The Best Way to Manage Your EMR Project
The Best Way to Manage Your EMR Project
Our original time line placed our electronic medical records (EMR) system launch date at late summer 2005. Unfortunately, the effect of the hurricanes forced us to push the date back two months. This delay also coincided with some other big events at the practice: the construction of another satellite office and the addition of a new associate. We knew that the success of the EMR project would require an ongoing commitment of time and resources - we opted to move the go-live date to the beginning of 2006.
Frank E. Polack, president of the Project Management Institute (PMI) chapter in Atlanta, helps explain how a project manager can help an EMR plan integrate unforeseeable events. Implementation of a sound change management plan is a huge factor in ensuring the success of a project.
A great change management project can ensure that an office culture will successfully adapt to a new system; implementation requires an overseeing Project Manager (PM). The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as a "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service." Most system vendors have their own PM assigned; you may want to consider this option as well.
It's a good idea to begin with a Project Charter. The Charter documents exactly why we're doing what we are doing, what we're implementing, the anticipated schedule, and the budget. The Project Charter should also include potential risks, constraints, and outline concurrent projects along with their anticipated milestones.
Microsoft Project is another great scheduling tool. Really, even Microsoft Excel can be used for task tracking. It's a good idea to keep a log which includes the probability, projected impacts, and mitigation plans for certain risks. This scheduler should include an issue log where items that require attention are entered. The PMI publishes standards including important knowledge areas for a project manager, who should be employing processes from the nine areas to ensure full project coverage.
Of the nine areas, three are identified as triple constraints. These triple restraints are: Cost (Budget), Scope (Work), and Time (Schedule). If any of these are changed, the others will also be affected. For example, increasing the scope of the project will result in an increase in time and cost. By attempting to lower the cost, the quality must be lowered and the scope will need to decrease. Possessing fewer resources can mean it will take more time to complete the work. It's important to stay conscious of dependencies, as in when task B cannot be started until task A is done.
Quality Management requires making intermittent inspections to be sure that you are implementing strategies which satisfy established requirements. Simply waiting to see if everything turns out is a bad idea.
Integration Management
Includes all elements listed above, along with assurance that they are managed during the entire project cycle.
Procurement Management
Understand vendor contracts and the terms you're entering into, be it cost-plus, fixed-price, or time & materials.
Communication Management
What must be communicated, and to whom and how? Important team members may require frequent updates, while others receive information less often. Will updates be distributed by memo or e-mail? When will meetings take place, and who should attend?
Risk Management
Identify, qualify and account for potential impacts. Next calculate costs in terms of schedule and money. A risk management plan should be developed to deal with identifying and mitigating potential risks as they occur. Risks should be monitored regularly, as something with a low probability may have a greater potential for impact later on.
Human Resources Management
Who are the SMEs, the subject matter experts? Who's on the project team? Will the manager have full authority over the allocated resources?
Project managers can reduce the pains and costs associated with implementation. They are available for hire, and your local PMI chapter can be a great place to start if you're trying to find the right one for your plan.
The Best Way to Manage Your EMR Project - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Polack's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Last summer, Ocala, a city in central Florida, was struck by two of the four hurricanes which barrelled through that year. Long power outages and significant structural damage caused many practices to close; some of the coastal practices couldn't even conduct surgeries for several weeks after the hurricanes.
Our original time line placed our electronic medical records (EMR) system launch date at late summer 2005. Unfortunately, the effect of the hurricanes forced us to push the date back two months. This delay also coincided with some other big events at the practice: the construction of another satellite office and the addition of a new associate. We knew that the success of the EMR project would require an ongoing commitment of time and resources - we opted to move the go-live date to the beginning of 2006.
Frank E. Polack, president of the Project Management Institute (PMI) chapter in Atlanta, helps explain how a project manager can help an EMR plan integrate unforeseeable events. Implementation of a sound change management plan is a huge factor in ensuring the success of a project.
A great change management project can ensure that an office culture will successfully adapt to a new system; implementation requires an overseeing Project Manager (PM). The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as a "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service." Most system vendors have their own PM assigned; you may want to consider this option as well.
It's a good idea to begin with a Project Charter. The Charter documents exactly why we're doing what we are doing, what we're implementing, the anticipated schedule, and the budget. The Project Charter should also include potential risks, constraints, and outline concurrent projects along with their anticipated milestones.
Microsoft Project is another great scheduling tool. Really, even Microsoft Excel can be used for task tracking. It's a good idea to keep a log which includes the probability, projected impacts, and mitigation plans for certain risks. This scheduler should include an issue log where items that require attention are entered. The PMI publishes standards including important knowledge areas for a project manager, who should be employing processes from the nine areas to ensure full project coverage.
Of the nine areas, three are identified as triple constraints. These triple restraints are: Cost (Budget), Scope (Work), and Time (Schedule). If any of these are changed, the others will also be affected. For example, increasing the scope of the project will result in an increase in time and cost. By attempting to lower the cost, the quality must be lowered and the scope will need to decrease. Possessing fewer resources can mean it will take more time to complete the work. It's important to stay conscious of dependencies, as in when task B cannot be started until task A is done.
Quality Management requires making intermittent inspections to be sure that you are implementing strategies which satisfy established requirements. Simply waiting to see if everything turns out is a bad idea.
Integration Management
Includes all elements listed above, along with assurance that they are managed during the entire project cycle.
Procurement Management
Understand vendor contracts and the terms you're entering into, be it cost-plus, fixed-price, or time & materials.
Communication Management
What must be communicated, and to whom and how? Important team members may require frequent updates, while others receive information less often. Will updates be distributed by memo or e-mail? When will meetings take place, and who should attend?
Risk Management
Identify, qualify and account for potential impacts. Next calculate costs in terms of schedule and money. A risk management plan should be developed to deal with identifying and mitigating potential risks as they occur. Risks should be monitored regularly, as something with a low probability may have a greater potential for impact later on.
Human Resources Management
Who are the SMEs, the subject matter experts? Who's on the project team? Will the manager have full authority over the allocated resources?
Project managers can reduce the pains and costs associated with implementation. They are available for hire, and your local PMI chapter can be a great place to start if you're trying to find the right one for your plan.
The Best Way to Manage Your EMR Project - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Polack's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. |
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Peter's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 |
|
Peter Polack Video - Peter Polack's Medical practice management and advice. Download our free reports: "The 7 Key Strategies to Building a Successful Medical Practice Even in Tough Economic Times" at http://www.emedikon.com/freereport/ and "Getting Through the EMR Maze" at http://www.emedikon.com/EMRReport/
|
|
|
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Marketing ScoreCard Start eTutoring Business Home Party Plan Mistakes Venture Capital Guide Why Banks Say No eguide |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Business Plans
Top Business Plan Blogs | |
 |
The Top 10 Guy Kawasaki Posts
Best Posts for Entrepreneurs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||