Training is Key in Hospitals’ Quest for EHR Funding

With $19 billion in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act federal stimulus funds dedicated to converting the U.S. healthcare system from paper to digital in the next decade, Electronic Health Records (EHR) is a headline topic in healthcare today. EHR is expected to streamline patient care, reduce medical errors, and save billions in public and private healthcare costs. By digitizing patient information through an electronic health record, healthcare providers can have faster and more accurate patient data and treatment information, while patients benefit from service efficiencies and fewer medical errors.

More than 80% of U.S. hospitals are planning to adopt EHR, but to qualify for federal support they must prove they are prepared to make “meaningful use” of the technology. Consequently, healthcare IT and HR executives are “on-the-clock” in 2010 to ensure that their organizations are well-positioned to qualify for federal incentives in 2011. Upgrades of clinical information systems and development of EHR training curriculums are underway across the industry.

With tight healthcare budgets, health systems are looking to benefit from proven approaches such as this E-learning course Adayana developed to help a hospital system train its employees on the patient scheduling and registration functions of EHR.