Meaningful Use and the Local Champion

On July 28, 2010, the much anticipated Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records Final regulation was posted in the Federal Register. Much of the industry had an advance review of the regulation since it was released by the Department of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2010.

Since that day, many of us health information technology professionals have been reviewing the regulation and attending a host of industry education sessions, including the HIMSS webinars series and CMS education series, trying to understand the regulation and all of its provisions.

While traveling last week, I had the opportunity to read one of our HIMSS publications, Change Management Strategies for an EMR Implementation by Claire McCarthy, MA; Douglas Eastman, PhD; and Contributing Editor David E. Garets. I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in the implementation of an electronic medical record. Although many of the examples provided in the book address larger organizations, the core tenants of the book apply to any organization about to implement an EMR.

Many of us know that in life the only thing that is constant is change, and we have learned by experience how to deal with change throughout our lives.

In school, we learned that systems implementations require and involve people, process and the technology. For any technology implementation to be successful, you must address all three in a disciplined and thoughtful manner. The most important aspect of this trilogy is to address the aspect of working with and addressing the change that people will experience when implementing new technologies.

The incentive program to achieve the meaningful use of EMRs offered by CMS will require a great deal of change for all involved. In fact, all of us involved in the implementation of health information technology and EHRs, as McCarthy and Eastman point out in their book, serve as the “local champion” and become the best friends of the hospitals, medical practices and organizations that are about to embark on this great change.

I challenge each of you to become that local champion because true change in our healthcare system will only start when you become involved.

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One Response to Meaningful Use and the Local Champion

Sherry Reynolds says:

August 6, 2010 at 6:12 pm

This is great advice. As a HIMSS board member here in Washington – responsible for advocacy – I redefined what that meant (from DC politics to local engagement)and I have been fairly successful in playing a grass-roots role in the efforts going on in my local community.

In the last six months I have been asked to serve (volunteer) on both our regional Washington and Idaho Regional Extension Center (REC) advisory board as well as on the advisory committee for the winning Beacon Community grant at INHS (Spokane) with a focus on patient and consumer centered design and been asked to testify before Aneesh Chopra’s workgroup on Innovations in EMR implementations.

As highlighted in this book, it is clear that there is a genuine need for people who not only have a deep understanding of the technology involved but also know how to manage the organizational change process involved with any EMR implementation. When I explain to people what I “really do” it is akin to being a EMR “mid-wife” who oversees the birth of a new way of connecting healthcare workers and patients to one another. In order to do this I pay far more attention to peoples’ hopes and fears via stakeholder engagement, communication and training as I do to project timelines.

I imagine I am still somewhat unique however in advocating that patients should be key stakeholders in the design of the system and that we need to put as much emphasis on what they want out of the healthcare system as we do on provider and other stakeholder needs.