Topics: Practice Management, Medical Billing Company
Has your organization decided to swap out your existing software stack for a smarter toolset? Congratulations – reaching consensus for a new solution is no easy feat (and often takes far longer than providers expect).
Regardless, deciding to switch is only the beginning of the solution implementation process. Your new vendor will undoubtedly help guide you through the experience—ideally, with the added guidance and expertise of your medical billing service. But even with the best consultative help out there, many practices still miss gaps in their approach internally.
Creating a strong sense of expectations and plans can keep your whole team engaged and on-goal throughout the implementation process. Here are our top three pieces of advice as you start putting a selected solution into action.
Pinpoint User-Leaders
Once your vendors’ trainers go back to business as usual, they won’t be on hand to answer questions and collaborate as your staff gets used to the new system. So who will be?
Determine an answer to that question as early in the process as you can. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy: As you test the software and start educating teams on it, the folks who catch on first are pretty clear to spot (and are often eager to develop their expertise further).
Encourage those types to embrace roles as ‘Power Users’ who can help you champion education and awareness initiatives internally.
Scale from a Small Start
The ideal implementation plan incorporates new technology and processes into a smaller area of your operations first, allowing a segment of team members to get comfortable with the software before it affects the whole organization.
If possible, pursue that route at your practice. (Maybe your front desk team can start using the new practice management tool’s interface for check-in even while your coders still use the old EHR software in the encounter room.)
Focus on Communication
Making sure your solution change is successful requires that everyone understand the advantages (and utilize the new tools). Smart communication strategies can help you achieve that. Plot a plan for sharing updates across the organization – keeping everyone informed on progress, from high-level leadership to administrative staff.
And as the new software creates wins in terms of error reduction and patient experience, be sure to communicate (and celebrate) those too. Highlighting such exciting milestones often helps keep the momentum going well after implementation ends.
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