Patient Input

Engaging patients at the beginning of the electronic health record (EHR) implementation process is vitally important. Patient involvement will help your organization:

• Identify and address patient concerns, focusing your EHR implementation on the issues most important to your patients
• Discover barriers to EHR implementation previously unseen by providers
• Ascertain how much financial and human capital will need to be spent educating patients about EHRs
• Increase patient understanding and cooperation, diminishing the likelihood of patient resistance during EHR implementation

To engage patients as you start the EHR implementation process, you can organize patient focus groups, conduct patient surveys, or elicit feedback from patients during visits.

The Patient's Perspective

Information technology is at the heart of modern life. It touches different people in different ways. Some are comfortable with new technologies; others may be intimidated, at least at first. As you begin your EHR implementation process, it is important to keep the patient's perspective in mind.

For More Information

For more information on patient involvement during EHR implementation, see the following resources.

• Patient Participation
• How do I educate patients about health IT? 
• How will electronic health records help me engage patients?