Throughout your career in healthcare management, you will need to make and justify decisions. When there are many potential options and evaluating each option requires considering many factors, you should consider creating and using a rubric. Rubrics provide concrete criteria and guides for assessing each measure, enabling a straightforward, comprehensive evaluation. Rubrics also provide a valuable tool for justifying decisions to stakeholders by documenting the way decisions were made.
Given their centrality in the constellation of health information systems, guiding the selection of an appropriate EHR will be one of the most important contributions you can make to a healthcare organization. In this assignment, you will create a rubric for comprehensively evaluating EHRs.
Heads-Up: This rubric will support your Signature Assignment as a component of the system selection project phase.
To complete this assignment, address the following:
- Compile a list of criteria on which you will evaluate potential EHRs. Each criterion should include a short title and a 1 to 2-sentence description.
- Use the U.S. EMR Adoption Model (HIMSS, 2012 in Glandon, 2018) as a guide for developing criteria for levels of functionality in your rubric. You should have at least one criterion for each of the seven stages in the EMR Adoption Model.
- Find at least one scholarly reference on EHR’s impact on productivity and performance. Use this reference to develop one or two criteria addressing this area.
- Find at least one scholarly reference on usability and the amount of stress caused in healthcare providers related to EHR. Use the reference to develop one or two criteria addressing this area.
2· For each criterion, develop 1 to 2-sentence descriptions of meeting that criterion at levels of excellence, acceptable, and unacceptable.
3· Arrange your criteria in a Word document table, assigning point values to each criterion, with the total number of points being 100. Use the table below as a guide.
4· Include an introduction and summary to the assignment.
Table 1
EMR Adoption Model Rubric
| Criteria | Excellence | Acceptable | Unacceptable |
| Stage 2: Document Imaging
EHR should support scanning and including paper health documents for inclusion and reference in a patient record. |
5 Points
Documents can be scanned directly into the EHR or imported from other electronic sources. Multiple documents can be viewed directly in the EHR without requiring external software and can be exported in maximally compatible formats. |
3 Points
Documents can only be imported from external sources. Document viewing requires external software, or documents are impossible to view in parallel with other records. |
0 Points
Document imaging is not supported. |
Length: Minimum 2-3 pages, not including the title and references pages.
References: Include a minimum of 3 scholarly resources.
Title: Evaluating Electronic Health Records (EHRs): A Comprehensive Rubric for Healthcare Management
Introduction
In the ever-evolving field of healthcare management, making informed decisions is paramount. One of the most critical contributions a healthcare manager can make to an organization is selecting an appropriate Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. EHRs are central to the efficient functioning of healthcare systems and play a pivotal role in improving patient care, safety, and organizational performance. To aid in this decision-making process, creating a rubric can be invaluable. This essay outlines the development of a comprehensive rubric for evaluating EHRs, taking into account various criteria that encompass functionality, productivity, performance, usability, and stress factors. By establishing clear criteria and point values, this rubric will provide healthcare managers with a structured framework for selecting the most suitable EHR system.
Criteria for Evaluating EHRs
- Functionality
Functionality is a critical aspect of any EHR system. To create a well-rounded rubric, we will use the U.S. EMR Adoption Model as a guide, incorporating criteria for each of its seven stages. The following criteria will be included:
a. Stage 2: Document Imaging
- Excellence: EHR should support scanning and including paper health documents for inclusion and reference in a patient record.
- Acceptable: Documents can be scanned directly into the EHR or imported from other electronic sources. Multiple documents can be viewed directly in the EHR without requiring external software and can be exported in maximally compatible formats.
- Unacceptable: Documents can only be imported from external sources. Document viewing requires external software, or documents are impossible to view in parallel with other records. Document imaging is not supported.
b. Stage 3: Clinical Data Repository
- Excellence: The EHR should have a robust clinical data repository that can store, retrieve, and manage patient data efficiently, ensuring data integrity and availability.
- Acceptable: The EHR offers basic clinical data storage and retrieval capabilities but may lack some advanced features.
- Unacceptable: The EHR’s clinical data repository is inadequate, leading to data integrity issues or limited access to patient information.
c. Stage 4: Order Entry and Management
- Excellence: The EHR should support comprehensive order entry and management capabilities, including electronic prescribing, lab orders, and diagnostic imaging orders.
- Acceptable: The EHR offers basic order entry features but may lack integration with external systems or advanced order management functionality.
- Unacceptable: The EHR’s order entry and management features are limited, leading to inefficiencies and errors in the order process.
d. Stage 5: Decision Support
- Excellence: The EHR should provide robust clinical decision support, including alerts, reminders, and clinical guidelines to aid healthcare providers in making evidence-based decisions.
- Acceptable: The EHR offers some level of decision support but may lack comprehensive alerts or advanced clinical decision support capabilities.
- Unacceptable: The EHR lacks meaningful decision support features, potentially compromising patient safety and care quality.
e. Stage 6: Electronic Documentation
- Excellence: The EHR should enable efficient electronic documentation, including progress notes, nursing documentation, and electronic forms.
- Acceptable: The EHR supports basic electronic documentation but may lack customization or advanced templates.
- Unacceptable: The EHR’s electronic documentation features are inadequate, leading to inefficiencies and incomplete records.
f. Stage 7: Health Information Exchange (HIE)
- Excellence: The EHR should facilitate seamless health information exchange with external providers, improving care coordination and interoperability.
- Acceptable: The EHR offers some level of health information exchange but may have limitations in data sharing or integration capabilities.
- Unacceptable: The EHR does not adequately support health information exchange, hindering collaboration and continuity of care.
- Impact on Productivity and Performance
To assess the impact of the EHR on productivity and performance, we will consider the following criteria:
a. Productivity Enhancement
- Excellence: The EHR demonstrably improves the efficiency and productivity of healthcare providers, reducing administrative burdens.
- Acceptable: The EHR has a neutral impact on productivity, neither significantly enhancing nor hindering it.
- Unacceptable: The EHR hampers productivity, leading to increased workload and inefficiencies.
b. Clinical Performance Improvement
- Excellence: The EHR contributes to improved clinical outcomes, reducing errors and adverse events.
- Acceptable: The EHR has a neutral impact on clinical performance, with no significant improvement or degradation.
- Unacceptable: The EHR negatively affects clinical performance, leading to errors, delays, or adverse events.
- Usability and Provider Stress
To address usability and provider stress, the following criteria will be considered:
a. Usability
- Excellence: The EHR offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, promoting efficient navigation and ease of use.
- Acceptable: The EHR has a usable interface but may require some training or acclimatization.
- Unacceptable: The EHR’s interface is cumbersome, confusing, or counterintuitive, leading to user frustration and errors.
b. Provider Stress Reduction
- Excellence: The EHR design and features actively aim to reduce provider stress and burnout, with evidence of positive impact.
- Acceptable: The EHR may have some stress-reducing features but lacks a comprehensive approach.
- Unacceptable: The EHR contributes to provider stress and burnout, with no apparent measures in place to mitigate these issues.
Developing the Rubric
In developing the rubric, each criterion will be assigned point values to reflect its relative importance in the evaluation process. The total number of points will be set at 100 to provide a standardized measure for comparing different EHR options. The rubric will be organized into a table format as shown in Table 1, with criteria, descriptions, and point values clearly delineated.
Conclusion
Selecting the right EHR system is a crucial decision in healthcare management, impacting not only organizational efficiency but also patient care and safety. To facilitate this process, a comprehensive rubric has been developed, encompassing functionality, productivity, performance, usability, and provider stress factors. By assigning point values to each criterion and providing clear descriptions, this rubric offers healthcare managers a structured framework for evaluating and justifying their EHR selection decisions. In an era where data-driven decisions are essential, this rubric serves as a valuable tool for healthcare management professionals.