Introducing New Technology to Your Business

My primary care physician had not yet adopted e Prescribing or begun using an electronic health record the previous time I went in for a checkup (HER). According to my understanding, the medical group to which he belongs had not yet made these capabilities available to him, but was planning to do so soon. When I visit him again this summer, I'm hoping he'll be connected to the electronic health record that the group is implementing. Although he may not like having to adjust to this new method of working, 

I will be grateful because it adds another layer of protection to my patient safety. For example, the chances of my doctor and pharmacy miscommunication will be considerably reduced. I know there will be numerous benefits for his practice group based on my experience as a quality and productivity specialist. My physician may not be spending significantly less time filling prescriptions, but his office workers will, according to a white paper published by the American Medical Association. Overall, the office will see a huge increase in productivity and safety.

After looking at this example of technology adoption at my physician's office group, I see various obstacles that the group has, many of which are common to any firm adopting new technology, including not only healthcare providers but also small businesses and nonprofits:

Is the new technology going to boost productivity?

Is there going to be a good return on investment?

Is the new technology going to help patients be safer?

How should the technology be rolled out or implemented if it is adopted?

These difficulties and questions should not be addressed by a single person. Rather, a team led by an effective leader should take on the task. To ensure success, the team should employ a formal problem-solving methodology such as Plan-Do-Check-Act. One of the first steps the team should take is to figure out why the technology should be used. That is, it should explicitly describe the adoption's objectives. Perhaps the technology is required by a government or accrediting agency. This is the situation with e Prescribing, which CM has mandated use by the start of this year or face penalties. Another example is my auto mechanic, Aries No Auto Center; his business is adopting new technical instruments so that he can service newer cars with a lot of intricate computer-based electronic components and stay competitive.

If a compelling case cannot be established, the technology should not be adopted. Toyota Motor Systems takes this method, maximizing the efficiency of any human-labor-intensive manufacturing processes before introducing robotic technology to the floor. Using this strategy, it has maintained a high level of quality when compared to other automakers. Toyota was ranked top in six or ten categories of automobiles by Consumer Reports this year.

If a group intends to adopt a piece of technology or software, it must first create a clear adoption plan. The identification of success measurements is one of the plan's components. I identified two metrics in the first diagram: will the technology increase productivity and will it improve patient safety? The American Medical Association responded that it would, but that each site should go beyond the research studies and assess its own implementation effectiveness. Patient or client happiness is another metric that a team could wish to look into. Physicians who are deploying an HER should look at how patient satisfaction is affected.

The team should then prepare a clear plan for putting the technology into action. The strategy should include gathering baseline data for the success measures that have been selected, a thorough list of implementation procedures, and the appointment of a project leader. The steps of implementation for larger businesses or medical groups should focus on first having a restricted distribution of the technology to a group that is ready to test it; this way, failure will be far less costly if the roll out does not meet the goals that it has set. Consider the expense to a company if it does not experiment first and the technology supplier misleads the group about the technology's capacity!

During the technology deployment, the leader should collect data on the measures that the team has identified on a regular basis. This manner, if necessary, improvements to the implementation can be made, or the project can be terminated if it appears that it will fail.

If the implementation goes well, the team should congratulate itself on its accomplishments before planning ways to make greater use of the technology as it is rolled out to the rest of the company or location. The majority of new technology is complicated, and completely executing its functions takes time. In fact, a company or a healthcare provider may never employ all of a product's features. For example, I bought an iPad a few months ago and am currently learning about some of its business potential. I intend to study a lot more in order to boost my personal productivity.

Before I sign out, I'd like to point you to a number of websites that assess medical apps for doctors, not patients. I recently discovered and suggest methodicalness. It not only assesses software for Apple products, but also for Android and Blackberry platforms. One feature I discovered on this website was that the new iPad can capture dictation and add it to papers. This could be useful for doctors who don't want to put data into an HER during a patient visit. Apple has picked what it deems to be the best 50 apps for medical professionals in its App Store for iPad and iPhone.

Finally, implementing new technologies can be difficult. Adoption and implementation, on the other hand, may be managed with strong teams and leadership, as well as good problem-solving strategies. Identifying targets and metrics, as well as developing a clear adoption plan, will make the process go much more smoothly, especially for individuals who are being asked to use new technology.

Donald Bryant assists healthcare providers in overcoming obstacles. If you enjoyed this article and would like more free advice to help you enhance your site right away, click here.