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PremEHR Solutions is an independent consultant that implements Electronic Health Records software and provides ongoing related support services. Iryna Chapman, Director of Business Development, explained, "Most EHR consultants resell software, so they can only offer their clients a choice of two or three different packages. PremEHR does not sell software. We’re independent, so we’re not tied to any vendor. Our sole objective is to find the best solution for each client. We assess each practice individually and use a multi-sieve process to help our clients quickly and effectively weed through the more than 900 available EHR packages. It’s a rational and analytical systematic approach. Software selection failure is one of the most difficult implementation mistakes to overcome."Chapman said PremEHR employs advanced Change Management principles to ensure project success. "One reason that so many EHR implementation projects fail, is that the project team treats the implementation solely as an IT exercise. PremEHR Solutions keys in on important motivators with the client’s staff. Before we begin the project, we discuss the ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ with each and every staffer, to ensure buy-in. We understand that change is difficult, but we explain the project’s value, not only in terms of improved health care and practice efficiency, but also in how the software implementation will improve staffs’ skills and career marketability. We also quell fears that can be a tremendous barrier to change."
Another reason so many EHR implementation projects fail is inadequate training. Chapman said that with the intense competition in the EHR market, software vendors found ways to cut costs (and therefore pricing), one being to relegate training to online videos. "In most practices, telling staff to go online and watch training videos is a catastrophe-in-the-making." Even with live training, PremEHR finds that staffers generally retain just 20 to 30 percent of the information presented by the software vendors’ trainers. PremEHR performs post-vendor-training assessment and then provides "wrap-around" (supplemental) training to ensure and certify that all staff fully understand how to use all important EHR functionality, before commencing the Go-Live. "After Go-Live is not the time to find out what people haven’t captured!"
Additionally, President Michael Winer talked about other specific ways PremEHR Solutions can help health practices. One example is the HIPAA information security assessment that must be performed by each practice attesting for Meaningful Use. According to Winer, many practices skipped the task because it’s complex and time-consuming. "You just check off a box to say ‘yes, you performed the assessment,’ but you aren’t required to submit verification." But this is a focus area of CMS’s recently commenced Meaningful Use audits, because actual performance rates are so low. While the chances of being audited are small, there’s a high probability that if your practice is selected for audit, the auditor will check to see if you performed the assessment. "PremEHR Solutions performs the HIPAA information security assessment on every implementation project; that’s one of our services. If your practice did not perform the HIPAA information security assessment, PremEHR can help you complete the task.
"While more than 60 percent of eligible health care providers have already implemented EHR, for many, their problems aren’t over," Winer said. "Some practices purchased a package license and never got it running. Or they’ve configured it poorly. Or their staff is still struggling with understanding its functionality. Or they are drowning in the task of data migration, which most practices left for the post-Go-Live phase. Or their data interfaces are not functioning as intended. PremEHR Solutions specializes in resolving these challenges quickly and economically."
While potential clients may be concerned about consulting fees, Winer emphasizes that PremEHR shortens their period of inefficiency and reduces lost revenues. "They might say ‘Why should I hire a consultant when the vendor tells me I can do it myself.’ But we will get them up and running much faster and with much less grief than if they try to do it themselves. In the end, using a consultant more than pays for itself.
"An estimated 30 percent of health care practices still have not implemented EHR," Winer said. "PremEHR Solutions wants to help these late adopters. By not attesting for the 2012 Meaningful Use incentives under the Medicare program, late adopters have already lost $5,000. If they don’t adopt in 2013, they will lose another $15,000. Providers who are ineligible for Meaningful Use incentives should consider that a properly implemented EHR system will result in operating efficiencies, after the implementation year, that are lost for every year a practice delays implementation."
While physicians use their skills and talents to treat people and save lives, PremEHR Solutions brings their professional expertise and knowledge to provide seamless end-to-end EHR implementation and support service, resulting in a painless and worry-free transition to the EHR environment.
