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.