This day and age of the EHR, Meaningful Use, Patient-Centered Medical Home, and Accountable Care Organizations, do you find yourself asking if you should consider staffing with consultants? What do consultants offer?  How do I find the right consultant? What are the costs and benefits to hiring a consultant?  My providers are not happy, is there a way to make my providers more efficient? If you are asking yourself these questions, you will find some of the answers below.

Evaluating EHR Staffing Needs – 4 Common Questions

1. Why hire a consultant?

• They have a specialized skill set that your currently team doesn’t possess.
• Your project is not progressing as quickly as you had planned.
• You have implemented an electronic medical record and adoption continues to be a struggle, which is affecting revenue.
• A manager/supervisor has given their notice and you don’t have someone ready to step in.
• You are looking to put a team together to implement electronic medical record.
• The organization needs help with Meaningful Use, Patient-Centered Medical Home, or ACO setup, audit preparation documentation or on-going maintenance.
• A software upgrade is on the horizon and must be completed in a short period of time.

2. What do consultants offer?

• Many possess specialized skills you need on your team either for a short or long period of time.
• Proven, yet flexible, methodology appropriate for the task.
• These individuals are objective and will ask the tough questions.
• Due to their extensive knowledge, they have the ability to generate creative solutions, pulling from previous experiences and modifying proven solutions.
• A new face in your organization gives them the ability to gather data within ethical limits without revealing the ultimate use.
• System Build and workflow optimization
• An outside individual can lead the brainstorming to help build or restructure your internal team(s).
• Implementation and development of tools to aid in roll out to new clinics can be done in a short period of time.
• Product-specific knowledge specific of the implementation and support of your EHR could be invaluable.
• Content experts possess expert knowledge of Meaningful Use, Patient-Centered Medical Home, and Accountable Care Organization requirements.

3. What are the benefits of hiring a consultant?

• No cost of training
• Accountability for results
• Projects can get implemented faster
• Allow more patients to be seen in the same amount of time by identifying ways to improve workflows
• Built in education to the current members of the team

4. How do I find the right consultants?

• Consultants aren’t all created equal.  We recommend you interview them to find a consultant who will fit your organization needs.
• When interviewing them, look for someone who:
• Possesses the skills you are looking for – don’t be afraid to have them demo how they would complete a certain task.
• Worked for other clients and can bring different experiences to the table
• Ask for an example of a time they had to make a change that was difficult for the organization.  How did they go about it? Was it successful?
• Ask for an example when a client had a workflow or process that was less than optimal and weren’t willing to make change.  Did they present their improved workflow? What was the outcome?