By Dale Emerson, COO of Hielix
HIE is not about technology – technology certainly helps but HIE is more about change. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information at Department of Health and Human Services recently stated “People working in health IT should think about electronic health records, not as a technology project but as a change management project. Components of Meaningful Use include sociology, psychology, behavior change and the mobilization of levers to change complex systems and improve their performance”. Healthcare is now facing one of its biggest challenges in history as they convert to electronic records. The benefits seem obvious – better care coordination, lower costs, and higher quality of care. So why are healthcare providers not rushing to embrace HIE? It seems that many of them have been waiting for this whole computer fad to pass and for paper and pencil to resume its natural place as the leading technology. However, the more likely cause is people’s natural resistance to change.
Change forces to people to adopt new ways of doing their jobs. Routine in work related tasks has a calming effect on workers. Workers like to know what is expected of them and they take pleasure in knowing how to do their jobs satisfactorily. Whenever change is introduced into the workplace, it disrupts the normal flow of work and may cause people to resist the change. Even when workers understand the rational for the change and may even agree with it logically, emotionally they will remain skeptical.
Frequently, workers are not shown how the change impacts them directly. Will I be able to perform the new work tasks as well as I could the old tasks? If I don’t perform as well, will that impact my employment? Will I still have the same power and prestige in the organization? Will the change eliminate my job? Will I still be working with the same people who I know and trust? Does my superior know how the change will impact them and what does that mean for me? Faced with these questions, it is easy to understand why HIE has taken so long to gain traction. In order to help people with change, we offer six key concepts that will help make the transformation easier.
- Create a compelling vision that people can easily understand and embrace.
- Be open, honest and transparent in how you relate to your staff. Good communications is the most important attribute you have to help you manage through the process.
- Provide individual leadership and it starts with you. Change affects everyone, including you so lead by example.
- Change involves risk. Follow a sound change management process to reduce these risks and improve the probability of success.
- Be prepared to stay committed through the whole process. Any change process will have ups and downs and will meet some level of natural resistance so you have to be prepared to follow the plan even when it all seems to be so hard.
- Get the right resources to help you. You will certainly need support internally and maybe externally. Find the early adopters and get them to help lead the change effort. Reach out to a neutral, external resource that can help you change and offer an unbiased view of your world.
Following these simple tips can really accelerate the adoption of HIE in your organization. While these tips are simple in concept, they can be very difficult in reality so understand the challenge, be prepared to face it and your odds of success will improve.