The Basics

The amount of time required to perform readiness assessments will vary depending on several factors including the size of your practice/hospital/health center, whether your practice/hospital/health center is located in an urban or rural area, and whether your practice/hospital/health center already has an existing EHR system. There is no right or wrong amount of time for a readiness assessment so long as the assessment comprehensively identifies EHR implementation barriers to be addressed before implementation.

Critical Outcomes

Critical outcomes of the assessment process may include:

• A designated leadership team for the EHR implementation process (clinical and practice management staff, or for small practices, the entire team). Having strong and positive advocate(s) for change can be one of the strongest tools to guide the transition.
• A unified vision, where each member of the practice team understands how they will be affected by the change and understands the roadmap to success.
• Measureable, quantifiable, realistic goals, which are the key to the assessment phase.

For More Information

For more information on assessing your organizational readiness, readiness assessments, and EHR implementation, see the following resources.

• How do I conduct a readiness assessment?
• What types of goals should I set during the readiness assessment phase?
• How do we conduct a readiness assessment?