Health Care Leader Action Guide on Implementation of Electronic Health Records

A key ingredient for success under health care reform will be the ability to utilize health information technology to manage the care of patients across the continuum of care and produce actionable data to help improve outcomes and reduce costs. The promise of HIT to help providers deliver efficient, high quality care is driving the federal government's stimulus program to provide financial incentives for the meaningful use of electronic health records within hospitals and physician offices. But just like any major organizational improvement effort, the adoption and use of EHRs must be built on a solid foundation of leadership engagement and careful planning. The Health Care Leader Action Guide on Implementation of Electronic Health Records provides a roadmap to help senior executives develop a strategy to use EHRs that advances the organization's ability to deliver care that is safer, more effective, and efficient.

Produced in partnership with the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME), this guide is organized into high-level categories that executive teams should consider in planning and implementing an EHR:

• Gather the executive team
• Develop a strategic plan
• Perform a gap analysis
• Develop a high-level project plan
• Initiate culture change
• Redesign workflow processes
• Implementation

There is a slide presentation associated with this report.