WHY BOTHER CHANGING

HEALTHCARE POLICY MANAGER

SOFTWARE?

From the various implementations and onsite visits that I have completed with cl ients I always run into the question as to “Why do we have to change our pol icy management software?”

I completely understand why these questions come up because i f there is one thing that is for certain is that individuals are reluctant to change.

I myself question when changes are made within our office because I feel i f it ’s not broken why fix it? That is unti l my col leagues show me where it’s broken. When individuals are used to doing things in a certain fashion they do not want to change that and step out of their comfort zone.

I always ask these individuals a set of questions and my observation is that in most cases that the change is occurring because of either one, or al l , of the fol lowing reasons:

The current solution is not meeting the individuals needs No one is using the current solution Cost

EVERYTHING IS WORKING WELL. WHY DO WE HAVE TO CHANGE

NOW?

Facilities that have a current policy management system tend to change or look for an alternative solution because: They generally find that the current solution is not meeting

their needs, such as not having a system that allows them to track which of their colleagues have read the documents.

Having a system that does not allow them to generate analytics with regards to their documents.

When a solution does not provide flexibility in terms of updating or creating their documents. There are too many steps to follow and everyone in the company has a different process in terms of editing their documents.

Their current solution doesn’t provide them a streamline process to help them efficiently manage their documents.

THE CURRENT SOLUTION IS NOT MEETING THE INDIVIDUALS NEEDS

Another major reason for changing a current policy solution is that individuals do not use the system.

They find that the solution does not provide the correct results or they are not able to search for the documents they need. If people find that the application is not user friendly and not

easily accessible they will shy away from it fearing that they might do something wrong.

If a user finds the system overly complicated they will try to avoid it.

Occasionally audience members may have experienced glitches or bugs that have soured their experience and therefore don’t want to continue to use the software.

Individuals may also not use the system because they find it time consuming and then start creating their own libraries within their hard drive, which leads to several versions of a document on one topic.

NO ONE IS USING THE CURRENT POLICY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Cost is a major reason as to why organizations tend to switch policy manager systems. When I refer to costs I am not solely referring to the price of

implementing and maintaining the new system. That is only one small piece of the puzzle. Of course cost in terms of

staff hours and resources taken up to learn the new system, so that uptake is thorough, can be off-putting.

This is a short sighted viewpoint though as in the long term these costs diminish through time saved and increased reliability.

Another major cost factor to consider is when individuals do not use the system correctly, or at all, incidents may occur at a facility. This can often be related to common actions such as an outbreak

occurring because an employee did not wash their hands properly or medical waste being disposed incorrectly.

It may cost an organization several millions of dollars because a certain policy or procedure was not followed and they end up in a legal battle trying to rectify the situation.

COST

It can be a big step to change policy manager software and we can find many reasons not to.

This being said if any of the three above situations apply to you it is definitely worth exploring other options.

At the end of the day not having the right software for your organization can result on a lot of going negative side effects.

We at PolicyMedical would be happy to discuss your current situation and your ongoing needs. It may be that we can offer you a better solution, or it may be that we can’t, but we will certainly point in you in the right direction.

Please contact us to chat things through or click here to request a demonstration of our policy management software.

It's also worth keeping in mind that changing your software can be done relatively easily.

THANK YOU FOR READING