Analytics & Personalization: 2 Keys to Simpler EHRs

May 19, 2022 |
DeliverHealth
 |
May 19, 2022
DeliverHealth

What can I do to make my providers more efficient with our EHR? That’s the million-dollar question nearly every healthcare organization worldwide is struggling to answer these days as they strive to deliver the highest-quality patient care and speed their revenue cycles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finding the answer is paramount, because, when EHRs consume hours of your providers’ time, everybody loses. Certainly, the providers themselves lose, because they’re in the office until 10 p.m. (or even later) finishing their clinical documentation almost every night.

As they get more exhausted, their practice staff loses, too, because when the providers aren’t happy, neither are the nurses, advanced practice providers, medical assistants, or front desk professionals who work with them. Soon, your practices’ patients may start to grow unhappy, too. And before you know it, your practice, clinic, or hospital starts on a downward slope that could erode your patient base and drive your staff to the exits.

This type of scenario is precisely why levels of provider burnout keep growing every year. As many as 60% of burned out physicians say the #1 cause is too many administrative tasks. That puts EHR adoption front and center.

So, how do you solve this pressing problem? In our experience, we’ve seen the power of two innovations: personalization labs and leading-edge analytics. When combined, organizations can use them to find the exact areas where physicians need help the most and deliver the type of training that improves EHR adoption and buy-in right from the start. Let’s explore each one:

Personalization Labs

Most organizations invest in some sort of EHR training during implementation. Some even go as far as to offer at-the-elbows support early in their EHR journey. And while any and all education helps providers learn the basics of how to operate an EHR, these tactics don’t necessarily help them with their specific trouble spots.

Personalization labs, in contrast, can give a provider the tips and tricks that go beyond standard EHR education. While a classroom-based education session on “how to write orders” will offer general tips, a Personalization Lab is a one-on-one meeting, typically two hours long, that dives into the details.

During a Personalization Lab, an EHR expert gives a provider the specific tools they need for better and faster documentation, order writing, and chart completion. Even more importantly, that expert will teach providers how they can personalize their EHR workspace, a key step that we find makes a dramatic difference in getting providers up-to-speed quickly on a new EHR. That personalized level of instruction can include showing them how to optimize their personal workspace so they can:

  • Reduce the number of clicks it will take them to get to a part of the EHR they use regularly
  • Design a template that can save them hours or even days of work
  • Find legacy information that’s not included on a patient chart
  • Integrate voice recognition software into their EHR workflow to save them time

With EHR Realization Services from DeliverHealth, Personalization Labs are part of the package—there’s no extra line item or charge for your organization. We host these labs prior to EHR go-live so your providers are ready to go on Day 1. Then, during go-live, we offer on-the-fly personalization labs. These are quick sessions (roughly 20 minutes) that providers can request when they hit a snag or need help with a specific EHR problem.

If you want to learn more about personalization labs, this blog post on 4 best practices will give you a great head start.

Leading-Edge Analytics

As EHR training happens, how do you know for sure whether it’s successful? More specifically, how do you identify areas where your providers are most proficient and separate them from areas where they need more education and guidance? The reality is that most EHR platforms don’t give you the level of data you really need, which is why organizations often struggle with provider adoption and buy-in.

Clients using DeliverHealth EHR Realization Services, however, can access the type of real time and granular data that will make a true impact on their educational outreach and give providers their best chance of EHR success.

Our proprietary software, powered by leading-edge analytics, scores the progress of your overall implementation rollout and objectively assesses the performance of your physicians. This data, presented in an easy-to-use dashboard, will help you learn exactly where your providers are struggling the most.

You’ll discover, for example, that Dr. Smith needs help with medication reconciliation, Dr. Jones struggles with writing a note, and Dr. Miller isn’t using the Problem List in the most efficient manner possible. Then, armed with this objective data, you can create and execute on educational outreach activities that meet each provider’s specific needs—all without bruising any egos.

Create the Most Comfortable Environment for Providers & Patients

The more effective and efficient your providers become in your EHR, the more comfortable they will feel. And the more comfortable they feel, the warmer a welcome they’ll provide to their colleagues and patients in every single interaction. Personalization labs and analytics are two key tools you can use to create that level of comfort, ease provider burnout, and make clinical documentation simpler.

Our EHR Realization Team at DeliverHealth gives you a team of skilled professionals with at least 4+ years of EHR-specific expertise. Many of our team members come from a clinical background, so they’ll speak your providers’ language. Interested in learning more? Let’s talk.