Change Management Strategies for an Effective EMR ... - HiMSS

Foreword
By David E. Garets, FHIMSS
Electronic medical record (EMR) deployments are not about technology.
Th ey are about equipping organizations to reach critical business
objectives by providing people with technical capabilities that make
new things possible and by engaging people in changing their behavior
to eff ectively use the new capabilities to generate results.
Th is book will show you how to create an environment for success
in your organization to not only ensure that your EMR implementation
eff ort is successful but that your organization builds change
capacity and fl exibility in the process. Th is new nimbleness will serve
you well in our world of continual change.
Defi ning change management is as important as understanding
what change management is not. It isn’t project management or
solely process improvement. Rather, it is a set of specifi c disciplines,
described in detail in this book that, when coordinated and integrated,
make the diff erence between tossing money into an EMR pit (similar
to the ones that we boaters throw our money into!) or getting the
sought-aft er changes in your organization.
Chapter 2 on Vision is especially important. In it, Claire and Doug
explain how leadership paints the picture of what is expected from
the implementation of an EMR. I would argue that it is a process that
involves not only representatives of the front line and their managers
and the senior executive team, but also the board. An EMR implementation
done right—meaning the technology works, was implemented
on time and within budget, and the people modify their behavior and
processes to achieve commensurate value for the investment—is more
transformative than anything else a healthcare organization could do.
It needs to be driven from the board. Th at way the right people, i.e.,
the CEO and executive management team, are held accountable for the
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