Spine: .768 Medical/Reference Making Everything Easier!™ You’re ready to get serious about an EHR system. Let this book be your guide! Open the book and find: E Elec tronic l e Electronic health records (EHR) are rapidly becoming a must (cid:129) Reasons to implement EHR c in the healthcare industry, but choosing and implementing an t EwHhRa ts yysotue msh coaunld b eex dpaeucnt tfirnogm. Tahni sE bHoRo sky shteelmps, hyoouw d toet aenrmaliynzee (cid:129) Santadn wdahredrse tthoa lte aafrfne actb EoHutR t hem ron Health Records (cid:129) How to evaluate whether your potential vendors, how best to train your staff, and much i practice is ready c more. Whatever your healthcare setting or needs, For Dummies H will help you make the move to EHR. (cid:129) Different characteristics of the available vendors e (cid:129) Get a handle on your EHR — understand what it is, how it a (cid:129) How an EHR system will affect will affect your staff and patients, and the impact of health l your practice t information legislation on EHRs h (cid:129) Explore the nuts and bolts — examine your needs, assess your (cid:129) How to communicate EHR R benefits to patients office infrastructure, research vendors, and calculate costs e and benefits (cid:129) Important privacy and c (cid:129) What makes a good partnership — decide what you need, outline security tips o it to potential vendors, learn what to get in writing, and develop r (cid:129) Ten questions to ask your d a successful contract EHR vendor s (cid:129) Fit your EHR into your practice — see where your office workflow needs adjustment and how best to use an EHR to shift your stakeholders into new and improved processes Learn to: (cid:129) Make the most of it — explore how EHR can make your office run more smoothly, improve patient communication, and help (cid:129) Choose and implement an EHR system manage chronic conditions Go to Dummies.com® for videos, step-by-step examples, (cid:129) Improve your practice’s efficiency and (cid:129) Ongoing maintenance — learn to support, monitor, and upgrade your system how-to articles, or to shop! record-keeping with EHR (cid:129) Transition to electronic records with minimal disruption (cid:129) Understand EHR standards, integration, and benefits $29.99 US / $35.99 CN / £21.99 UK Trenor Williams, M.D., and Anita Samarth are cofounders and principals ISBN 978-0-470-62365-7 of Clinovations, an advisory consulting firm offering services that support Trenor Williams, M.D. electronic health record strategy and implementation for clinics, hospitals, and the federal government. They share more than 35 years of experience Anita Samarth in healthcare, technology, and consulting. Williams Samarth Cofounders of Clinovations Spine: .768 Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include (cid:129) Checklists (cid:129) Charts Apps (cid:129) Common Instructions Mobile (cid:129) And Other Good Stuff! To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/electronichealthrecords Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our (cid:129) Videos (cid:129) Illustrated Articles There’s a Dummies App for This and That (cid:129) Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * With more than 200 million books in print and over 1,600 unique titles, Dummies is a global leader in how-to information. 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Electronic Health Records FOR DUMmIES ‰ 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd ii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM Electronic Health Records FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Trenor Williams M.D. and Anita Samarth 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiiiii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM Electronic Health Records For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its affi liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010941212 ISBN: 978-0-470-62365-7 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd iivv 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM About the Authors Dr. Trenor Williams is a family practice physician and co-founder and CEO of Clinovations, a healthcare advisory consulting fi rm based in Washington, DC. Over the last ten years, he has helped health systems, offi ce practices, and physicians select and implement electronic health records in both the United States and abroad. He has worked with a number of EHR systems and is currently leading inpatient and ambulatory engagements at MedStar Health, Bon Secours Health System, and Adventist Health Care. He has signifi cant experience supporting benefi ts realization, physician adop- tion, clinical transformation strategies, and working with third-party vendors to develop evidence-based clinical content. Dr. Williams is Associate Editor of Improving Medication Use and Outcomes with Clinical Decision Support: A Step-by-Step Guide, which received the 2009 HIMSS Book of the Year Award. Prior to beginning his consulting career, Trenor was the Medical Director of Family Practice at Mammoth Hospital in California and was a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, M.D. from Marshall University, and completed his family practice residency at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. Anita Samarth is co-founder and President of Clinovations where she leads the company’s public and non-profi t sector work. She has more than 15 years of experience providing strategy, planning, management, and implementation consulting to over 60 clients in the area of health information technology. Her client organizations include large integrated health systems, hospitals, physician practices, federal government agencies, non-profi ts and NGOs, and state/local departments of health. She is currently working as the Technical Assistance Services Director for eHealthDC, the District of Columbia’s Regional Extension Center for Health IT. Prior to Clinovations, Ms. Samarth founded ASTECH Consulting, where she led projects for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Offi ce of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), and the Certifi cation Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT). Ms. Samarth previously worked as Program Director for the eHealth Initiative, National Practice Manager for GE’s EHR Clinical Consulting practice, Manager at First Consulting Group (now CSC), and Senior Consultant with Accenture. Ms. Samarth holds Bachelor of Science degrees from Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering and in Electrical Computer Engineering. 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd vv 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd vvii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM Dedications Trenor Williams would like to dedicate this book to his family, especially his wife Sara and daughter Charlotte, for their patience, love and support as he worked way too many nights and weekends on this book. Anita Samarth would like to dedicate this book to all of my mentors who have challenged me and expanded my skills through the years — you pushed and didn’t fl inch when I responded to assignments saying, “you know I’m an engi- neer, right?” You have helped me transform to who I am today. 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd vviiii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM 0011__99778800447700662233665577--ffffiirrss..iinndddd vviiiiii 1111//1188//1100 1111::1133 PPMM