System-Wide Electronic Health Record Replacement
Organization
Scripps is an integrated health care center located in San Diego, California. It is a private, nonprofit organization that is committed to providing high quality health care services to people. Scripps is equipped with the best doctors found in San Diego and is also one of the top ranked healthcare centers in the region. Scripps is also committed to providing wellness screenings and preventive services among other services. Scripps health was ranked by the United States News and World Report as the best in San Diego for offering programs such as gynecology, gastroenterology, diabetes, and heart care programs (Scripps, 2016). It was also ranked in the nation’s top seven hospitals. Some of its best healthcare services include geriatrics, orthopedics, gynecology, pulmonology, endocrinology and diabetes, heart surgery and cardiology. Such services are among the best in the region thus increasing demand. Most people have realized the value of their services thus owing to the large number of clients it serves (“Scripps Health Plan,” 2016). Due to the large number of clientele, the health care center need to upgrade its system to ensure that it runs smoothly without encountering significant challenges. Scripps needs to take measures to ensure that it efficiently records and stores data.
Scripps has been offering outstanding services for a long time, such services are a testament to how dedicated it is to patients. It also shows the exceptional skills of nurses, physicians and other workers who take care of patients daily. Scripps was ranked among the best top 45 metropolitan hospitals with a population of more than one million people (Scripps, 2016). The health care center is dedicated upon building a delivery system for this new era to ensure that the services provided are the best. Such a role can be challenging and exciting at the same time. Scripps’ employees are dedicated to accept change and to embrace it for a better tomorrow. The employees understand the need to work while aiming to incorporate new technologies in the healthcare sector to improve the services offered. The executive management team is also committed to offering the necessary support to ensure that the right techniques and appropriate technology is incorporated. On the other hand, employees undergo vigorous training incase new technology is introduced into the center. Today, Scripps is changing to ensure that it is effective in meeting the needs of the patients (“Scripps Health Plan,” 2016). It is also working hard to ensure that it reduces the cost of the services provided by also improving access to different communities. The strategies it takes helps it to give value to the patients served.
In the recent past, several medical breakthroughs have been witnessed. Such breakthroughs have occurred in areas such as advanced equipment, new treatment, and more effective medications. Scripps partners with patients and empowers them to ensure that they monitor their health by incorporating digital advancements. The clinical staff and physicians of Scripps are engaged in treating patients using such new technology. It is worth noting that Scripps is dedicated to meet the unique needs of all its patients (“Scripps Health Plan,” 2016). As a result, the organization is willing to incorporate new technologies as long as they lead to improved provision of services. This paper aims at discussing ways in which Scripps can replace the legacy electronic record systems with one enterprise electronic medical record system.
Competition
To always stay ahead of competitors, Scripps should ensure that incorporates the latest technology in various operation. The technology should also be cost effective and efficient in delivering services to clients. There is a lot of competition in San Diego among healthcare systems since they all work hard to capture clients living in the lucrative economic environment of growing uncertainty as well as the shrinking reimbursement. In the northern region, the population is better-insured and wealthier as compared to other regions. Other competitors of Scripps also target such regions to ensure that they also gain from them. With such characteristics of the targeted population, it can be noted that embracing any new technology that can help to provide services effectively can be economical in the long run however expensive it might be to install at first.
Strategies for different healthcare providers vary in terms of the way they compete for the share of the market while ensuring they meet the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. For instance, the health system of California University has taken measures to expand its services in La Jolla. Jacobs Medical Center also aims at providing children’s and women’s services, cancer care, cardiovascular care, and specialty surgery among others (Lisa, 2013). The system increased outpatient services in other parts in Scripps, Encinitas, and Vista Ranch which feed referrals to the hospital located in La Jolla. The hospital in La Jolla is worth $700 million (Lisa, 2013).
Conversely, Sharp Healthcare looks to expand its services in wealthier regions of San Diego. Such areas include North Inland, North Coastal, and North Central. Instead of establishing new hospitals in such areas, sharp opts to expand outpatient clinics that are a major threat to Scripps. Sharp opened new outpatient clinics in regions such as Sorrento Mesa area. Scripps faces intense competition in La Jolla which is its major market. Just like its competitors, Scripps aims at increasing outpatient services (Lisa, 2013).
Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records have continued to gain acceptance and transformed the delivery of quality healthcare to patients. Gettinger and Csatari (2012) posit that the widespread use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) among other technologies helps improve various services such as payments, healthcare delivery, and improving the working conditions of healthcare practitioners. Such technologies are quite beneficial in fields such as health information management. Use of the technology allows managers of health services to make good records of occurrences, the facilities available, the number of people being served, and the amount of money allocated to different activities (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). Over a short time, the large amounts of money invested in the acquisition and integration of EHR usually produce significant changes in the health information management department.
Physical medical records are soon being gotten rid of due to the enormous losses encountered. Such records also lead to inaccuracy of data and inefficiency in carrying out various operations (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). Stringent regulatory directives are being used in most health care facilities because demands are evolving. As a result, the tasks taken by health information professionals vary from one health facility to another. Driving change in an organization may be faced with a lot of ambiguity which can be overcome by implementing the changes themselves (Perera et al. 2011). Through such proactive efforts, the health information management can be in a position to define its roles and objectives while still delivering high quality services in the modern world of technology.
In spite of the progress made to replace paper records with digital records, health information resource management is still highly decentralized. For instance, health resource management has managed health records at organizational level, while other types of data and information (both operational and clinical), are managed at functional levels (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). Such information may also be managed at departmental level without guidelines that reflect good practices or enterprise policies. EHRs have significantly changed the framework for health information practices. In the world of today, health data records should be linked with other factors such as patients and providers of health care. It, therefore, means that additional sources of data should be combined with EHR data so as to support the expanded application of HER data. With a lot of information, it is quite difficult to prevent an organization’s ability to enforce, implement or to oversee standardization (Perera et al. 2011). Due to that, data is managed to improve levels of accessibility, completeness, and quality.
Such medical complexities are mainly magnified in health systems with multiple systems containing affiliated networks. Often facilities are integrated and absorbed into systems. However, it is worth noting that processes and resources are not rationalized. Therefore, providers of such services are left with a bunch of inconsistent policies and practices that breed inefficiency, redundancy, and risks (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). To connect silos, to enable standardization, to reduce duplication, and to enable improved coordination of health care, health organizations need to address the antiquated and decentralized health information management models by beginning the process of transitioning to an effective and smooth running comprehensive human information resource management platform (Perera et al. 2011).
According to Gettinger and Csatari, (2012), the quality gains and efficiency from EHRs as well as other technologies are contingent on enforcement of different operational policies and processes that address issues such as efficacy, security of data, integrity, and accessibility throughout the life cycle of its operation. Without changing the structure of an organization, the EHR technology cannot produce desired results. Today, few providers have a good understanding and a dynamic inventory of characteristics, access requirements, uses, data sources, and flow of information. Lack of sufficient information on data denies providers the opportunity to enforce and to establish consistent policies across their organization (Perera et al. 2011). Due to that, digital systems may continue facing the same inefficiencies as well as redundancies if other measures of improving services are not put in place.
Transitioning from traditional health information management to enterprise health information resource management is a journey which takes preparation, a vision and excellent execution. While implementing such changes, it is important for Scripps Health to determine their destiny, the route that should be taken, the support needed, the people on the team, and the unexpected events that should be planned for in advance. While putting such measures in place, the health center will see improvements in overall usability, efficacy, information quality, and integrity. For instance, as the implementation of EHR continues, it is neither necessary nor cost effective to have onsite storage of records. The following strategy can be done to eliminate the file room (Perera et al. 2011):
- Applying and developing policies to get rid of obsolete records.
- Relocating and scanning the accessed paper records to ensure that they are readily available.
- Scanning stored paper records.
- Scanning the paper records that are frequently accessed to ensure that they are readily available.
- Outsourcing heavy processing functions.
Organizational Structure and Staff
According to Perara (2011), electronic Health Records (EHRs) are systematic collections of population and patient health information that are electronically stored in digital format. Such records are shared across various health care settings. The records may be shared through enterprise information systems, network-connected, and other information exchanges and networks. Electrical health records include a large set of data, medical history, demographics, allergies, vital signs, laboratory test results, personal statistics such as age and weight, and radiology images, billing information (Perara, 2011).
EHR systems help in storing data accurately and capturing the health state of a patient. Using EHR helps in tracking previous paper health records, ensures that data is legible and accurate, and reduces the problems of data replication because only a single modifiable file is used, meaning that files are updated regularly; thus, reducing the probability of losing paperwork. (Coorevits, et al., 2013). Electronic medical records are effective for extracting information for making long term changes and examining possible trends.
Perara (2011) posit that since health information management professionals are freed from the challenges of keeping paper records, they can leverage their skills to ensure that they take care of managerial and other expert roles which may help in advancing governance and electronic information management. Management of enterprise information involves a wide knowledge of functions of work. Small organizations can do so by combining and assigning roles to employees depending on the needs of the company or the skills of employees. In a large organization such as Scripps, specialization is important to ensure that different functions are carried out efficiently. Specialization helps in determining the people who are responsible for specific roles, making it easy to trace changes happening and ensuring that people are responsible for their actions (Perar, 2011). Specialization also enables people to master their roles thus ensuring that they become quite competent in their field. Doing so improves the quality of the services offered. With specialization, in case something goes wrong, little time is taken to correct the problem.
Before implementing technological change to Scripps, it is important to ensure that relevant employees undergo training. The training will help them gain knowledge on the technology and improve the ways of working with it. Redefining the functions of health information managers is by ensuring that they work on tested and practical experience. Making changes to EHR may have challenges due to cost and complexity of operation. Thus, getting Scripps health management, business and clinical leaders around different concepts such as life cycle management, data quality, and stewardship is difficult (Perara, 2011). To ensure that the organization becomes successful, it is important to relate the concepts to the goals set by the organization and translating them to improved performance, dollars saved, and mitigated risks.
A wide knowledge of roles is necessary under the framework of health information management. Depending on individual skills of Scripps workers, some of the roles include risk and compliance, data dictionary, privacy and security, health data analyst, revenue cycle management, leadership, and clinical vocabulary (Perara, 2011). Other important roles include patient information advocating, information release and access, managing the life cycle of management, and exchanging health information (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). To build a business case that is successful, the following practices should be put in place:
It is important to align a business case for the governance of health information to strategize key stakeholders and corporate initiatives. The other thing is to identify significant business benefits such as minimal operating costs, and reduced risks. Qualitative benefits including improved data trust may be experienced. Improvements may be undertaken in different areas where employees have the responsibility and authority to innovate. It is also important to measure the impacts of the changes made and to set the indicators of performance, which will help track the progress being made. Prioritizing projects depending on their business value is important to Scripps. It may help in implementing the most effective technology.
The world of health information management provides great opportunities for high quality work that plays a role to information assets of patients and the organization itself. Such opportunities can be realized through encouraging innovations in the organization. Health information management officers of Scripps Health should be prepared and willing to rationalize legacy processes or transferring experiences. By putting the above measures into consideration, Scripps Health will maximize service usability, save costs and ensure superior interconnectivity of relevant stakeholders.
A new model is needed by Scripps to bridge the gap between digital and physical factors. The new model for making healthy information record management is a strategic asset which much is well augmented and managed. The following elements for governance and management of information are necessary: getting research data, safety and risk data, personal health records, registries, reporting public health data, getting business operations data, and legal health data (Gettinger & Csatari, 2012). To change to using enterprise electronic medical record system, Scripps should change some forms of its organizational structure. For instance, information should be managed as an important strategic asset. Even though it is not included in a balance sheet, information is equally as important as the organization’s reputation, capital, buildings, and research. Just like other assets, it is worth noting that information has an operational and an important strategic value. To augment data value and to prevent low quality data, as well as security and privacy breaching, information should be treated as a management strategy. The information strategy should be executed through formalized enterprise information management.
Governance is also important in optimized data value and use. Governance of information refers to formulating policies that leverage, secure, and optimize information as a primary asset. Scripps should formalize different responsibilities to people to ensure that technology is applied for multiple functions. Governance of information should not be regarded as an option to the organization. It helps to clarify the ground rules as well as the values of management. If rules and values are not made clear, it may be quite challenging to advance or to apply practices that engender trust, amplify value, and reduce the risks involved.
Lau, et al. (2012) assert that enterprise information management is important because it aligns technology, data, people, and processes with various information policies. Such policies are supposed to focus on information management roles such as securing critical data assets, data quality management, life cycle management, and data content standards. Whether enterprise information management is decentralized or centralized, it involves collaboration with business process owners, patient care, information technology, and delivery.
It is important for Scripps to implement enterprise medical records using a team approach. The team will be organized in a hierarchical manner. It is worth noting that the executive team will comprise few members. The executive steering team will have much power where they will delegate tasks to junior staff. The level of accountability and complexity will vary for different teams (Lau, et al., 2012). Functions and roles will be assigned across the boundaries of teams involved. Three major teams will be involved in ensuring that the EMR project becomes successful, they include: executive steering team, project work team, and project steering team. Each of the teams will carry out specific tasks. For instance, the executive steering team will define the process and scope; ensure that the employees work towards the goal, and offering technical assistance. The project steering group will conduct cost-benefit analysis, request for a proposal, investment analysis, analysis of alternatives, and requirements analysis. The project work group will conduct a project plan, evaluation, train employees and analyze workflow.
The project steering team will be made up of a nurse champion, and a consultant. They are basically responsible for security of apparatus, electric power, heating, air conditioning, and cabling. On the other hand, the project work group is made up of trainers, the vendor, and super users. The team is responsible for training, pilot implementation, user interface, and ensuring that individuals adhere to security policies. The team should be identified as early as possible. The team is also responsible for implementation of electronic medical records, actual selection of electronic medical records within the organization. Some of the domains that they should take charge of include physical hardware, enterprise infrastructure, software implementation and practical use of equipment and software. Other functions of the team include getting notifications, ensuring that data is of high quality, messaging, legacy systems, clinical data repository, and analyzing workflow.
The number of employees in the executive position will be lower as compared to those in junior positions. For instance, the executive steering team will be made up of three people; the project steering team will be made up of eight employees while the project work team will be made up of twelve employees (Perara, 2011). It will be important to have a small number of people comprising the executive steering team so as to ensure that all activities are closely monitored. Doing so will also help the managers to work together to achieve the expected goals. Having a small number of people in the executive team helps increase the speed of the decision making process. Increasing the number of people in the project steering team helps to ensure that all activities are carried as planned. There are so many activities that need to be carried out by the project steering team. Having a large number of employees in this team will ensure that people are allocated to various positions thus making sure that all roles are met. There should be a large number of the project work team because they perform most of the practical work. A large number will ensure that work is done quickly and efficiently without overworking the rest of the employees.
All the employees should be hired before the implementation of the enterprise electronic medical record. Hiring them at an early stage is important because they will learn about the previous system used and how to adapt to the new one (Lau, et al., 2012). It will also make the training process much easy. Employees should be present during the introduction of the technology so that they may detect changes or adapt to changes in case something happens. Hiring full-time employees is necessary because they can become more committed to their work than part time employees. Full-time employees will put much effort to their work and are more responsible and reliable than part-time workers. Such a strategy will work best on the executive team who should be employees on full-time basis. Junior positions can be filled with part-time employees due to their large number.
Project Assumptions
A single medical record will be used in the electronic medical records across Scripps health. Use of a one patient medical record will enable allow for easy monitoring of data. It will also be easy to work with since most people will be required to submit data on one place. Use of a single medical record will allow easy retrieval of information in case it is required. Having one medical record also allows well-coordinated use because employees will learn how to take responsibility.
The executive team is responsible for ensuring that all activities are conducted accordingly and that the use of electronic medical records as well as their components is done in an appropriate manner. The team is expected to assign different roles to junior staffs who are supposed to give a feedback of the proceedings after a specified period. The team will also be expected to oversee all activities in the organization to ensure that everything runs as planned. However, the project work team may also be required to work without close assessment at times because it is expected that they understand their roles. The executive team is also expected to ensure that different components of technology are not tampered with and that they are properly used.
During implementation of electronic medical records, different changes are expected to happen. Global procedures and policies should be applied to ensure that the technology is appropriately used. Use of global policies will ensure that operations carried out in Scripps meet international standards and that they are acceptable to everyone. Use of site specific procedures and policies ensures that activities are conducted as planned to avoid confusion or going against the law. Conducting activities which are not in line with what is planned may have negative consequences leading to losses or getting a wrong feedback.
Providers and sites will not be in a position to decline the implementation of electronic medical records. It is expected that everyone working under Scripps Health will see the positive impacts of employing new technology. It is also assumed that such people will see the system as more advantageous than the previous one. It is expected that once people are introduced to this new technology, they will embrace its use in the organization to improve the quality of services offered. Implementation of EMR will be seen as a way of making significant progress under medical care.
The other important thing to note is that decisions will be expected to be made at the both the site and central level. External factors are not expected to interfere with the plans made as well as the activities that will be conducted in the organization. The most important decisions will be made by the employees. A meeting will be held where the employees will have a discussion on what to do and ways of ensuring that the project becomes a success. It is expected that all the information required to determine whether the project will become successful will come from within the organization.
Assigned roles and duties will be given to different teams in a timely manner. It is expected that all activities will be given ample time to ensure that sufficient time is provided to different roles. Each team will be responsible of carrying out particular roles which must be done within the allocated time. Depending on the time available to conduct certain activities, the number of employees that will be assigned specific roles will be determined by the time allocated for the activity. Delays and lateness will be avoided because different roles will be given to specific people as well as sufficient time. Individual implementation personnel will complete all the tasks that are related to implementation of EMR within the specified time.
Providers of the EMR will possess remote access through citrix gateways. Access will be provided from different locations that have internet access. It is assumed that most areas surrounding Scripps Health have easily accessible through network. Network problems are not expected to be quite challenging to the operations of the technology. Information from different locations will be accessed through the internet within a short time.
No site is expected to go live unless the interfaces referred to as core electronic medical records work as expected. The characteristics of the population and the schedule from the executive management team will be transferred in the expected manner and within the timeframe. No delays of any type are expected to happen because enough time is allocated for different activities. Changes in the characteristics of the population of people visiting Scripps Health are not expected to bring a significant change to the implementation of the technology.
Training of employees will be a mandatory activity. Users of the technology will be given ample time for training. The fact that adequate time will be given for workers’ training means that they are expected to be competent by the end of training sessions. Each team will determine the individuals that will undergo relevant training. Training will be conducted at an appropriate time to ensure that it does not interrupt patient care.
The driving goals for implementation of electronic implementation include improved access to medical facilities, ensuring that the services provided are of high quality, and meaningful use of resources. Employees will be expected to work towards ensuring that they give the best to the clients. A lot of concentration is required from the teams to ensure that the services that they offer are meet the required standards. It is also expected that funds will be used appropriately to ensure that all the targeted activities are met. The electronic management team will maintain and build all the elements of the technology where any modifications made will affect several users. Doing so will help reduce the chances of encountering challenges as the project progresses.
Each site will preload medications, challenges and allergies into electronic management records during the time that is expected to support the requirements of implementation. With proper workflow design, employees will ensure that high level of productivity is maintained within the first three months without addition of new staff. It, therefore, means that extra cost of hiring new employees on either casual or permanent basis are not expected to be incurred. The operations will run smoothly as long as there is no interference of external factors which are unpredictable in nature.
Project Constraints
If the support provided by the vendor is not timely the process of implementation could encounter challenges. The same case applies if the vendor does not meet the expected qualifications. If time is not kept, it means that the project will be hurried thus increasing the chances of making errors and failure of some activities. To avoid such incidences, it will be important to ensure constant communication is maintained throughout different departments. Setting achievable expectations at an early stage could help to find out solutions in case something goes wrong. Project management processes should be used in different stages of implementation of EMR.
During implementation of the project, new interfaces may be required. It, therefore means that six months may be taken to come up with a new interface. Additional resources may be required meaning that extra costs will be incurred. Hiring external developers will be necessary meaning that a certain amount of money will be set aside to cater for their needs. Communicating interface risks and needs is important even though it may expose the challenges encountered to the public. Identifying needs at an early stage may be a major challenge since technology is dynamic in nature.
It will be important to consider a flexible schedule for training employees which may be quite challenging. Such a schedule will accommodate particular needs of the teams involved. Monitoring the dedicated training times may also be another major challenge. Identifying new rooms for training employees may be a challenge because time and space may be limited for implementation of the new projects. Also, support for the electronic management record project team must be given priority for timely and reliable organization wide implementation. When such factors are not put into consideration, the project may fail in one way or another.
Ensuring that there is proactive communication between project leaders to make sure that adoption of EMR is done properly may be challenging. There is need to have a central voice that ensures implementation occurs. All providers are expected to apply electronic medical records, to develop marketing strategies, and allow creative training opportunities. Coordinating all those activities may be challenging due to the limited time and resources available. The other challenge is that the EMR vendor may not have customized clinical content which is a requirement in the clinical areas. Such content needs to be internally developed to ensure that all steps are followed carefully.
The other challenging issue is that during implementation, it is important to reduce the number of patients visiting Scripps Health. The number of visits should be reduced until every concerned individual is comfortable with using the application. The schedules also need to be reduced to facilitate the process of implementation. Making such changes means that the number of patients will significantly reduce leading to decreased efficiency and productivity. During such a period, patients may opt to visit other health care facilities leading to reduced number of clients. Reduction of the number of clients means low profitability and reduced scale of trade.
Conversion Effectiveness and Value Proposition
Patient demographics includes information such as sex, phone number, patient name, and address (Holroyd-Leduc, et al. 2011). It is rather obvious that a physician may need to get the details of a patient before conducting a medical practice and entering their data into electronic health data. In most cases, it is worth noting that vendor data conversions are done using this practice. Allocating time for finding appropriate data in the chart should be done. By using the electronic medical records, such activities can be conducted effectively and timely. Patients can easily be monitored to ensure that their health is not compromised in one way or the other (Holroyd-Leduc, et al. 2011).
More information on patient demographics is necessary to carry out data recording. Such data includes insurance information, relationship to patient, employer information, the referring physician, the address of a responsible party, and next of kin. Only few vendors are able to provide data conversions. Such data conversions and types of data should be included in the HER. Management of medication depends on the insurance information of the patient. The information used in this practice helps to formulate compliance. Insurance information determines laboratory order placement. Through such practices, the health of the patient is kept safe. The employer and insurance information are important for compensation claims because clinical data is supposed to be reported to particular WC carriers and employers.
Patient prior appointment is an important consideration in EMR. Some medical practices may want to track previous cancellations, appointments, and no-shows. Without such type of data, prior data may get lost thus leading to challenges of operation. In most cases, medical practitioners do not maintain the information. Some do not find data about patient appointment quite valuable to them. Time is also required for finding appropriate data contained in patient chart (Mark, 2012). Using an electronic medical record helps save on time because little time is spent on such activities.
Most practices may want to determine cancellations, patient no-shows, and the time a certain patient arrived. If such data lacks, there may be loss of information about a specific patient. In most cases, medical practices may not maintain that type of information. They may also discover that previous patient appointment is not quite valuable. Sufficient time is thus required to determine the appropriate data in the chart that should be entered by hand. Use of EMR helps to reduce the chances of making errors while such operations are taking place.
The electric medical record gives a list of historical and current moments, and clinical challenges among others that are available for a particular patient. It also gives a list of notable and relevant treatments or procedures that are either historical or current. Most physicians prefer tracking medical procedures regarding patients. Most of them want to check on the description, procedure, the code, location and the individuals who performed a certain procedure (Perara, 2011). Without availability of this data, it is not possible for physicians to make well-informed medical decisions because different procedures may affect clinical support alert and medical management. Enough time should also be allowed to determine appropriate information from the patient chart.
Using the electric medical records makes the work much easy and fast to retrieve whenever it is needed. Physicians are always interested in knowing the medical treatment that a patient was undergoing so as to determine what steps they can take in the current situation. Through EMR, it is easy to obtain a list of medication s given to patients as well as the insurance cover given to patients (Mark, 2012). Different types of data can be obtained through electronic records thus saving on time. Most medical practitioners want to know when the patient last got medical treatment, who treated them, and the reason they visited a certain clinic. Getting historical information about the patient helps to make well informed decisions as well as determining the best practices. Most physicians seek success to clinical notes used previously by a patient. The clinical note may be electronically generated or a document written in a paper (Mark, 2012). Use of electron medical records helps to retrieve information about a particular client within a short time thus increasing the efficiency of the services offered.
Conclusion
EHR systems help in storing data accurately and capturing the health state of a patient. Using EHR helps in tracking previous paper health records. A proper HER system ensures that data is legible and accurate, reduces the problems of data replication because only a single modifiable file is used, meaning that files are updated regularly; thus, reducing the probability of losing paperwork. Additionally, electronic medical records are effective for extracting information for making long term changes and examining possible trends. Therefore, as Scripps seeks to define new systems and develop a one enterprise electronic medical record system, it is crucial that the management considers aspects such as costs, viability of the project in terms of the benefits as opposed to the legacy system, readiness to implement the system, and resources and personnel needed. The swift transition and success of the project will be beneficial for the organization in terms of stability and overall increase in records management.
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