Challenge 

To improve business and clinical operations and enable better patient care and satisfaction, our client, the largest health system in the Washington DC area, implemented a new integrated electronic health record (EHR) throughout their approximately 6500 user health system. 

The problem – they faced an aggressive timeline, history of rough past change and technology implementations, and a large number of impacted stakeholders with a diversity of different needs and expectations.  

Solution

Tolero Solutions, and an external team of change architects, collaborated with the internal clinical informatics team and ambulatory practices to identify the readiness for change and design and deliver a change and technology adoption strategy for all impacted practices within 10 months leading to Go-Live. 

• Utilized Tolero Solutions Adoption Readiness Assessment and designed and delivered a change readiness strategy and toolkit to complement the technology deployment strategy, minimizing resistance, increasing  buy-in and commitment for the EHR, driving engagement, enhancing efficiencies and increasing user adoption – reducing risk and mitigating challenges 
• Developed and deployed a communications toolkit with customized strategic communications to inform stakeholders of progress and changes and resolve communication challenges between the corporate project leadership team, hospitals and medical practices
• Identified workflow improvements by visiting practices, performing workflow observation, and facilitating as-is and to-be workflow design sessions to effectively leverage processes and efficiencies of the new EHR
• Worked with the training team to design training specific to the users day to day role and responsibilities making sure users time away from patient care to attend training was relevant and impactful

Results

• • Through consistent interaction with each ambulatory practice, on average 10 times within an aggressive timeline, approximately 80% of the practices were comfortable with the changes and technology and identified at the ‘adoption’ stage at Go-Live
  • Across all stakeholder groups; approximately 60% of the clinical and administrative leadership were comfortably in the ‘ownership’ stage at Go-Live
  • Identified required workflow changes allowing for improvements to efficiencies and patient care, and a reduction in costly post deployment optimization
  • Improved overall communication among practices, corporate, and patients leading to increased employee engagement and employee and patient satisfaction