New Year…. New Workflows
There is something about a new year that brings new beginnings and new hopes. A new year helps us reflect on our previous successes and failures and allows us to formulate a roadmap for future success. This is also an opportune time to evaluate your business and I.T. processes and determine what works and what does not. Conducting the following work flows will identify gaps in your workflows.
- Patient workflow- "Patient workflow" means many different things to different people. Certainly, patients are the main focal point. Understanding and truly assessing your current workflow on an annual basis from a subjective viewpoint is a critical piece of the pie that will help redesign and improve your electronic processes with minimal impact on "People Flow". Having someone objectively document the entire workflow from the time the patient walks in the front door all the way through the waiting room, triage, treatment and discharge is a required step in improving patient flow and overall patient satisfaction.
- Create visual landmarks within your office and within your health center so patients can reorient themselves.
- Don’t move the patients unnecessarily. It confuses the patient and wastes staff time.
- Avoid having a circular flow which can create bottlenecks. While the intent may be good idea, People typically try to exit the same way they came in.
- Provider workflow- Dentists and Hygienists contribute the most critical flow in the office. Why? Because all revenue is generated by providers. If their flow is inefficient the practice and health center can be impacted.
- Breaks down the silos.
- Understanding how your providers operate in the operatories is crucial in managing a successful EDR implementation and most importantly ensure utilization.
- A key element of a successful implementation is the pre and post workflow assessments.
- How do the provider’s communicate with their support team?
- How do the provider’s communicate with each other?
- Perceived/Expected workflow- Take the time to talk to the key individual stakeholders and listen. Listen to what they expect the EDR to do and not to do. Make a list of "Must Have" vs. "Nice to Have" items.
- Become one with the providers
- Listen! Listen! Listen! (Take notes)
- Implementing an EDR is not an IT project. Implementing an Electronic Dental Record (EDR) should be considered an organization wide project where IT will play a major role.
Having the key stakeholders take ownership of their own Enterprise Database with the support of I.T. will not only ensure success it will aid in adoption. Remember, the days of simply implementing an EHR are gone. FQHC’s and their affiliated providers now must adopt and utilize certified EHR technologies in a "Meaningful" way. They address specific key items to address health disparities and specific quality measures.
If you want more information on Meaningful Use in the Oral Health arena the Dentrix Enterprise website is a great place to look. There is great information at
Also, take a look at "Facts & Myths on Meaningful Use" http://www.dentrixenterprise.com/pdf/C-ENTMUFAQ-Q312.pdf
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