Tuesday, April 20, 2010

HSS5301 EHR Needs assessment


EHR Needs assessment

definition of a Needs Assessment

- implementing an EHR requires that you conduct a needs assessment, identify and quantify measures of success, and determine the methods for maximizing ongoing benefit realization.

- needs assessment as a systematic process to develop an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of a business process in terms of efficiency and quality

- this understanding is used to set and prioritize goals, to develop a plan, and to allocate resources.


Function of needs assessment

- who needs what information, at what times, and in what locations for what purposes?

- this question is asked for existing work flows processes and then reviewed when designing optimized work-flows

- to assess current work-flows and design optimized work-flows

- then assessed software functionality that would be needed to achieve the optimized work-flows.


Important goals need to be balanced:

- patient safety

- health care quality

- process efficiency

- other organizational business plans and goals

- EHR usability


Measures of Success

- Explicit measures of success (short-term and long-term) are critical to the success of an implementation

- Provide the meas of monitoring the progress of the project and communicating that progress

-Identify new measures as the implementation progresses (or modify existing measures based on ongoing review)

- Care quality versus financial, and quantitative vs directional

+ Directional benefits are difficult to quantify

+ On the other hand, number of lines of transcription is a quantifiable measure.

+ Improved care processes can also be measured quantitatively



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