Some Physician Practices Falling Short in Providing EHR Training

Physician practices often underestimate the amount of training needed to maximize the value of electronic health record systems, American Medical News reports.

About EHR Training

Many health IT vendors include training as part of the price of an EHR system. However, the training might not be sufficient for a particular practice or it might not be tailored to the practice’s needs.

Some vendors offer training packages that health care providers can purchase separately, at varying prices depending on the amount of time involved.

Some practices attempt to accelerate their training sessions in an effort to save time and money. However, experts say that insufficient EHR training can pose obstacles to widespread use of health IT systems.

Expert Recommendations

Health IT experts say there are various strategies that health care providers can use to ensure that EHR training aligns with the needs of a particular medical practice.

Andrew Fitzpatrick, CEO of health IT consulting firm WPC, said health care providers making decisions about EHR training should consider:

• The amount of data that will need to be entered into the new system;
• The type of hardware that will be used to run the EHR system; and
• Whether the new EHR system will be integrated with other health IT systems.

To maximize the value of EHR training, other health IT experts recommend: 

• Ensuring that all staff members have basic computer skills before starting EHR training;
• Decreasing patient volume during the first week after launching an EHR system;
• Offering formal, classroom-style training sessions;
• Tailoring EHR training to specific job descriptions;
• Training “super users” in each department first so they can help train others; and
• Training clinical support staff first so they can help physicians learn the EHR system (Dolan, American Medical News, 4/4).

Source: iHealthBeat

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