there are still risks and challenges in using AI tools, they have the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered, leading to more accurate diagnoses, personalized treatment plans, and improved patient outcomes. Let’s explore how AI will start to affect healthcare and what the future may hold.   

Improved Diagnostic   

One of the most promising applications of AI in healthcare is improved diagnostics. AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of patient data, including medical history, test results, and imaging scans, to identify patterns and predict diagnoses. As a result, AI could lead to more accurate diagnoses, earlier detection of diseases, and more effective treatment plans.   

Personalized Treatment Plans   

Another promising application of AI in healthcare is the development of personalized treatment plans. AI algorithms can analyze patient data to identify the most effective treatment options based on medical history, genetic information, and lifestyle factors. As a result, these algorithms could lead to more personalized and effective treatment plans tailored to patients’ needs.    

Drug Development   

AI can even play a critical role in drug development. Drug development is a time-consuming and expensive process that involves testing thousands of compounds to identify potential drug candidates. AI algorithms can analyze large amounts of data to identify potential drug candidates more quickly and efficiently than traditional methods. These algorithms could lead to faster drug development and more effective patient treatments.   

Remote Patient Monitoring   

With more patients interested in healthcare at home, AI will make this possible with advanced remote patient monitoring. Remote patient monitoring involves using technology to monitor patients’ health outside a traditional healthcare setting. AI algorithms can analyze patient data in real-time to identify potential health issues before they become serious. This insight level could result in more proactive, effective healthcare delivery and better patient outcomes.   

Challenges   

While there are many promising applications of AI in healthcare, there are also several challenges and understandable fears. Some of the concerns are patient data privacy and security. Patient data is highly sensitive, and there are concerns about how AI algorithms will handle this data. In addition, concerns about whether AI complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules regarding healthcare data have risen. Other fears include AI becoming too powerful, underscoring the need for regulatory frameworks to ensure that AI algorithms are safe, effective, and ethical.   

In Conclusion

 

May 16
HIPAA and AI

HIPAA Plan & AI

By Make Health IT Easier

How Does HIPAA Plan to Address AI Data Privacy Concerns

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996 to protect the privacy and security of patient health information. As AI becomes more prevalent in healthcare, there are concerns about how HIPAA will address patient data privacy concerns.

HIPAA requires covered entities to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect PHI from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. These safeguards include access controls, audit controls, encryption, and other measures to protect PHI’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability. HIPAA also requires covered entities to conduct periodic risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities in their information systems and implement measures to address them.

Regarding AI, HIPAA applies the same privacy and security requirements to using PHI by AI algorithms as it does to using PHI by human healthcare providers. Therefore, covered entities that use AI algorithms to process PHI must ensure that the algorithms are designed and implemented to protect that information’s privacy and security. This includes implementing appropriate technical and administrative safeguards to prevent unauthorized access, use, and disclosure of PHI by AI algorithms.

HIPAA also requires covered entities to enter into business associate agreements (BAAs) with third-party vendors that handle PHI on their behalf. This includes vendors that provide AI algorithms or other services that involve using PHI. BAAs require vendors to comply with HIPAA’s privacy and security requirements and to implement appropriate safeguards to protect PHI from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure.

It is important to note that HIPAA regulations provide the federal floor of privacy and security standards. AI developers and vendors should review the mHealth App Guidelines developed by Xcertia and now managed by HIMSS to find other state and federal laws that can apply that pre-empt HIPAA – particularly concerning healthcare adjacent data – or apply to more organizations than Covered Entities and Business Associates.

According to The HIPAA Journal, “…it is the responsibility of each Covered Entity and Business Associate to determine what health information is PHI, what health information is adjacent, and how each should be managed. It is also the responsibility of each Covered Entity and Business Associate to conduct due diligence on any AI technologies that are implemented to improve efficiency and the patient experience to make sure that they are compliant with the HIPAA Rules, especially with respect to disclosures of PHI.”

May 11

10 Healthcare IT Trends to Consider in 2023

By Make Health IT Easier

10 Healthcare IT Trends to Consider in 2023

Healthcare has gone through a lot of change in the last few years, and with Chat GPT and other AI tools making a big splash in just the last few months, information technology and tools will continue to snowball in the healthcare industry. Of course, COVID threw the industry for a loop, accelerating the adoption of tools, technologies, and resources to manage the pandemic. Still, it also introduced the need for that change and innovation to stick around. As a result, we compiled a list of the top 10 emerging trends in healthcare IT in 2023.

  1. The evolution of IT in healthcare

As technology aids and enhances everything in our world, healthcare is no longer the exception. As a result, CIOs and IT teams will need to evolve their strategies to keep up. Risk management, virtual care, remote work, telehealth, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, augmented reality (AR), wearable technologies, and all the security to operate these technologies safely are essential innovations we will be seeing more broadly adopted in hospitals this year.

  1. Healthcare at home

Not only did COVID generate fear in patients, keeping them from entering healthcare facilities, but it also proved that some healthcare can be done at home. Not only can it be done, but now this convenience is a prerequisite for some patients seeking care. According to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Tegria, a convenient healthcare experience is more important than having a designated healthcare provider for 59 percent of consumers. Telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and even wearable devices are just a few of the technologies making this possible.

  1. Opening the digital front door 

The digital front door is becoming a more common term in healthcare IT. The proverbial front door describes the patient engagement technologies needed to access care virtually and in person quickly. These efforts improve the consumer experience and help empower patients.

  1. Clinical support from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning

AI and machine learning are being introduced into the clinical setting and can potentially improve productivity for clinical staff and care for patients by using predictive tools and natural language processing alert clinicians of secondary issues that may need follow-up. Clinical workflows and augmenting or automating clinical staff work enable them to be even better at their jobs. AI and machine learning have untapped potential that could lead to enormous value-adds for healthcare facilities.

  1. Friendly robots 

Over 200,000 healthcare workers left the industry in 2021 amid COVID-19, physician burnout, and staff shortages. The industry is still trying to recoup those losses, making it even more difficult for the remaining staff. Although movies like iRobot and The Terminator have made us apprehensive about the idea, robots may revolutionize healthcare in 2023, filling in some gaps for teams already spread thin by performing routine and mundane tasks.

  1. EHR Evolution

EHRs have finally become commonplace in most healthcare facilities, but they must continue to grow wiser. They will evolve to become powerful technology with new tools and updates to help them truly be able to talk to other systems, eliminate the need for manual entry, catch and fix human and system errors, integrate with telehealth systems, the cloud, and more.

  1. Big data management 

Centralized, efficient, accurate data management is the cornerstone of decision-making in all industries, especially when dealing with valuable patient data. There is so much to learn from data. Still, with vast amounts of it, extensive data management cleanses and interprets the data for broad business areas, enabling enhanced insight, decision-making, and process automation.

  1. Predictive analytics 

Through bid data management, predictive analytics provide the technical capabilities to practice precision medicine. For example, Analytics can help identify patient populations with certain risk factors or health issues, informing providers so they can take preventative measures or create personalized treatments and care plans based on a patient’s characteristics.

  1. A new age of cybersecurity

Each new technology brings with it more risk of cybersecurity attacks. According to a recent survey, there was a rise from 14 million total victims of healthcare attacks in 2018 to 45 million in 2021, and there is no sign of this letting up. Therefore, healthcare organizations must prioritize cybersecurity to avoid financial catastrophes and improve patient outcomes.

  1. Rise of unlikely competitors

Providers are challenged to keep up with all these trends to compete with other providers, in addition to the rise of unlikely competitors breaking into the healthcare space like Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. These retail competitors are striking up deals left and right to expand their primary and in-home care offerings, which could cause traditional providers to lose their younger and healthier patient population.

May 03

Bring Healthcare Training Into the 21st Century

By Make Health IT Easier

3 Ways to Bring Employee Healthcare Training Into the 21st Century

The healthcare industry is constantly evolving and changing. Healthcare employees must stay up to date with the latest developments in their field and with their skills. It’s not surprising that, at the same time, clinician burnout is a threat facing many healthcare organizations.

A recent study indicated that the utilization of the EHR is negatively impacted due to a lack of understanding of what the EHR can do. Physicians and their staff are working harder to stay ahead of the ever-changing guidelines, mandates, and quality metrics while improving patient satisfaction, with little time left to invest in antiquated learning methodologies surrounding their EHR.

As adults, we are using the power of the internet to learn quickly on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and even Instagram reels.  When we want to know something, we search our favorite browser and have the power of learning at our fingertips. So why are we not taking that methodology and applying it to Health IT?

Training is one of the most critical aspects of ensuring that healthcare professionals are adequately prepared for the demands of their industry. Yet here we show several ways in which current healthcare employee training is lacking:

Outdated methods: Many healthcare organizations still rely on traditional training methods, such as in-person lectures, which can be ineffective in engaging learners and promoting long-term retention. While this approach benefits some types of learners, it is often associated with long classroom sessions showing very little value for the time spent. It can also be challenging to ensure that every employee receives the same level of training. Additionally, classroom training costs can be high, especially when you factor in need for travel time and accommodations for trainers or learners in our ever-evolving remote world.

Limited use of technology: While technology has transformed many industries, healthcare training has only recently adopted new technologies such as eLearning and mobile learning apps and VR/Augmented reality, which can provide a more engaging and interactive learning experience.

Insufficient continuous learning opportunities: Healthcare is a rapidly changing field, and ongoing training is essential for employees to stay updated with the latest developments. However, many organizations do not prioritize ongoing training, leading to a knowledge gap between experienced and newer employees.

Here are some ways to bring healthcare employee training into the 21st Century that you can start in your organization today.

Utilize an E-Learning Platform

Incorporate an E-learning platform and allow employees to access training materials from anywhere with an internet connection, saving time and money. E-learning platforms can be designed to be interactive and engaging and can function the same way your favorite browser search does when learning something new! These platforms make it easy to customize curriculum plans that meet each healthcare organization’s and learner’s unique needs.

Due to the on-demand design of Learning Management Systems and e-learning modules, employees can learn at their own pace or be required to reach learning milestones within a specific timeframe. Search for an eLearning platform that provides knowledge pathing and career planning for employee retention, engagement, and productivity.

Provide a Breadth of Content

Providing employees with a breadth of learning content is essential for promoting continuous learning, accommodating different learning styles, being interactive, addressing different skill levels, and encouraging creativity and innovation. Therefore, when shopping for a learning management system for your organization, consider platforms that provide various topics and courses to meet your organization’s goals.

Want a Free Demo of What EHR Concepts Offers Around Health IT Education? CONTACT US HERE

Track Performance with Analytics

Analytics plays a crucial role in employee learning management systems (LMS) because it provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of training programs and the performance of employees. With analytics, you can identify employee knowledge gaps, measure the effectiveness of the training programs, personalize learning based on an individual learner’s progress, improve employee performance, and predict future employee learning needs.

Bringing healthcare employee training into the 21st Century is essential for ensuring that healthcare professionals are adequately trained and up to date with the latest developments in their field. By utilizing e-learning platforms, providing a breadth of content, and tracking and adjusting the learning based on analytics, healthcare organizations can provide employees with practical, engaging, and flexible training programs to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

 

Apr 28

Achieving the Healthcare Triple Aim

By Make Health IT Easier

Achieving the Healthcare Triple Aim with Triple Down Support 

The Triple Aim is a framework for improving healthcare outcomes, which was first introduced by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2007. The Triple Aim focuses on three goals: improving the patient experience, improving population health, and reducing healthcare costs. This blog post discusses the Triple Aim in more detail and explores how it can be applied in healthcare. 

Improving the Patient Experience 

The first goal of the Triple Aim is to improve the patient experience. This means providing patients with high-quality care that is safe, effective, and patient-centered. To achieve this goal, not only must healthcare providers listen to their patients and respond to their needs and concerns, but every patient touchpoint, from scheduling their appointment to paying their bill, should be a pleasant and seamless experience.  

Improving Population Health 

The second goal of the Triple Aim is to improve population health. This means focusing on the health of entire populations, not just individual patients. To achieve this goal, healthcare providers must work to prevent illness and disease by promoting healthy behaviors and lifestyles. They must also address social determinants of health, such as poverty, education, and housing, which can have a significant impact on health outcomes. 

Reducing Healthcare Costs 

The third goal of the Triple Aim is to reduce healthcare costs. This means finding ways to deliver high-quality care at a lower cost. To achieve this goal, healthcare providers must eliminate waste and inefficiencies in the healthcare system. This means spending less time doing administrative tasks or being stuck in the EHR and more time with the patients. They must also work to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and readmissions and to reduce the use of expensive tests and procedures that may not be medically necessary. 

Applying the Triple Aim in Healthcare 

The Triple Aim framework can be applied in many different healthcare settings, from hospitals and clinics to community health centers and long-term care facilities. To implement the Triple Aim, healthcare providers must focus on several key strategies: 

Improve Patient Experience 

According to a Solution Reach study, every patient disappointed with their experience reaches ten other patients. On the contrary, every patient was satisfied with their experience only reached four patients. Organizations that focus on patient experience drive financial and clinical outcomes. Provider organizations must treat the whole patient from the beginning to the end of their care, not just in the exam room. Part of that treatment involves creating a patient-centered culture. Give patients a voice. They want to be educated on their care, and equipped with the tools/technology to actively participate in their healthcare journey. This involves teaching patients how to use patient portals and empowering them to engage.  

To make this possible, physicians must have the time to give to patients. Equip doctors with more intuitive, less intrusive technology tools that support the physician workflow and make their administrative tasks less time-consuming so they can spend more time focusing on the patient.  

Improve Provider Satisfaction 

Switch to a “shared care” model versus a physician-centered model to distribute the provider’s burden. In this model, everyone in an organization begins to carry the weight, reducing physician burnout and increasing satisfaction. Organizations can start reducing work through pre-visit planning and pre-appointment planning. Invest in scribes to complete non-physician order entry and streamlined prescription management. For more clinical tasks, have a clinical staff assistant filter electronic information for fewer inbox messages.  

Reduce Per Capita Cost 

Technology needs to be a part of the solution to control costs. Utilizing technologies that reduce the administrative burden on physicians opens them up to provide better quality care to patients also to allocate more time to see and treat other patients. Technology tools can lower staff time spent on scheduling appointments, engage patients as consumers, decrease appointment cancellations, and decrease wait times to make appointments.  

The Triple Aim framework provides a roadmap for improving healthcare outcomes by focusing on the patient experience, population health, and healthcare costs. By implementing the strategies outlined in this framework, healthcare providers can work together to provide high-quality care that meets the needs of their patients and the community as a whole. 

Apr 11

Strategies to Leverage a PMO For Your Next Technology Implementation

By Make Health IT Easier

Strategies to Leverage a PMO For Your Next Technology Implementation

Deborah Aguilar, PMP, CSM, BHSA, Lean Six Sigma

Project Managers are often underappreciated and underutilized because their knowledge and expertise are misunderstood. According to a Project Management Institute study, 80% of high-performance organizations have a PMO (Project Management Office). Hear from one of EHR Concept’s lead project managers (PMs) and Consulting Partners, Deborah Aguilar, on how to best leverage a project Management Office (PMO) involved in your next technology implementation. 

Why do PMOs exist? 

Many organizations are suffering from an inability to deliver projects on time, under budget, and within scope. Unfortunately, strategic thinking is not enough; agility and adaptability are essential to sustainable future growth. One of the main misconceptions of the Project Manager role is the belief that anyone can step into that role. If someone took accounting in college, would they be considered qualified to do your taxes? Organizations know they need PMOs and PMs to lead their projects, but do Project Managers possess the skills to succeed? Promoting someone into this role, changing someone’s title, or adding more resources is not enough when you are trying to create a PMO positioned to succeed. 

The primary function of the PMO is to manage shared resources across projects to drive increased efficiency and the implementation rate across the portfolio/program. A centralized PMO, combined with an extraordinarily strong supporting project management philosophy, can achieve a culture of accountability by delivering quality projects focused on continuous improvement.  

The PMO identifies and develops project management methodologies, holding project managers accountable all the way through project audits, lessons learned, and the closing project cycle. The PMO develops policies and procedures, defines repeatable processes, and standardizes project status and project communications to ensure that all PMs are adhering to defined and repeatable PMO processes. Organizations should always know what they are getting when engaging a PM that reports directly to a PMO through additional visibility through detailed status reporting and increased communications.  

A PMO is continually looking for conflicts in timing, resource inefficiencies, proper risk planning, and issue management, as well as managing stakeholder expectations to isolate potential problem areas and misaligned expectations well in advance. This ensures that they can be responsibly managed and addressed, maintaining time, scope, and budget and successfully achieving implementation for their customers. PMOs should be considered integral to positive organizational change regarding project dynamics.  

How PMOs Play a Critical Role in Organization Agility 

Most, if not all, organizations prioritize agility as a pillar in their governance and success models. With constant technology and market changes, the healthcare industry is always in flux. All healthcare organizations need a change champion capable of adapting in response to those changes to keep the organization moving at the pace required to drive projects forward and execute the strategic roadmap. With cross-functional visibility, PMOs are well-positioned to fill this role. Project Managers have a deep understanding of their projects, but the PMO has a deeper understanding of the organization.   

The PMO is essential to facilitating mediation by bringing other competing projects, owners, and stakeholders together to work on resolutions based on what is best at the organizational level. To be successful, PMOs need to be included in the conversation and should be integral members of the strategic planning processes.   

PMOs work to create relationships with Executives in the C-Suite to build trusted and valued relationships. Their partnership in developing and executing a strategic road map is the mechanism by which the PMO can deliver actionable insights to leadership, informing proactive recommendations to assist in positioning an organization to achieve higher levels of success. 

Apr 07

Rural Emergency Hospital Program Could Resuscitate Hospitals on Life Support

By Make Health IT Easier

Rural Emergency Hospital Program Could Resuscitate Hospitals on Life Support 

Rural healthcare has been on life support for some time now and may have just received a lifeline that is too good to refuse. To no one’s surprise, rural hospitals struggled during the pandemic, but federal aid did manage to keep many afloat. According to a recent analysis, more than 180 rural hospitals have closed in the United States since 2005, with 19 closing in 2020 alone. Now while other industries are feeling like they are finally out of the woods from COVID-19, the aid rural healthcare once had is drying up, and more financial support is essential. The American Hospital Association (AHA) projected in September of 2022 that some hospitals may not make it.  

A large contributor to rural hospital closures is the cost of maintaining inpatient units, otherwise known as beds for patients who need to stay more than a few days. In most cases, patients requiring longer stays or complex surgeries will be transported to larger, higher acuity hospitals, leaving rural hospitals with only a few inpatient beds full. In comes CMS’ new Medicare provider designation for rural hospitals, the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) program, which was implemented in January. The program requires rural hospitals to only provide emergency, observation, and potentially outpatient care, and transfer all inpatients (patients requiring lengths of stay longer than 24 hours), to a network of hospitals that provide higher levels of care.  

This will allow rural hospitals to adjust their healthcare infrastructure to fit their needs, while still providing the medical and emergency services their communities need. Rural and critical access hospitals that meet the conditions of participation will receive huge financial relief through a 5% payment increase for their services, a monthly facility payment, amounting to more than $3 million a year, a 3.8% pay increase for 2023 outpatient providers, and restored rates for medicines acquired by the 340B drug payment program.  

REH Program

Although the REH program will provide a much-needed lifeline to rural healthcare, nearly 1600 hospitals aren’t sold due to the requirement to cease inpatient services. These facilities argue that inpatient care is not only key income for the hospital but also an essential need for their patients. Under this program, patients that require inpatient care would be transferred to a large hospital in the closest city, which could be at capacity itself or difficult to travel depending on weather, roadblocks, and more; leaving the patients with only a few options – wait or travel out of state.  

The question many rural hospitals are now trying to answer is whether a hospital without inpatient services is better than no hospital at all. While it is unknown how many hospitals will eventually get on board with the REH program and how many will continue to provide for the needs of their community, even if that means financially suffering, a few other steps were taken in the last few months by policymakers to mitigate the closures.  

Spending Bill

In December 2022, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill that included a two-year extension of Medicare payment adjustments targeted toward rural hospitals. Additionally, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) is testing the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model which provides rural hospitals with an all-payer global budget and is intended to reduce costs, increase quality, and improve the sustainability of rural hospital finances. 

Mar 31

The Cost of Rural Hospitals Closures

By Make Health IT Easier

The Cost of Rural Hospitals Closures

As much as we’d all like to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, the world is still feeling the aftershocks of the havoc it wreaked and will for many years to come. Communities in rural America were hurting long before COVID, with 150 rural hospitals closing between 2005 – 2019. This tragedy was amplified by the pandemic. As patients sought care during the pandemic, they soon learned how limited their hospital options were, and the available hospitals were overrun with sick patients.

Financial Loss
Rural hospitals have been experiencing persistent financial loss and low financial reserves for years now, and COVID has only exasperated the issue. Although some steps have been taken by the government to help soften the blow, including financial assistance during COVID, which is soon to expire, now more than ever, we need solutions across the board. Out of 600 rural hospitals, 200 are in danger of closing in the next two to three years, according to the CHQPR survey, while 30% of those 600 facilities are at risk of closing in the future.

Some wonder what this means for our rural communities, but we should ask what this means for our Nation. When we really dive into the issues, we discover a vicious cycle. Operating at a loss is one thing, but that loss causes ripple effects for the rural community. Doctors and clinical staff are feeling burned out. With many “jumping ship” during the pandemic, hospitals are short-staffed and struggling financially, leaving doctors carrying a load of even more patients for what might be inadequate compensation. Unfortunately, it seems like there is little to no help on the way, as new doctors don’t want to work and live in rural America because of this.

Eventually, these hospitals can’t stay afloat any longer and must close their doors. Even in urban and suburban communities, hospitals are at risk of closure. These aren’t considered so bad, assuming that if one hospital closes, it is easy enough to go to another. But think about how many patients will now knock on the next door. This may mean more dollar signs to some, but this doesn’t mean more efficient patient care. To accommodate everyone, the facility will have to speed up care, which is when mistakes occur. Sadly, this proves to increase patient mortality.

Hospital Locations
In rural America, a hospital closure can be far direr. The average travel time to the nearest hospital is about 17 minutes compared to 12 minutes in the suburbs and 10 minutes in urban areas. Some in the farthest percentile average a 34-minute drive, with others over an hour. These 5 -10 minutes can make a huge difference in the outlook of a patient’s health. If the nearest hospital closes, it leaves many almost stranded, with the next closest hospital double or triple the distance. Another significant problem with hospital closures is that in rural America, hospitals are often the largest employers in the area, leaving many without jobs if their doors were to close.

Vicious Cycle
To close the loop on this vicious cycle, we must recognize the severity of this issue on our Country as a whole. Urban and suburban America relies on rural America for food, energy, and recreation. If this area of our Country’s health is declining, so will their ability to produce these essentials for the rest of the Nation. Some might think that rural hospital closings will not affect them, but here we see that we are all connected and that the opportunity to survive and thrive must be given to ALL American hospitals. Various lifelines are being extended by legislators that could save some of the rural healthcare, but there is no one size fits all approach.

Jan 02

Make Health IT Easier

By Make Health IT Easier

Make Health IT Easier

Health IT is innovating our world and improving the quality of patient care, but it can be difficult to navigate and execute successfully. Without experience-based implementation, competent staff, and continuous support for staff and patient users, both your patient’s safety and your ROI are at risk. Below we will discuss the inherent risks and their solutions. 

Strategic Planning and Complex Project Management  

Strategic planning seems like a no-brainer, but it is essential to determine where your organization is today and provide a vision for where it will be in the future. When strategic planning is done right, your organization will be able to successfully communicate its vision and ensure that both stakeholders and users are on board and understand their integral role in the change. In our experience, large corporate IT implementations often fail and are scrapped six months post-implementation because people are inherently resistant to change. This leaves everyone feeling defeated and exhausted. 

Our experienced project managers can help you plan, develop timelines, build consensus around project objectives, track progress, prepare your staff for change and motivate your organization to achieve your goals effectively and efficiently. 

Successful Implementation   

A successful implementation is contingent on a strong implementation plan, followed by clinical readiness assessments, and of course a backup plan just in case everything doesn’t go as planned.  

We know a successful implementation can be achieved with a proven and effective Go-Live Process Plan from start to finish. A discovery phase is very important, as it identifies current pain points and all EHR or other systems that will be involved and determine workflow needs surrounding them. From the discovery phase, one is able to create A System Design and Training Plan to help execute a workflow analysis of your users and clinical process. Once that plan is in place, we assist you in bringing experts in where needed to help complete application design/build, run full system testing, and conduct classroom and on-the-job training and go-live support. 

Line Up Your A-Team 

As we said, health IT is difficult without the proper resources. You need the best team on the job that is highly trained and understands the purpose behind the processes they are carrying out. Unfortunately, poorly prepared staff bring to light resistance to change and human errors that can lead to patient safety risks. Poor patient identification within health IT becomes exponentially more problematic and dangerous as more data is generated and more applications are introduced into the healthcare environment. If your staff is resistant to change, you may need to consider outsourcing.  

​​​Our expert team is made up of clinicians with deep application knowledge, experienced project managers, and expert technical consultants, all focused on improving clinician adoption, productivity, and satisfaction with health IT. As your trusted advisor we will equip you with the tools to make health IT easier, positioning your facility for value-based care, decreasing burnout, reducing costs, improving patient experience, and increasing quality/safety. Our consultants are certified in all major EHR solutions and can assist and advise on other health IT implementations, optimization, training, and support. (To be continued. Don’t miss our next blog for more ways EHRC can make Healthcare Easier for your organization) 

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