Provider services and solutions

Health Information Technology: Strategy and Effectiveness

The challenge

Administrative redundancies. High overhead expenses. High staff turnover. Patient dissatisfaction. Poor patient outcomes. All frequent consequences of manual, paper-based health information processes. The remedy: advanced, well-implemented health information technology (HIT). HIT supports crucial collaborations such as e-prescribing, computerized physician order entry, and electronic health records (EHRs). The payoffs: streamlined operations and workflow. Increased reimbursements. Enhanced patient safety. Improved clinical outcomes. A crucial edge over your competition.

Though providers often experience sticker shock when pricing an EHR implementation or enterprise software, you must resist retreating to traditional paper processes. You must embrace digitization. Now rather than later. President Obama wants to make early adoption of EHRs worth your while. His stimulus package allocates more than $36 billion for incentive payments to providers who demonstrate "meaningful use" of certified EHRs. Physicians and hospitals who adopt on schedule can earn (through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements) substantial compensation up to nearly $44,000 for each physician and $6 million for an average 500-bed hospital. The processes and technology you put in place to support EHRs also enable you to develop profitable new service offerings. Like delivering diagnostic, treatment, and prevention packages tailored to individual patients.

How we can help you

• The transition from paper to digital is inevitable over the long term, but it will cause short-term pain. You should anticipate impediments to change and address them proactively. We can ease paper-to-digital transitions and software upgrades with staff training and change management programs. We can encourage and energize your staff to adopt the changes necessary for your organization’s success.
• You should begin planning for new or upgraded HIT in time to take advantage of stimulus package incentives for early adopters of EHRs.
• We can help you progress swiftly and confidently toward your "go live" date for a fully functioning EHR. We can recommend vendors, oversee implementation and drive compliance with government regulations. We can help you form alliances with payers and other providers to hasten the adoption of an interoperable EHR among alliance participants.
• You want to spend wisely on the right IT products. You need to plan your HIT implementation carefully to achieve a return on your investment.
• We can determine your organization’s specific IT needs and help you select the appropriate products to meet them. We can help you build consensus within your board of directors for IT roadmaps in both the short- and long-term. We can coordinate diverse IT platforms to achieve efficient workflow throughout your organization. We can help you explore the anticipated and actual return on your IT investment.

Common services include

• Easing the transition between paper-based and digital/online processes through EHR and application package (EMR/CIS/ERP) project services
• IT assessments such as analyzing current and projected IT staffing levels and competencies
• Accelerating EHR planning and implementation
• Determining IT needs and selecting products to meet them
• Making HIT effective and efficient in order to support your organization’s clinical operations and reduce/manage operational costs as well as ongoing infrastructure costs
• Aligning IT with business unit goals in order to enhance revenue