How to Prepare Your Staff for EHR Implementation

Implementing the right electronic health record (EHR) system for your chiropractic business can streamline your workflow, SOAP notes, and claims submission process. These efficiencies can reduce your costs and enable you to provide an overall better experience by spending more time with patients and less time with paperwork.

Before you can realize these benefits, though, you need to install and configure your EHR platform. You can significantly increase your odds of a smooth roll-out by taking proactive steps to get your team ready. So, let’s discuss how to prepare your staff for EHR implementation.

The Challenges of EHR Implementation

Several key challenges involved in EHR implementation can be mitigated by adequately preparing your staff. Here are a few of the most common friction points that preparation can overcome.

Staff Resistance

Changes aren’t easy for some people, especially when they’ve been doing something a certain way for a long time. There is often resistance to a new system from support staff and doctors.

Frustration

Staff may initially feel frustrated because they have to stop and think about what they’re doing. If you’re not careful, it’s easy for them to fall back into the same processes that you’re trying to replace.

Failure to Fully Implement EHR Systems

Without fully implementing your EHR platform and adopting a new streamlined workflow, you only aggravate frustration and delay acceptance.

Data Migration

To optimize the effectiveness of your EHR platform, you need to migrate your data into the new system. Often, practices underestimate the time that it takes to do this.

Fortunately, you can solve these challenges if you employ best practices for how to prepare your staff for EHR implementation—and choose the right software platform.

How to Prepare Your Staff for EHR Implementation

Preparing your staff for a smooth transition requires leadership from the top of the organization. Chiropractors and staff leaders must fully embrace the EHR system and ensure that staff knows that the old ways of doing business will no longer be acceptable. However, this also requires leaders to adopt the system and lead the charge.

Explain the Need and Impact

Chiropractors need to explain the need for the change and how it will impact teams. Implementing a system can streamline systems and reduce many manual tasks, for example. Since ChiroSpring is a platform built specifically for chiropractors, it incorporates many best practices to save time.

Explain the Benefits

As staff learns new ways of doing things, there can be a lag between implementation and efficiency. Staff members must understand the benefits of an EHR system to help them work through the startup phase.

Chiropractors and practice leaders can help by explaining how this change will benefit staff members. The right system can provide several benefits that will make it easier for staff to do their jobs.

The benefits of choosing an EHR practice management software built for chiropractors include:

• Automated redundant tasks: This frees up staff time spent on routine and monotonous tasks and reduces errors.
• Automated reminders: How much time do staff members spend making calls to remind patients about appointments or dealing with no-shows? Automated reminders take away the team’s burden of keeping the calendar full.
• Faster, easier intake: Staff members can save time and eliminate paperwork with an online intake process enabling patients to enter profile data and subjective information into the system. Content can automatically populate into SOAP notes, so chiropractors can eliminate the wait time for staff to input data.
• Simplified claim submissions: The right EHR system can create insurance claims automatically as soon as providers digitally sign SOAP notes. With ChiroSpring, for example, you can submit claims in two clicks to send electronic data interchange claims to your clearinghouse over a secure file transfer protocol without having to leave the platform. This streamlined process saves time while reducing errors.
• Integrated and online payments: With an integrated payment solution, you can quickly process in the platform and may be able to integrate online payments options for patients. The right EHR platform will also enable you to process recurring payments for all patients with just one click to save time.
• Simplified patient scheduling: Your practice management software should also automate scheduling to find suitable times, open slots, and plan visits.

With a comprehensive end-to-end EHR practice management system, you can manage patient flow more effectively, which makes everything run more efficiently.

Undergo Robust Training

Preparing your staff for EHR implementation includes having a robust training program.

Unfortunately, many practices shortcut the training process, which leads to greater staff resistance and frustration. Lack of training is the reason that 43% of clinicians rated their initial EHR training as inadequate. Nearly 95% of those surveyed said that they needed more time and improvement in the training process.

Chiropractors should create formal training plans and require all staff to participate fully. Best practices include:

• Role-based training: Customize training sessions to the roles and responsibilities of the staff. It’s helpful to train staff on what they need to know, but not every detail of IT administration.
• Process-based training: Help staff members understand how the new system impacts workflow and how components work together to provide an end-to-end solution for practice management.
• Super-user training: You also need to designate a super-user(s) to manage the system, who will receive more advanced training.

During the training process, encourage participation and feedback to ensure that staff members are comfortable with how they engage with practice management software.

Manage Data Migration

Part of how to prepare your staff for EHR implementation includes scheduling enough time for them to complete the data migration process. Digitizing records and getting all the necessary patient data into the new system can be time-consuming and intensive. However, without building in enough time to complete the process, it can quickly lead to staff frustration and coordination issues.

Follow Up after Deployment

Once the system is up and running, plan on scheduling time for follow-ups. This may require additional training.

Preparing Your Staff for EHR Implementation

As you can see, preparing your staff for EHR implementation requires a bit of work ahead of time. However, the work that you do to get your staff ready will pay dividends in faster adoption and acceptance.

ChiroSpring is an all-in-one practice management and EHR system built specifically for chiropractors to help them regain face-time with patients, spend less time on back-office tasks, maintain a limited staff, and save operational costs.

To see how ChiroSpring can help you simplify how you manage your practice, reach out to one of our specialists today!