3 ways to overcome your interface challenges
TRANSCRIPT
Presented By:
Rich Murphy Vice President, Interface Software, Iatric Systems
3 Ways to Overcome Your Interface Challenges
Agenda
• IT Barriers • Consequences if interfaces aren’t working • 3 ways to overcome top interface challenges • What we’re hearing from hospitals
Top Barriers
• The 2014 HIMSS Leadership Survey states: staffing and financial resources have been key barriers to IT implementation for the past two years.
• A 2014 Healthcare Informatics Interface survey found that the top barriers to completing interface projects are: • Other IT projects taking priority • Meaningful Use • Lack of technical staff
• Find a way to:
• Allocate budget for high profile projects • Complete important interface projects • Protect interface projects from staff turn-over
Source: 25th Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey and Healthcare Informatics 2014 Interfaces Survey
If interfaces aren’t working
When interfaces go down and systems stop talking to each other, caregivers cannot quickly access vital patient clinical data. This results in:
• Manual patient care processes • Jeopardizes patient safety • Irate physicians and caregivers • Bad publicity • Non-compliance bringing fines and
penalties
#1 Have a solid plan
Q: How would you describe your internal interface project plan?
Source: 2014 Healthcare Informatics Interface Survey
#1 Have a solid plan
Q: Describe how often your interface projects are completed on time.
Correlation between defined process and completing
projects on time: Ø 56.5% of those with a
formal process completed their interface projects on time
Ø 74.6% of those with an informal process sometimes/rarely or never complete their interface projects on time
Source: 2014 Healthcare Informatics Interface Survey
#1 Have a solid plan
While every project plan varies, there are seven key steps in bringing an interface to life and keeping it there:
1. Understand and document workflow 2. Profile the systems being connected 3. Building the interface and testing 4. Going live 5. Monitoring and troubleshooting 6. Keeping up with changing
requirements 7. Create data mapping
#2 Be prepared for challenges
Q: What challenges does your organization face related to interface projects?
Source: 2014 Healthcare Informatics Interface Survey
Addressing Top Challenges
Meaningful Use taking priority – take advantage of the lull between Stage 2 and Stage 3
Other IT projects having higher priority – having clear project plans will allow you to prioritize and implement your interfaces faster
Lack of technical staff – be honest about your staff capabilities and set them and you up for success
Vendor delays –make sure that you have someone (internal or external resource) project managing the implementation
#2 Be prepared for challenges
When building your interface strategy, consider your staff’s ability to meet these seven major challenges:
1. Troubleshooting disparate systems 2. Educating staff on building interfaces 3. Falling behind on other critical IT
projects 4. Having the time to build & manage all
interface projects 5. Being available 24/7 for emergencies 6. Managing the high risks when interfaces
crash 7. Justifying the high cost of in-house
interface work
#3 Ensure Interface Expertise
Many healthcare IT groups find that they don’t have the time or manpower to build and manage the typical interface workload. The options available are:
• Performing all interface work in-house which may require extensive training
• Hiring an interface service provider • A combination of the two
#3 Ensure Interface Expertise
Q: When hiring new staff, do you struggle to find people with healthcare IT integration experience?
Source: 2014 Healthcare Informatics Interface Survey
#3 Ensure Interface Expertise
It’s important to analyze your in-house interface management capabilities from many angles by asking these questions:
• Bandwidth to finish low and high profile projects? • Can you cost-effectively coordinate this activity? • Should you deploy an interface engine? • What is your internal level of interface expertise? • Can qualified team members monitor 24/7/365? • Can your IT team scale up and down as needed? • What is your knowledge of regulations?
#3 Ensure Interface Expertise
Interface service providers can take the burden of any or all of these tasks off your shoulders:
• Handling full project management • Providing technical expertise • Leveraging existing relationships
with Health System Vendors • Maintaining interface best practices • Accessing specialized tools • Provide flexible support options
#3 Ensure Interface Expertise
Healthcare IT organizations need to be strategic by avoiding tying up in-house IT resources to handle and manage interfaces. Tapping the experience of an outside provider:
• More cost-effective • Minimize risk to interface projects when
employees leave or retire • Increase staff productivity • Shorten implementation timelines • Achieve higher quality deployments • Reduce the risk of interface and project
failure • Rest easy, even on holidays, with
dependable 24/7/365 support
What your peers are saying
“It was such a good experience working with Iatric Systems. We just sat down, talked about the goals and did a really good scope document, and then we implemented it. Iatric Systems was able to do some really cool stuff for us with the IIM, both to get the progress notes, and do the patient matching for the ADT interface.”
- Clark Averill, Director of Information Technology St. Luke’s Hospital
“We couldn’t have achieved this degree of integration between MEDHOST and McKesson without the expertise of Iatric Systems.”
- Joy Huntington, Clinical Nurse Specialist Roper Saint Francis Healthcare
