As a culminating project, this assignment has two parts: an executive summary and a project plan created in Apple Merlin (MAC). Use the information and data gathered for your Business Plan

As a culminating project, this assignment has two parts: an executive summary and a project plan created in Apple Merlin (MAC). Use the information and data gathered for your Business Plan to complete this assignment.

Write an executive summary of the Business Plan.

Write a project plan in Apple Merlin.

1. Examine the Business Plan: Extract the distinct activities needed to start up the business: (a) Identify tasks needed to complete the project. (b) Develop a completion schedule. (c) Assign resources to project tasks.
2. Be creative. For example: If the plan calls for three nurses, you will need to plan for hiring, and training. Create arbitrary timelines for each activity. They could be very general (2 weeks to hire, 2 weeks to train) or they could dive much deeper (1 week to write hiring ad, 1 week to place ad, 2 weeks to accept applications, 1 week to review, 3 weeks for interviews, 1 week for offer-letters, 2 weeks to establish in HR system, etc.). Do this for each section of the CLC Business Plan.

Prepare this assignment according to the APA Style.

Include permalink on the references.

Plagiarism MUST be less than 10%.

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TYPICAL BUSINESS PLAN MODELS

INTRODUCTION

Business plans form an integral part of running an organizational operation. All types of organizations need business plans to help in the running of their activities. In this regard, business plans act as guide that tells organizations where there are going, where they are and what they ought to do in order to reach where they are going (Szycher, Ph.D, 2014). There are several types and categories of business plans but the four main ones are the operating business plan, expansion/growth business plans, startup business plan and the lean business plan.

OPERATING BUSINESS PLAN

Operating business plans are one of the most important type of business plan. It is a times referred as internal business plans as they tend to be more detailed in terms of the various operations that the business is to undertake (Sahay, 2009). Internal business plans are meant for internal usage as they contain important dates that various activities have to be accomplished, various milestones, managers that have been assigned to oversee specific tasks plus their deadlines. Information is this plans can be presented in any form such as diagrams, bullet form among many more.

It is important also to note that these plans tend to focus on portraying an organization’s best practices, such as key operational lines as well as customer service. In addition, they are also prepared to highlight areas that might need an improvement. Finally but not least, they are often used to finalize or rather formalize an organizations strategy, goals, corporate culture as well as identifying specific values (Kaplan & Warren, 2009).

GROWTH/EXPANSION BUSINESS PLANS

These types of business plans are mainly developed targeting a specific product, specific market segment or for expansion purposes. For instance, if a business plan has been developed for specific product, then it is a growth business plan. Growth or rather expansion business plans tend to be sub plans that may even be carried out under one department alone.

For the case of this plans, it is important to note that they are specifically meant to improve a company’s product portfolio or their market segment. The reason why separate plans are need for such actions is due to the fact that undertaking such tasks may make a company deviate from the current operations.

START-UP BUSINESS PLANS

The initial step of starting a business involves coming up with a startup business plan that will act as a blue print to direct the company in the infantry stages of development. Such business plans are not only needed for direction but they are also indispensable in seeking finance. It is important to note that most startup business plans are lean so as to reduce operational expenses during the initial years when the business is yet to break-even. Such plans thus contains projected costs, breakeven sales, and milestones that have to be achieved after some period.

LEAN FINANCIAL PLANS

            A lean business plan is simply a plan that has been developed to reduce or minimize the costs as well as wastage as much as possible. They are meant to facilitate faster production of goods and services at the least cost possible. Such plans help in setting a business strategy in the simplest way possible while offering insightful directions to be followed. 

THE STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THESE MODELS.

Operational plan always keep illustrations orderly and to make comments to emphasize the ideas that has been proposed with evidence of its successful projected application and cover all the key points and explain the ideas from concept and mission statement through financial forecasts method. In addition, operational plan is extremely important in realigning management to the goals and objectives of an organization. Last but not least, operational plans are very illustrative and therefore gives enough guidance to the users of such plans how best to execute their mandate.  

The lean plans is mostly preferred by a good number of recipients because the plan can be read easily and can be understood easily in addition it can be transferred quickly as they tend to small in volume. With such effectiveness they are preferred by many recipients as they are easily interpreted the plan by reading anytime they feel like doing so thus eliminating the cost that are incurred in advertising and other marketing strategies of the items or products

LIMITATIONS

Business plan models tend to suffer from limitations such lack of homogeneity. These therefore means that they might be unreliable especially where competition is intense particularly while dealing with similar products and services in the market. Furthermore, developing business plans is time consuming thereby making the process to be tedious. Consequently, it is common to note that some business plans are not fully developed towards the last chapters. Such scenarios then become the undoing of most of these organizations. Change in the administration regulation or the international law may interfere with some of the models. Financial constrain is a major limitation since conducting research on how to come up with a business plan consumes a lot of resources and may cost the organization a lot.

THE BUSINESS PLAN MODELS IN APPLE MERLIN.

Apple merlin focuses on project plan designs, tracking the status of undertakings, assignment of capital and managing budgets. The business plan includes the following, checklist for tracking purposes, project budgeting, resources allocation, Gantt chats, project mapping, work breakdown structures designs, etc. this is a software company that must design the business plan by employing a well-structured strategized ideas due the overwhelming competition from other players in the market.

Business plan therefore, varies from one organization to another due the variation in the business environment, objectives, goals, financial strategy, the market trends, level of competition, economic trends, government regulation, international law etc.

In nutshell, the four modeled business plan is not comprehensive compared to that witnessed in the Apple Merlin as a result of the variation in purpose, mission and vision and the goals which varies relatively.

The lean plan is the best for the electronic medical recording because the presenter may choose to use graphs, charts, symbols while presenting the plan to the audience or the investor. Secondly, the presenter can provide handouts so that the audiences can jot down some notes about the effectiveness of the medics. Thirdly, the presenter is able to set a limit time so that the audience don’t fall into the track of boredom (Kaplan & Warren, 2009). Lastly, the presenter can perform the exercise by designing slides that are efficient, visible, and more precise and brief for the audience or the customers. This will fully capture the attention of the target people or investor.

In addition, it also encourages the target person to ask questions concerning the medical items and gives the presenter to explain more about the business plan, objectives and how much it will work best to deliver to the expectation of the target person, it also gives time to the audience to get quick response as the presentation proceeds.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, business plan is a important factor for investors and financiers in order for them to make proper decision making or judgments before allocating funds for a given business, because the plan captures all the factors both in the internal and external environment. Choosing the right model will make an investor achieve the goals set at the specified time frame.

References

Kaplan, J. M., & Warren, A. C. (2009). Patterns of Entrepreneurship Management. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Publishers.

Sahay. (2009). Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation. Excell Publishers.

Szycher, Ph.D, M. (2014). The Guide to Entrepreneurship: How to Create Wealth for Your Company and. New York: CRC Publishers.

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 Business Plan

Table of Contents

Section 1 Business and Industry Profile………………………………………………………3-4

Section 2 Product and Service Description……………………………………………………5

2.1 MEDITECH Product Description…………………………………………………5

            2.2 Features of MEDITECH…………………………………………………………..5-6

            2.3 Federal and Local Regulations……………………………………………………6-7

            2.4 Collaborative Solutions…………………………………………………………...8-9

Section 3 Operational Plan…………………………………………………………………….10

3.1 Selection of Vendor……………………………………………………………….10

            3.2 Staffing for Design…………………………………………………………….....10-11

            3.3 Space Requirement for Main Equipment…………………………………………11

            3.4 Workstations for Clinicians…………………………………………………........11-12

            3.5 Staff Training…………………………………………………………………..…12-13

            3.6 Physician Training………………………………………………………………..13-15

            3.7 Methods and Benefits of Physician Training……………………………….........15-16

            3.8 Future Support…………………………………………………………………....16-17

            3.9 Integration with Current Electronic Data Sources………………………………..18-19

            3.10 Cost of Implementation and Maintenance……………………………………….19

            3.11 Culture…………………………………………………………………………..19-20

            3.12 Literacy………………………………………………………………………….20-21

            3.13 Implementation………………………………………………………………….21

Section 4 Market Analysis…………………………………………………………………….22

4.1 Target Market……………………………………………………………………...22

            4.2 Hospital Staff………………………………………………………………………22

            4.3 Market Need……………………………………………………………………….23

            4.4 Competition……………………………………………………………………....23-24

            4.5 Market Growth Rate……………………………………………………………..…24

            4.6 Internal and External Marketing…………………………………………………...25

Section 5 Financial Analysis…………………………………………………………………...26

5.1 Financial Benefits…………………………………………………………………..26

            5.2 Earnings Figure…………………………………………………………………26-27

            5.3 Cost Benefit Analysis……………………………………………………………27-28

Section 6 References………………………………………………………………………..29-30

Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………………..31

Section 1 Business and Industry Profile

Patient centric features in the MEDITECH enable financial departments to scan and retrieve specific patient data.  This can be linked to the business department’s database for easier billing purposes.  In a financial application, the patient’s information can easily be sought without wasting mush time in searching papers.  In addition, scanned documents do not need physical space for storage.  MEDITECH may contain digitized pictures of paper records, close photographs of alert systems, for the case, X-shafts and EKGs.  In the United States, MEDITECH has made EHR approaches holding the ability to shape established structure when interconnected.  Specific EMR shippers over U.S. have changed their responsibilities into EHR answers as the remedial affiliations group ("News,” n.d.)

MEDITECH is a pushing thought, starting from getting impressive records on paper copies- moving to mechanized comprehension records, and starting late being gone ahead as an Electronic Health Records (EHR) structure.  Suitable execution of MEDITECH partners in diminishing honest to goodness overheads that may show the fundamental concern inclines for government-managed savings suppliers.  Despite this, it may get a handle on expanded pay through the sensible usage of purposes of excitement, fulfilling the most significant number of patients being gone to ("News,” n.d.).  Regardless, the nonappearance of measures for the progress of EMR methods has made shifting EMR follows in the business area that needs blend and interoperability among themselves.

MEDITECH approaches make paperless relationship over the personal affiliations industry.  This kind of relationship empowers and creates a united patient vault. The records gotten by the easy usage of MEDITECH in helpful affiliations practices can be used for various purposes, for the event, cautious thought, association, look at, only systems quality change, and get planned of reimbursement. A study conducted by Harvard Medical Academy in 2008 showed administrative computerization may get a handle on saving 5% of the total helpful affiliations spending or $100 billion in the United States.  This is done by decreasing deficiently sorted out events, for case, unfavorable solution times, obliging bumbles, and wounds of interventions including office snatched sicknesses. Also, abuse of emergency divisions and pointless asking for of clinical and radiology tests result in loss of $55 billion, which could be saved by the use of EMR systems at human affiliations sharpens (“Meditech news,” n.d.).

Section 2 Product and Service Description

2.1 MEDITECH Product Description

An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital copy of a patient’s paper chart (“What is an electronic,” 2013).  Electronic health records contain medical and treatment histories of patients which can be available instantly to users who are authorized to access the information.  MEDITECH’s electronic health record is built by physicians who understand the needs of healthcare providers.  MEDITECH allows healthcare providers to transform healthcare with the ability to use innovative tools.  The EHR benefits healthcare providers by maximizing productivity, providing mobile solutions, providing evidence-based decision making, and physician-driven implementation. 

2.2 Features of MEDITECH

MEDITECH’s electronic health record maximizes productivity by taking patient care to another level.  MEDITECH can be used in various settings like the office, the clinic, the hospital, and home.  This EHR allows providers to personalize screen settings which allows providers to look at all the information that is needed in order to assist with informed decision making (“Physicians first,” n.d.).  Data can be organized and a personalized method for documentation can be chosen, either by voice, template or a combination of the two. 

            MEDITECH EHR can be used as mobile solution.  It is designed for tablets and can run on any device.  With just a swipe or tap, patient information can be accessed anywhere and everywhere.  MEDITECH is web-based which can be retrieved fast and has a flexible touch interface.  It can be personalized based on practice by using a variety of widgets and the views can be custom-built to match anyone’s workstyle (“Physicians first,” n.d.). 

            There is expert content that is embedded in the MEDITECH EHR that assists in clinical decision making.  This allows providers to treat patients more effectively and safely.  The choices that are made by providers are supported by best practices which includes evidence-based order sets, rounding lists, clinical panels, and specialized templates that is already available in the system (“Physicians first,” n.d.). 

MEDITECH accessed on tablet (“Physicians first,” n.d.)

2.3 Federal and Local Regulations

MEDITECH follows the current federal and local regulations (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  It is constantly keeping up with changes and requirements.  This is part of their ongoing development process which ensures the electronic health record makes the grade.  Regulations are supported with ARRA/Meaningful use.  The American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA) includes measures on the infrastructure of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (“Meaningful use introduction,” 2012).  The HITECH Act supports electronic health records which is led by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  HITECH proposes the meaningful use of electronic health records in the United States health care delivery system as a national goal.  In 2014, MEDITECH participated in the CMS and ONC EHR Test Program.  This confirmed that all participants of MEDITECH EHR would be able to exchange patient information electronically among providers who are eligible (“EHR solutions,” n.d.). 

MEDITECH supports regulations with support of HIPAA.  The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes national standards to protect patients’ medical records and any other personal health information (“The hipaa privacy,” n.d.).  There are privacy rules that need to be followed when health care providers conduct health care transactions electronically.  MEDITECH offers security and privacy functions as well as support for ARRA security requirements which is necessary in breach notifications.  

MEDITECH EHR provides tools that will allow organizations to keep patients safe and meet The Joint Commission’s 2016 National Patient Safety Goals (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  Customers who use MEDITECH receive the support that is needed in order to meet these guidelines.  These guidelines are set for organizations to improve quality of care by identifying patients correctly, improving the communication between staff, improving the use of medications safely, improving the safety of clinical alarm systems, identifying safety risks of

patients, and preventing mistakes that can occur in surgeries (“The join commission,” n.d.).   

2.4 Collaborative Solutions 

             MEDITECH collaborates with many vendors in order to integrate healthcare solutions for their customers.  They have integrated clinical, financial, technical and operational solutions into its EHR.  First Databank (FDB) is a part of the clinical content that has been integrated into MEDITECH.  First Databank provides MEDITECH customers with dictionaries that can identify drug interactions and monograph information that is needed when using MEDITECH’s Pharmacy solution (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.).  First Databank’s drug monograph is used when medication is being administered.  This enhances patient safety when patients are receiving medications in the hospital or clinical setting.  Medications are checked by using the patients’ medication profile in MEDITECH while using the FDB knowledge base.  MEDITECH has collaborated with various hardware vendors.  Cisco, which is a leader in technology, offers healthcare solutions to improve workflow. Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) uses Intel Xeon processors which is the next development of the hospital data center.  Dell is a trusted partner of MEDITECH.  Dell has more than 4,000 hospitals who have been supported with their transition to MEDITECH EHR (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.).  Dell has PowerEdge Servers that allow MEDITECH applications to be accessed faster and can be used efficiently.  MEDITECH has partnered with EMC which offers various storage, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.  EMC’s Healthcare Solutions organization provides comprehensive service and support during the planning and implementation of EHR (“Collaborative

solutions,” n.d.).  Hewlett Packard (HP), International Business Machines (IBM) and NetApp are other vendors that MEDITECH have joined with in order to create a positive change for customers when MEDITECH EHR is being implemented. 

Patient education is an important part in healthcare.  MEDITECH uses EBSCO Publishing, which provides evidence-based information for patients (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.).  Discharge instructions are integrated into MEDITECH’s departure process.  This provides information that is easy to understand for patients who are being discharged from the hospital.  ExitCare is an Elsevier company that is integrated to MEDITECH as well.  It provides prints, videos and interactive solutions that can be used for patient education and discharge instructions (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.).  ExitCare can be used in many different healthcare settings and includes many languages.  This can improve workflow, reduce hospital re-admissions, and increase patient knowledge. 

Section 3-Operational Plan

3.1 Selection of Vendor

MEDITECH is the EMR vendor of choice because it is affordable and easy to use. The program interface is used by over 2300 companies around the world. With MEDITECH the hospital and clinics will be able to have universal access across the spectrum which will create smoother transitions between the continuum of care. This clinically integrated network has real-time data. The shared, mobile, patient-centered online electronic health record was designed by clinicians to be as user friendly as possible.

EPIC

MEDITECH

Amazing Charts

Patient Portal

Cost

1,000-25,000 a month

3x Less than Epic

$200-$700 per provider per month

Clinicals

X

X

Revenue Cycle

X

X

X

Eprescribing

X

X

IT Staff

X

Figure 1. Feature Analysis (Medved, 2014)

3.2 Staffing for Design

The hospital/clinical Marketing director will be responsible for putting together promotional material for external marketing such as brochures, door handle signs, posters, advertisements, post cards, and flyers. These types of marketing devices are the easiest to be consumed by the varied age demographics at the hospital and the clinics though out the city.

3.3 Space Requirement for Main Equipment

            Since MEDITECH uses web-based technology, there is no need for a large amount of space for hardware requirements.  MEDITECH has developed browser-based solutions that allow users to access information from any browser (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  Current wireless routers can be used around the hospitals and clinics to access MEDITECH using a web browser.  In order to access MEDITECH, a hardware vendor, hardware integrator, system technology and a hosting service provider is needed.  The hospital and clinics will use Dell PowerEdge Servers that will allow for faster access of MEDITECH applications (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.).  Dell MSite will be used as a hosting service that will be managed by MEDITECH Hosting Solution.  Citrix, a cloud company, will be used as the system technology which will enable mobility and provide speedy access to information on the EHR.  The hardware integrator that will be used is CloudWave which will implement data center technology, virtual desktops, and help with backup and disaster recovery solutions (“Collaborative solutions,” n.d.). Using MEDITECH web-based technology will save space and current equipment that is already available can be used. 

3.4 Workstations for Clinicians

            Clinicians will be able to access MEDITECH EHR using desktops, laptops, tablets and personal devices.  Current workstations that already have desktops and laptops do not need to be replaced.  In order to help with mobile solutions, 5-10 tablets will be purchased for each department that is involved with direct patient care and clinicians.  This will improve current workflow as well.  Different clinical departments throughout the hospital will have instantaneous access to real-time patient information (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  Present results, documentation and medication conflicts will be available for clinicians who depend on this information (“EHR solutions,” n.d.). 

3.5 Staff Training

            Once MEDITECH EHR is ready to be used, staff training is a necessary component of the implementation process.  All clinicians and other users will go through extensive training.  Doctors will have separate training from other users, since they will use more features of MEDITECH.  Since MEDITECH will be implemented in the hospital and four other clinics, the training process will take about a month to complete.  The departments in the hospital consist of Medical/Surgical, Telemetry, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and Emergency. There will be representatives from each department who will be trained as super users on the program.  These representatives will form a new department in the hospital who will help in the implementation process of MEDITECH.  With their knowledge, they will be able to teach those in their department. They will also serve as the gate keeper if there are every any updates needed. They will be responsible for the training of the staff in their department and attesting for their skills with the new program. Once training is complete, a proficiency exam needs to be taken by all staff to ensure knowledge and understanding of EMR.   

All users will be required to attend a training class that will last three hours and will be divided by clinical department.  The super users will train a maximum of ten employees at a time.  Dividing the classes based on clinical department will allow for ease of training and navigation of MEDITECH applications that are customized for each department.  MEDITECH has created a “READY” implementation plan that can serve as a guide when providing staff training (“EHR solutions,” n.d.). 

• Rapid Adoption
• Evidence Based Content
• Advanced Workflows
• Dedicated Teams
• Your Success

“Rapid adoption” will give clinicians and other users individual support that may be needed when using the new system (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  “Dedicated teams” will provide special training sessions for individuals who may need more time learning how to navigate and use MEDITECH EHR.

3.6 Physician training

End-user training for doctors and other restorative suppliers must be clear, thoughtful, easier to be understood and use to guarantee effective execution, realization, end-client fulfilment and suitable in utilization of the EMR. Inability to do as such might bring about patient security, quality, and productivity issues, and additionally doctor disappointment. Critical viewpoints to consider are doctor engagement, timing, curricular configuration, appraisal of capability, and acknowledgment.

End-User Training is a crucial component of electronic medical record (EMR) execution and regularly experiences insignificant institutional venture. Free-message remarks from learners concentrated on length of time and timing of preparing, the learning environment, nature of the teachers, and specificity of preparing to their part or office. Based upon member input and institutional experience, best practice proposals, including doctor engagement, curricular outline, and appraisal of capability and acknowledgment, are recommended for future supplier EMR preparing programs. The EMR creators unequivocally should prescribe the production of coursework to gathering suppliers by regular work process ("Software", n.d.).

The extent of the project is to prepare all credentialed suppliers to utilize the new EMR for particular work processes; including staff, group doctors, colleagues, and occupants. The preparation group comprised of eight instructional planners who are in charge of the preparation content, preparing setting creation, and training of the end-client mentors for their given application for example, wandering, inpatient, radiology and so on. Likewise works intimately with the suitable application group to comprehend the specialized improvement of every work process and to give ease of use criticism from a learner's point of view. The doctor lead works intimately with the preparation administrator to decide the structure, substance, and logistics of supplier preparing (“Meditech,” n.d.)

3.7 Methods & Benefits of Physician Training

Because of the order of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, there has been an ascent in the quantity of government interests in projects that increment EMR adoption EMR (Pantaleoni, Stevens, Mailes, Goad & Longhurst, 2015). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act bit of this jolt law will give installments to suppliers that show they have achieved the standard for "important use". This will drive more doctors’ facilities to embrace EMR.  However, they have had diverse encounters in receiving electronic medicinal records.

There are a few stages that should be taken so as to receive electronic medical records.

• A steady situation, satisfactory preparing and assets, an unmistakable heading, and connected with individuals are a couple of things needed.
• A solid pioneer is additionally vital keeping in mind the end goal to encourage the changing environment and utilizing gatherings and declarations as appropriation advancement strategies have been appeared to be helpful.
• Having the clinical staff included is additionally a key component in effectively receiving electronic restorative records. Numerous healing centers use "doctor champions," who are basically doctors who teach their associates on the advantages of electronic medical records.
• Moreover, the significance of value division pioneers has been pushed so as to ensure the electronic restorative records framework is useful in giving quality consideration.

The benefits of a necessity incorporate consistency of end-client learning base and the fortification that the correct preparing is required to accomplish fancied effectiveness and patient security.  Another choice to be made by an association is regardless of whether the doctor preparing ought to be required preceding acquiring security access to the new EMR (Pantaleoni, Stevens, Mailes, Goad & Longhurst, 2015).

3.8 Future support

There will be IT staff on campus who will be available and IT staff available remotely. This is an IT staff consisting of eight members who are all trained on the MEDITECH program and have been granted access to all areas of MEDITECH.  The IT staff will be able to provide support for the main hospital and clinics.  Since MEDITECH reduces the reliance on interfaces, it makes information easy to maintain and the IT staff will be more at ease during the transition (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  MEDITECH’s dedicated team will be available once MEDITECH EHR goes live (“EHR solutions,” n.d.).  They will be available to help with the transition, answer any questions the IT staff may have and help solve any issues that may arise. 

3.9 Integration with Current Electronic Data Sources

            Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are the business standard in medicinal records administration. We can integrate the EMR with other existing electronic data sources (imaging, laboratory, dictation, billing, quality software systems by using the latest technology, and new methods of business by using the software that is used for connectivity by means of the Data Sources and the EMR. We can actualize EMR framework with computerized reinforcements and makes a straightforward and simple to-use electronic medicinal record for your therapeutic office, imaging focus, or healing center that takes into account a smooth move when facilitated by our master usage group. Our skill in biomedical, clinical innovation informatics empowers us to keep up a far reaching restorative records framework for our association at a commencement expense.  The electronic medical record is an electronic record of an individual's wellbeing. It is an extremely basic for EMR & EHR to be utilized reciprocally, notwithstanding, the basic contrast to communication is the Interoperability of an EHR.

Electronic medicinal records are the archives made by the social insurance office, which records what happened amid a patients' visit to that human services office. Without appropriate usage of EMR frameworks, electronic wellbeing record frameworks cannot legitimately be made or actualized. Appropriately coordinated EMR frameworks will diminish the open door for medicinal record blunder. MEDITECH’s customization of a facilitated EMR takes into account your patients' record in any case their first arrangement in a way that fits your office. Managerial staff can make the individual's EMR upon their initially planned visit and start an effortlessly open record that tracks your patients the distance from organization to billings. With advanced preparations and professional backing, we can guarantee that all staff will see how to utilize the framework appropriately considering paperless and secure capacity for patient records. As a component of a healing facility's patient wellbeing arrangement, research center administration set elevated expectations for dispensing with mislabeled examples. The doctor's facility's medical caretakers were resolved to accomplish those elevated expectations and keep staff work process streamlined (Burton, Anderson & Kues, 2004).

3.10 Cost of Implementation and Maintenance

Exchanging to an Electronic information framework information system is a noteworthy undertaking.  It requires an adjustment in work process, finding a dependable EHR seller, putting capital in equipment and programming, changing over records, and preparing staff. The monetary and period costs change, contingent upon the degree of the clinical & managerial capacities to be overseen by the framework. Costs likewise depend on whether the framework is obtained by and large, rented, or leased. The time that the doctor spends entering information at every patient experience likewise should be considered. This might be just a few minutes for each patient yet might be a noteworthy deterrent to the boundless usage of the framework, given most clinicians' tight time plans (“Meditech news,” n.d.).

3.11 Culture

            As with any new project implementation there is a change of morale that takes place within a work environment.  This is expected with the implementation of EMR in our hospitals and clinics, but we are hopeful that any loss of workplace morale can be avoided to help encourage and gather those around the implementation of a new and very beneficial project. Some things that we can expect to positively change within the culture of the hospitals and clinics is the physician-to-patient relationship.  Having the patients’ information already taken digitally, the physicians and nursing staff are able to really talk with the patients.  This can help clinicians and patients understand and determine what treatment options are best.  A negative aspect that can affect the physician-to-patient relationship, is the fact that all of the patient information will be web-based.  Physicians and clinicians will have access to this information on tablets and will carry them from patient to patient.  Reading information from a tablet forces physicians and clinicians to make less eye contact with their patients potentially making patients feel less welcomed and unimportant.  We can look at ways to avoid doing this during implementation testing phases.

3.12 Literacy

            Another potential concern that comes with the implementation of EMR in our hospitals and clinics is literacy and understanding a new system that has to be learned by all staff.  The implementation of EMR requires extensive computer training for hospital and clinic staff. Some staff who have recently completed schooling may have a better understanding of more recent computer systems and are able to easily apply what they have recently learned.  Unfortunately, those that have been out of school for a longer period of time will have a more difficult time understanding this new form of data recording.  Another concern within the area of literacy is that all information that is recorded through EMR has to be clear and well understood by staff to ensure patient accuracy and privacy.  Miscommunications as such can be avoided by creating universal terminology that is to be used to input patient information so that any issues can be avoided.

3.13 Implementation

            A project manager that is familiar with EMR will be hired to oversee the entire implementation process. The project manager will initiate a work flow analysis that will have a fully detailed plan of how the implementation will take place. The work flow analysis will display information such as timelines, testing, and all aspects of training that is took take place before EMR is fully active in all sites. After a work flow analysis is created, locations will be selected to be the pilot locations to test out how EMR will work in each environment. The testing stage will be about three months (could be more, depending on how well each locations succeeds in its implementation) and will take place in three different locations. Weekly meetings will be had with the project manager, hospital board, and some physicians and nurses to see how well EMR is working effectively in their location.  If EMR is not working effectively, an action plan can be created to ensure the effectiveness.  During this meeting any concerns by clinicians or physicians can be addressed.  After pilot locations reports back with positive implementation, staff training will begin in the remaining locations.  All hospital and clinic staff will participate in a training process, which may result in clinics and hospitals to be understaffed. Staffing should be done accordingly to avoid a low patient to staff ratio.  Within the training there will be various simulations.  Simulations will be specific and based on your job within the hospital or clinic.  At the end of the training there will be a proficiency exam that will be taken by all staff to ensure knowledge and understanding of EMR.  If the proficiency exam is not passed with a score of at least 85, they will have to retake the entire training.  Doing this ensures that all staff is able to perform and implement EMR without any restrictions.

Section 4 Market Analysis

4.1 Target Market

The target market for the Electronic Medical Record would be patients at the main hospital and the four clinics around the city.  The age demographics of the patients in hospitals range from newborns to elderly.  Newborns and children, as minors, would not have access to their own EMR.  However, parents/guardians who wish to view their minor children’s health information may be granted proxy access.  The racial/ethnic demographics of the patients that receive care from the clinics is about fifty-five percent Hispanic/Latino and forty-three percent Black/African American.  Approximately ninety-one percent of the patients were unemployed and over sixty percent do not have insurance (Baker, Watkins, Wilson, Bazargan, Flowers, 1998).

Since the EMR will be predominantly used on computers, laptops, phones, and tablets, it is important to market the service to those more likely to be on electronic devices.  This would be patients between the ages of 18 and 65.  After that age they are less likely to be interested in the personal use of the EMR.

4.2 Hospital Staff

MEDITECH can be accessed on computers, laptops, and tablets throughout the facilities. Depending on their job titles and duties they will be granted different levels of access. The staff working at the hospital and the clinics will need access to MEDITECH.  This would be the physicians, physician assistants, nurses, technicians, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, lab specialists, medical Record, and registration. The age range of hospital/clinical staff is between 18 and 65.

4.3 Market Need

In the healthcare field patient satisfaction is key. The level of patient satisfaction is a common indicator used to determine the quality of care at health care facilities. The satisfaction of patients greatly contributes to the level of care given and the outcomes, the likelihood of patients returning for care, and claims of medical malpractice (Prakash, 2010).  The use of the EMR data can be tracked overtime.  It will be easier to identify patients for preventative screenings. There will be better capabilities for monitoring parameters like vaccinations and blood sugar readings. The EMR with improve the overall quality of care that is being delivered.

When patients are more involved with their own health care such as being aware of appointments and test results with easier access to their own test results they will pay more attention to their healthcare. They will be more active in taking steps in becoming their own advocates. By providing these services the Hospital and clinics will seem more invested in the care of the patients and this will all in turn improve patient satisfaction.

4.4 Competition

There are variety of different EMR out there in the market. There are some Patient Portals that are limited to just basic lab results and radiology reports as well as scheduled hospital appointments (Capterra, 2012).  This is like the Patient Portal offered at HCA facilities. A common complaint of this kind of Patient Portal is that it is not easy to navigate.  There is no way to print and view specific lab results.  Also there is no way for patients to pay bills or to easily contact their physician.  The HCA Patient Portal includes a medication list however the list can only be updated when the patient visits the hospital so changes to the medication list made at the doctor’s office is not reflected on the Patient Portal. This lack of communication from one facility to another is a great drawback.

Another EMR is the MyHealthOne Patient Portal which is the one that our hospital will be employing in the main hospital and the clinics around the city. The features on the MyHealthOne Patient Portal are all reflect questions raised by patients at discharge or even before they receive care. With the MyHealthOne Patient Portal patients are able to find a doctor, make appointments (not just view them), view specific lab results, pre-register for procedures (which can be a time consuming process), and also view and pay their bills online. When it comes to an EMR it is important for there to be an exchange of health information across diverse care settings. The top five most requested features of an EMR are billing system integration, automatic reminders, e-prescribing, document scanning, medication tracking. There is also EPIC which is a highly used EMR software however it is very costly (Epic, 2016). It ranks among the TOP 5 by users (Capterra, 2014).

4.5 Market Growth Rate

As the world becomes more focused on technology the demand to have a more uniform way to access a patient’s health information grows. Patients want to be able to have access to their personal health information without having to go through the laborious efforts such as printing and faxing over their information from one facility to another. Also from the care-givers perspective having a delay in receiving and having access to a patient’s health information can result in adverse health outcomes that otherwise could have prevented. It is predicted that the EMR market will grow by over 7% in the next five years. The reason for the growth is because of the fear of penalties from Medicare that are placed on physicians who still use paper. Also there are incentives to adopting the EMR where facilities stand to gain financially by obliging the change from paper to electronic records. (Penic, 2015)

4.6 Internal and External Marketing

The patients who are the consumers base their opinion of the company based off of the experience they receive. Their experiences are based upon their treatment and the services and products the hospital offers. In this case it would be the EMR.

MEDITECH is something that will be used internally while the Patient Portal is what will be used externally so that patients can have access to their electronic health information. When the patient comes to the hospital they will be given information in the form of a brochure during their registration. In the brochure there will be information of how to procure safe and secure access to their private information. There will be safeguards put in place to adhere to HIPPA. The Patient Portal will be a free service to the patients. All throughout the hospital, in the welcome folder, in the mail after a stay in the hospital will be the physical signs of marketing of the product. The hospital clinical staff will all be educated on the basic enrollment process in an effort to make sure that those involved in the healthcare team are equipped to help out patients.

Section 5-Financial Analysis

5.1 Financial Benefits

            The implementation of Electronic Medical Records provides for many benefits, some of the benefits fall in the category of finances. The first benefit within the realm of finances is that medical professionals like physicians, nurses, and other staff are able to see and treat more patients without having to work extra hours. This is because having the patients’ health information already taken and previously recorded from a treatment or visits they have had in the past allows for physicians and nurses to actually spend time treating the patients. Another large portion in which EMR benefits the overall finances of the hospital or clinic that it is implemented in is that it reduces the overall cost of transcription. Having all patients records digitally allows for less money to be spent on paper and paper storage supplies.

5.2 Earnings Figures

            Less time is being used to manually record patient information, as a result physicians are able to see more patients in a shorter amount of time and more money from patients and insurance is being brought in resulting in a greater income made by clinics and hospitals. The implementation cost of EMR can be anywhere in the millions of dollars depending on Hospital/clinic size. Despite the high cost of implementation EMR can, in the long run bring greater financial earnings and benefits in the future and sometime even short term.  Summary of financial gain with implementation of Electronic Medical Records which is based on implementation by Virginia Mason Medical Center (Schmitt, 2002).     

Changes as a result of implementation

Increase in Profit (estimates)

Reduction in documentation cost because of the implementation (paper waste, Paper storage, etc.)

$1,027,547

Elimination of staffers inputting manual data

$486,720

Reduction in staff needed to locate, pull, duplicate, store, and transport patient charts

$1,257,413

Charge Capture is enhanced

• More complete documentation of care
• Eliminates lost charge slips
• Improved management of advance beneficiary notices.

$8,512,646

Reduction in chart supply costs

$418,440

Reduction in nursing, hospital unit staff and receptionists needed to search and locate information and check in/check out charts

• Nurses are able to be nurses not hospital staff that are regularly having to look for paperwork for admitting and discharging patients.

$1,068,981

Overall reduction in time spent managing laboratory and radiology orders

$921,044

Above are just some examples of the financial increases that took place in one hospital, 16 hospital based and satellite outpatient clinics, and research institute that is staffed by about 400 physicians (Schmitt, 2002).  Seeing the above financial increase that was had by Virginia Mason Medical Center provides a summarized and laid out example of how beneficial the implementation of Electronic Medical Records can be in a large hospital/clinic setting.

5.3 Cost Benefit Analysis

            Looking at the example that was provided by Virginia Mason Medical Center, we can see that the overall benefit of hospitals and clinics using EMR far outweighs the cost of the implementation and maintenance of EMR. With the implementation of EMR comes the elimination of some positions within a hospital or clinic. In eliminating some positions through the implementation of EMR allows for savings to be made in areas like organization, decreased number of billing errors, and the ability to spend more time actually treating patients. Virginia Mason Medical reported an overall annual benefit of $17,587,393. This medical center is similar in size and staffing to our hospital and clinics.  This is a good example for how well the Electronic Medical Records implementation can work for a large medical group.

Section 6-References

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Appendix A

American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA)- This act promotes economic recovery and provide tax relief to hospitals who implement an electronic medical record. 

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)- part of the ARRA act and promotes meaningful use of health information technology.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)- part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provides programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and Health Insurance Marketplace.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) Privacy Rule- protects medical records and personal health information.  This rule sets limits and requires patient authorization when sharing this information.