Learn how leading organizations are taking an aggressive “advise and consent” approach to Epic implementations—allowing them to benefit from Epic’s strengths while taking ownership of factors critical to success.
A Quick Preview
In the U.S., it's mostly Epic
Our previous research has described risks that can be associated with the rapid, big-bang implementation of any EMR vendor’s product.
Given Epic’s large share of EMR implementations, we wondered how the risks and potential solutions described in our previous reports differed for Epic customers. We interviewed some of Epic’s most experienced U.S. hospital customers and the busiest Epic implementation consultants, and analyzed their responses, to determine how Epic implementation projects differ from those for other vendors’ systems.
Avoiding the risks, Epic style
We've identified six risks of a rapid, large-scale EMR implementation driven primarily by meaningful use deadlines:
- Loss of organizational goodwill
- Withdrawal of support
- Conversion or duplication
- Burnout and exit of IT staff
- A strategy gap
- Lack of measurable value
These risks can affect any vendor’s EMR implementation; however, as we already mentioned, most new U.S. EMR implementations are Epic systems. And many of those customers selected Epic at least partly because they wanted to implement rapidly, so it is likely that these risks are affecting mostly Epic customers.
In this brief, we also expand on 14 ways to avoid or mitigate these risks:
EMR in the news
- 1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Governance, governance, governance
3. Reporting and transparency
4. Seek external input on project staffing
5. Consider slowing down
6. Get the sequencing right
7. Manage change
8. Don’t hijack, integrate
9. Select or hire the right project director
10. Learn from other customers
11. Standardize intelligently
12. Consider postponing major changes
13. Get organized
14. Hold the line on testing