While you have likely heard of the potential of these systems to offer real benefits — by reducing your practice costs, increasing the speed of reimbursements, and enhancing your practice’s productivity — you also undoubtedly have heard “horror stories” of practices that experienced just the opposite.

Although some practices have made the transition relatively smoothly, others have struggled with implementation delays, productivity slowdowns, unexpected costs, and marginal outcomes. Clearly there’s a big difference between simply investing in a system and gaining real benefits from the technology.

What Makes the Difference?

It goes without saying that you need to select the right system for your practice, and you need the right training and support to get the system installed, your patient data transferred, and your EHR up and running. But if that’s all that’s needed, then practices buying systems from the same vendor and getting the same level of training from the same implementation teams and consultants should experience the same results, correct?

Unfortunately that frequently isn’t the case.

The fact is, there’s more to a successful Electronic Records system implementation than simply investing in the right technology. There’s more to it than just taking advantage of training programs, consultants, and technical support.

Something else is needed — and the presence or absence of this essential third factor is what frequently makes the difference between practices that reap the full benefits from their systems and practices that don’t.

Click here to download the full pdf article: How to Overcome the Hidden Barrier to EHR Adoption & Meaningful Use.

Study after study has shown that when an EHR implementation fails to deliver on its promise, more often than not, the missing link is getting people on-board with the change.

Of course, it’s one thing to know that you need staff buy-in, it’s another thing entirely to know how to get it.

Here are some steps you can take to encourage participation, cooperation and collaboration from staff members at all levels, and increase your chances for a more rapidly successful EHR transition.

1. Convey The Urgent Need For Change

   Making a major change in a clinical environment is hard enough. Trying to make that change when people don’t recognize the need for it is a recipe for failure.

   Everyone on your staff needs to understand why the new technology is essential. For example: it will reduce the need for repetitive paperwork and improve the patient experience; it will speed providers’ access to clinical data enabling the practice to see more patients; and it will make it easier for everyone to meet 3rd party documentation and reporting requirements and ease the transition to ICD-10.

   However, while you may make a great logical case for adopting EHR technology in your practice or facility, people don’t make decisions based on logic alone. Emotions are a powerful factor. You need to make sure that everyone not only understands the logical reasons for EHR adoption, but also understands what the consequences will be to them personally if the change isn’t successful.

   Staff members need to know that a successful EHR transition is essential if your organization is to keep functioning in the rapidly changing healthcare environment; that it will enable you to continue to provide quality care to patients; and that successful EHR adoption is critical to your ability to continue to provide your valued staff with jobs.

2. Keep People Informed

   People don’t really fear change. What triggers fear is the uncertainty that comes with change.

   When making a significant workplace change, one of the worst things you can do is keep people in the dark about your plans. This encourages rumors and leads people to start grumbling about their jobs and worrying about their futures.

   When it comes to EHR implementations, one of the biggest concerns non-clinical staff members have is whether the new technology will take away their jobs.

   In light of today’s economic realities, no one really expects guarantees of job security. However, what they can and should expect are honest answers to tough questions.

   Both clinical and non-clinical staff members will want to know:

   • How the technology will impact their work and their futures
   • What will be expected of them
   • What new skills they will need in order to meet these new expectations
   • How they will be trained and supported for these new challenges
   • How their performance will be assessed

   The fact is, the new technology will make some tasks unnecessary, and some skills irrelevant.

   However, it is important for you to recognize, and to communicate to everyone, that when work gets reorganized and when certain tasks are no longer necessary staff members can often take on more valuable activities.

   For example, if implementing the new system will allow you to increase your patient load, you may need some staff members to shift from administrative work to more patient-centered activities.

   This will require training and upgrading of skills. When you provide this training, you will be contributing to your staff’s development, making them more valuable in their current or future positions and contributing to their job satisfaction.

3. Harness the Power of Collaboration

   To get the maximum value from your EHR system, and to increase the speed of getting to that value, you need discretionary effort and enthusiastic collaboration from everyone on your staff.

   One way to build buy-in and at the same time encourage collaboration is to include both clinical and non-clinical staff members in planning the technology implementation and in developing strategies for realizing maximum benefits from the EHR.

   There are two advantages to doing this:

   You may have heard the expression, “People who plan the battle, rarely battle the plan.”

   When you involve staff members in planning the transition, you increase their “psychological ownership” of the project. This vastly increases the likelihood that they will be committed to its success, and that they will offer suggestions for accelerating the transition and point out potential problems before they become major issues.

4. Show People What’s In It For Them

   The most successful managers know that, for people to put in their best efforts to further any change, they need to be genuinely excited and enthusiastic about the results the change will bring.

   Any significant workplace change, particularly one that will require all staff members to learn new skills and change their work habits, will be challenging. Enthusiasm about the ultimate benefits of using the EHR will help to keep staff members motivated on a day-to-day basis.

   You can build excitement and enthusiasm by show people how the technology will positively impact their work and enhance their jobs.

   Today many practice staffs are exhausted by the ever-increasing workload. Senior staff members often have to put in additional hours to get all of the paperwork done. When patient charts are lost, delayed or incomplete, physicians are frustrated and staff members often bear the brunt of that annoyance. And when patients are kept waiting due to inefficient workflow, poor communication, or missing information, who frequently has to listen to the complaints? The nearest staff-member.

   EHR technology, when properly implemented and utilized, will eliminate much of the paperwork, resolve the problem of missing and inaccessible information, and improve communication.

   Different practices, and different departments within a practice, will have different issues that frustrate and annoy clinical and non-clinical staff. The point is to identify the specific issues that frustrate and slow people down in their jobs, then show how adoption of the new technology will help to alleviate these.

While many healthcare leaders continue to view financial rewards as the ultimate motivators, tighter budgets are forcing them to explore other alternatives — and just as well. While cash bonuses will always be welcome, a simple “thank you” packs a much bigger punch than most leaders realize.

Mary Kay Ash, known for building Mary Kay Cosmetics from a small storefront operation to a multi-billion dollar global enterprise, once said: “There are two things people want more than sex and money…recognition and praise.”

A recent survey conducted by McKinsey & Company supports her views.

In the survey, executives, managers and employees reported that non-cash motivators were more effective motivators than financial incentives. And at the top of the list of motivators was “praise and commendation” from supervisors.

The fact is, psychological research has proven time and again that offering regular praise and appreciation is one of the most effective employee motivation strategies.

That’s why managers who regularly recognize and praise staff members for high performance, and even for dedicated effort, achieve higher levels of productivity, staff retention and staff satisfaction than those who don’t.

That’s also why they tend to wind up with stronger bottom-line performance as well.

Yet in the day-to-day rush of a clinical environment, it’s easy to either forget to recognize people or to offer only cursory and non-specific thanks.

To get the best results from praise and appreciation, you need to be as specific as possible.

People need to know why they are being praised, and what they did to earn the positive attention. When staff members are clear on why you are recognizing them, they are more likely to repeat the behavior you want.

The following article from Drs. Kevin & Jackie Freiberg, best-selling authors and sought-after speakers on leadership and employee engagement, offers 25 terrific “templates” for offering praise and recognition that you can easily adapt for your healthcare environment.

As you read the article, note how each statement is aimed at an individual.

General statements such as, “Good job everybody” are nice, but don’t pack the same motivational wallop.
 

25 Ways To Recognize People’s Contributions

 
Before you recognize someone stop and think about it for a minute. What competencies do you value? What attitudes do you look for? What results are you seeking? What were the critical factors in your success? How has this person demonstrated one or more of these things? The brain teasers listed below are intended to get you thinking creatively about recognizing your employees in an authentic and specific way. Remember that the people you report to need recognition too!

1. As I watched you handle that (customer, supplier, shareholder, etc.) today I was impressed by your ability to…
2. You are an extremely valuable member of the team because…
3. As I watched you lead the meeting today I realized how (smart, motivating, competent, fun, etc.) you are because…
4. You bring the kind of attitude and work ethic to our firm that inspires me because…
5. I see you running the (department, division, company, etc.) someday because…
6. I knew you could do it because…
7. You did a remarkable job because…
8. I’m proud of you because…
9. It’s clear that you are a quick study because…
10. Thanks for being “on top of it,” I have a lot of confidence in you because…
11. You have such a unique way of dealing with (people, details, technology, conflict, etc.) because…
12. You bring the right ingredients to this (project, company, team, etc.) because…
13. Thank you for speaking up; it took a lot of courage to…
14. Thank you. It was great to see you take responsibility for…
15. I like the way you were thinking and acting like an owner when you…
16. I admire your imagination and creativity because…
17. It’s exciting to work with you because…
18. I appreciated the way you listened so carefully before you…
19. You mean a lot to this (department, division, company, etc.) because…
20. I trust you because…
21. I like the way you collaborated with…
22. You make the rest of us laugh because…
23. I respect you because…
24. The best thing you did (in that meeting today, on that trip, on that proposal today, etc.) was…
25. You have a special knack for… For example…

By Dr. Kevin and Dr. Jackie Freiberg, world-class speakers, thought leaders, and authors of the best seller NUTS!, its sequel GUTS!, and recently BOOM! 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors Off Business-as-Usual. For more resources on improving your individual or business brand, visit our home page at http://www.freibergs.com or http://www.freibergs.com/cooltools/

And while hiring the right people to begin with is a big part of the equation, there’s a lot you can do right now to bring out the best in your people – regardless who they are, and regardless how they have performed in the past.

A great example of the power of management to motivate employees comes from Toyota.

In the early 1980’s, Toyota and General Motors partnered in a first-ever collaboration between the Japanese company and a major US automaker.

For Toyota it was a golden opportunity to establish operations in the US and to benefit from GMs vast
distribution network.

For GM it was a last-ditch effort to save a failing plant.

You see, the deal that GM offered Toyota was to take over the management of their Fremont California factory – the worst performing plant in the company. A plant with overhead costs 30% higher than GMs other plants, 20% worker absenteeism, frequent strikes, poor customer service ratings, and dismal sales.

Not only that, to close the deal Toyota had to agree to reemploy the same union employees who had performed so poorly for GM.

Yet despite these obstacles, Toyota agreed. And within 2 years the plant’s production had grown to twice the average of other GM factories, costs had decreased to 50% of average, worker absenteeism had fallen to 2%, and customer satisfaction ratings – and car sales – had increased significantly.

How did Toyota managers do it?

Not with a new factory or equipment. The old plant had remained virtually unchanged.
And not with new workers – 85% of the staff were rehires from the old factory.

Toyota managers accomplished the seemingly impossible with a highly effective management strategy.

They motivated these formerly disgruntled and unproductive employees by making them feel that their work was significant. They empowered employees to solve problems and make decisions. And they got employees at every level to actively participate in improving the factory’s operations.

You can use these same proven principles to motivate your staff to a higher level of performance.

Read more about Toyota’s strategy in this article (pdf) Motivating Sustained High Performance: Psychological Lessons From Toyota

You can learn the specifics of implementing these employee motivation strategies in your clinical practice in our new audio-seminar: A Profitable Practice Is Everyone’s Business: How to Maximize Staff Performance and Productivity For Increased Bottom-Line Results

Now if you’re thinking “what’s the difference – aren’t a business plan and a strategy the same?” you’re not alone. Most people confuse the two – but having a business plan for your practice does not mean that you have an effective practice strategy.

Business Plan

Business plans are most often drawn up for financial reasons – planning for a new practice start-up, financing a major acquisition like new technology or real estate, or expanding the practice. Since they are often used to inform lenders, partners, and vendors about your practice’s plans for financial performance and growth, they tend to focus on income, cash flow, and balance sheet projections. Once they fulfill their function, they are often put on the shelf and rarely consulted.

While having a good business plan may get you the capital and terms you want, an externally focused business plan does little to ensure the future success of your practice.

The best business plans, however, aren’t just used to provide information about your practice to outsiders, they are also used internally to provide direction to your entire organization. For this kind of plan, you need a well thought out practice strategy.

Strategic Plan

A practice strategy isn’t primarily for outsiders, it’s for you, your partners and everyone on your team.

It directs both the internal operations of your practice as well as any external marketing and promotion activities you do. And most importantly, it helps you make the right decisions about staff hiring and training, new services to offer, and investments of both time and money.

An effective practice strategy starts with goals – where you want your practice to be in 5, 10 or 20 years. This includes the demographic group of patients you will serve, the size of your practice, and the type of care you will deliver.

To develop an effective practice strategy, you not only need to identify your goal, but you must thoroughly evaluate the current state of your practice. This includes your practice’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities around you and any threats you face.

When it comes to evaluating strengths, most practice owners take too narrow a view. They tend to focus either on their own specialty training and the credentials of the staff physicians in the practice, or on the equipment or technology the practice has.

A better evaluation comes from taking a broader view. This includes looking at the strengths and capabilities of all staff members, at less obvious resources such as relationships with nearby businesses and organizations, and even at established patient relationships.

The most thorough evaluations include interviews with key staff at all levels. An added benefit of these interviews is that they can reveal previously unrecognized opportunities for your practice.

You also need to evaluate your practices weaknesses and any threats you might face in the foreseeable future. The right strategic plan will overcome or compensate for any weaknesses in your practice by matching strengths to opportunities. It will also help you protect against threats before they sneak up and take you by surprise.

What a Strategic Plan Will Do For You

The goal of the strategic planning process is to come up with the right business model and image for your practice. In other words, how will your practice deliver care and how will you be positioned in the eyes of patients and referral sources?

Once you have the right strategic plan for your practice you are in a much better position to determine the best tactics, or specific actions to take, to achieve your practice goals. You’ll also be better able to build a more effective team, train staff members, design the right policies and procedures, and implement the right marketing and practice promotion tactics.

Most importantly you’ll be able to reduce costs. You won’t invest time and money in activities that aren’t likely to yield the results you want. You’ll be able to operate more efficiently and put systems in place to manage and monitor results, rather than having to manage individuals, revisit decisions, and frequently operate in crisis mode.

With the right strategic plan, you can build a practice as large or small as you want, while maintaining efficiency and high productivity at all staff levels. Your patients benefit from the efficiency, you and your staff benefit from the increased productivity. And isn’t that what operating an exceptional and profitable practice is all about?

No matter what your specialty is, where you practice, whether you have a solo practice, or a large group, the step-by-step system you’ll discover in the the audio seminar How to Position Your Clinical Practice For Outstanding Success will help you craft a winning strategy for your practice.