Watson Community Association is a non-profit organization located in Arizona. Watson Community Association operates a 200-bed acute care facility, Watson Community Hospital (WCH), which also employs primary care physicians to provide easy access to Primary Care for patients. WCH has eight clinics which are staffed by thirty-six physicians and seven midlevel providers, who specialize in internal medicine, family practice, infectious disease, and gynecology (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 628-629).
WCH clinics currently utilize XYZ Data Systems Integrated EHR and Practice Management System. They have had this system for four years. The hospital uses Meditech, which is compatible with the WCH clinics’ systems, and a was a key consideration in …show more content…
First is the establishment of a Project Steering Committee. The committee will have strong leadership, consisting of a representative from each of the 8 WCH clinics. These individuals will have different roles, such as physicians, nurses, and office managers. This is important because each of these individuals will bring expertise about the clinic that they work in, as well as knowledge about their role and exactly how they use the EHR (Wager et al., 2013, p. 218-219). The Project Steering committee will be co-chaired by a physician who has credibility and strong peer support. It is important to have a leader who has strong connections to the providers and can help with provider buy-in (The National Learning Consortium, 2012). Having a physician co-chair the committee will greatly help with this. According to the National Learning Consortium (2102), an EHR implementation should always have a physician champion. The physician champion can act as a liaison between the Steering committee and the clinic physicians. The physician champ can also provide a clinical perspective from a provider’s view (The National Learning Consortium, 2012). The other co-chair of the Steering Committee will be the CIO, who has been involved in other EHR implementations. Including somebody knowledgeable about IT is extremely important to have on the Project Steering Committee (Wager et al., 2013, p. 219). Having that individual co-chair the committee can greatly help with the ability to create and direct the committee’s activities. Another strength of the EHR plan is the Steering Committee performing an evaluation of the prior implementation and existing issues with the current EHR. A series of discussion will take place in small groups, which will then report to the large group. The large group can then develop a summary of issues. Conducting this evaluation is a positive thing for a few
WCH clinics currently utilize XYZ Data Systems Integrated EHR and Practice Management System. They have had this system for four years. The hospital uses Meditech, which is compatible with the WCH clinics’ systems, and a was a key consideration in …show more content…
First is the establishment of a Project Steering Committee. The committee will have strong leadership, consisting of a representative from each of the 8 WCH clinics. These individuals will have different roles, such as physicians, nurses, and office managers. This is important because each of these individuals will bring expertise about the clinic that they work in, as well as knowledge about their role and exactly how they use the EHR (Wager et al., 2013, p. 218-219). The Project Steering committee will be co-chaired by a physician who has credibility and strong peer support. It is important to have a leader who has strong connections to the providers and can help with provider buy-in (The National Learning Consortium, 2012). Having a physician co-chair the committee will greatly help with this. According to the National Learning Consortium (2102), an EHR implementation should always have a physician champion. The physician champion can act as a liaison between the Steering committee and the clinic physicians. The physician champ can also provide a clinical perspective from a provider’s view (The National Learning Consortium, 2012). The other co-chair of the Steering Committee will be the CIO, who has been involved in other EHR implementations. Including somebody knowledgeable about IT is extremely important to have on the Project Steering Committee (Wager et al., 2013, p. 219). Having that individual co-chair the committee can greatly help with the ability to create and direct the committee’s activities. Another strength of the EHR plan is the Steering Committee performing an evaluation of the prior implementation and existing issues with the current EHR. A series of discussion will take place in small groups, which will then report to the large group. The large group can then develop a summary of issues. Conducting this evaluation is a positive thing for a few