ECRI Institute Names Top 10 Health IT Success Strategies to Manage Risks
In honor of Healthcare Risk Management Week, ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, will provide access to “Risk Managers’ 10 Strategies for Health IT Success,” from the June 2013 Risk Management Reporter newsletter.
Based on research and interviews with risk managers and health IT safety experts, the article identifies the top 10 strategies to guide a risk management approach to health IT. During the week of June 17-21, 2013, this exclusive content is being offered free.
“Health IT is on nearly every healthcare organization’s radar screen. And it will continue to be for the next few years as organizations move to electronic health records,” states Cindy Wallace, senior risk management analyst. “We recognize that bringing these systems online is a massive team effort. Risk management input is essential.”
“Risk management principles should be applied to all stages of the health IT project and should not be considered only at the end when there’s a problem,” says Karen P. Zimmer, MD, MPH, FAAP, medical director, ECRI Institute PSO.
Some of the strategies offered in the free report are to:
- Be involved from the start
- Adopt an enterprise-wide perspective
- Get to know the IT department
- Tout your problem-solving skills
- Pay attention to known high-risk areas
Along with the top 10 health IT success strategies, ECRI Institute has developed a toolkit, which was published with the results from ECRI Institute PSO’s Deep Dive analysis of health IT events, “can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses in the organization’s risk management approach to health IT and to focus on those areas requiring attention,” says Zimmer.
See the section on “ECRI Institute PSO’s Health IT Toolkit” in the top 10 article for a list of sample questions. The full Deep Dive report and toolkit are available for purchase with $100 off using coupon code PSO100.
ECRI Institute also offers free resources in its Patient Safety, Risk, and Quality Solution Center and free eNewsletters on important risk management, patient safety, health technology, and emerging technology issues.