Successfully Navigating an EHR Conversion

Jul 3

by Christina Onolaja, MHA

Earlier this month, my practice converted from the Allscripts Professional PM and EHR system to athenaOne. If you have been through this process, you know it is not easy. Many have come to tears or left their job when going through a system conversion because of the stress of balancing seeing patients while learning a new system. While lessons were learned and there were hiccups along the way, our process went smoothly with only a 3-week ramp-up period. This was not an easy accomplishment. It required all team members including providers to be on board and dedicate time to training and practice. Some dedicated more time than others but by week 4, all providers were fully up to speed with their usual patient volumes.

So how did we accomplish this difficult task? How can other practices gearing up for this type of change adequately prepare for such a major change? Following are the key steps we took to relieve some of the tension of changing systems.

1. Communicate

It may seem like communication is common sense in these scenarios, but surprisingly, it is not always the easiest. There is often fear of how the news of a transition will be received. Our practice had been on Allscripts for close to 20 years. The physicians who started the practice only knew the system very well so there was a significant amount of fear. Fear of losing patient information, not knowing how to do their job, and making mistakes. I overcommunicated in some cases to ensure everyone knew exactly where we were in the data conversion process, training, and go-live preparedness. We sent a mass email communication to patients alerting them to the change and dates as well as how it would impact them. When patients came in during go-live, they knew we were going through a transition and were more understanding of delays in their visits. A lesson learned in this stage was we should have posted signs, used patient portals, and other means of communication to ensure we connected with all patients.

2. Encourage

It is important to take time to encourage each team member during the early phases of change communication. Identify champions or superusers and ask them to build up their peers to reduce their fears. We discussed the transition during our morning huddles each step of the way so the team knew where we were in the process and they felt involved which helped reduce fears. We also established superusers early on and reiterated multiple times who those individuals were for each role so the staff would feel comfortable asking someone in their role questions. These superusers were also tasked with reassuring and encouraging their peers along the way.

3. Educate

This was perhaps the most important part of our successful go-live. We spent a significant amount of time doing virtual, group, and individual training sessions at each level. Providers used their administrative time to attend training sessions and practice using test patients. athena has a robust virtual training platform with each curriculum broken down by role. All team members were required to complete certain training videos prior to attending live group training. This eliminated any login issues we might experience during live training because they had to log in to athena prior to accessing the Learning Portal. Each group training was broken down into small agendas so there was time to follow along and practice while learning for the hands-on learners. Individual sessions were focused on specific topics the user was having trouble with.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice

During live training, the team was instructed to take 10-15 minutes each day to practice tasks performed on real patients in athena using test patients. This helped to identify any gaps in training or issues with system configuration. We found areas where we needed to adjust templates, schedules, task assignment overrides, etc. We identified challenges and provided workarounds if a fix was not readily available. We also completed a mock go-live the week prior to the go-live. During this exercise, we set up test patients and had family members walk through visits from start to finish. We found several areas with issues, but this allowed the team to see how the system would function when they have a patient in front of them. While there were some issues because of features not available in the testing environment, the exercise was an overall success!

5. Go Live

During go live, we had our superusers roaming the halls to answer questions and provide quick support. Our athena trainers were a critical part of our success as well. They were able to create templates, make adjustments, and educate on the fly. This made the team feel supported while keeping patients flowing through the office without significant bottlenecks. Our schedules for the first week had 1 patient per hour so the providers and staff had time to get comfortable with the workflows. For two weeks after go-live, we gradually ramped up our patient volumes. By the end of the first month, we were at full capacity!

6. Celebrate!

Finally, don’t forget to take time to celebrate the wins. We provided breakfast and lunch a couple of times and shared success stories during morning huddles. It is important to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the things that went well during the entire process. The coming months will be challenging due to missing information, not knowing how to do certain tasks, or being unable to find certain tests or orders. The more the team feels appreciated and supported, the better they will recover from the challenges they encounter along the way.

While we are only a little over a month into using our new system, things are running much more smoothly each day. The confidence and pride everyone takes in what they have accomplished is evident. We did have hiccups and lessons learned along the way, but we quickly pivoted and adapted to changes as they arose so we could keep moving forward. I would easily consider our conversion a success!