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

Chapter 1: Th e Business Case for Change Management 19
activities were devoted to the project, fi rst to help understand the drivers
of a new system, scope out the territory to be covered, gain the commitment
of senior leaders, as well as governance, and outline the case
for change. At my insistence, the Care Planning Executive, a registered
nurse and former hospital chief operating offi cer, joined the organization,
reporting to the system-wide CEO, as a peer and partner of the CIO, not
a staff member, and a peer to the CEOs of each medical center campus.
Th at dedication alone made clear the commitment, intentions, and overall
priority of the company.
Among several other critical success factors—and the outcome was
a success—was the overall employee engagement program that the Care
Planning Executive established. In summary, it was an education, marketing,
and training program dedicated to equipping the aff ected staff
with the knowledge and tools to embrace unavoidable change. Staff communication
was clear that it wasn’t change for change’s sake but a major
move forward in the paperless way care would be delivered and workfl
ows would be streamlined. Of course, at the time, no one could have
foreseen later moves by government to push everyone in this direction
(with the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act of 2009). Because
of our early eff orts, we’re now very well positioned.
J. Scott Joslyn
CIO
MemorialCare
Long Beach, California