Navigate Common EHR Challenges with Stewardship from an Experienced Partner

From small physician groups to integrated delivery networks, healthcare organizations depend on their EHR platforms to manage care delivery. While there are many options available, Epic is one of the most robust and widely used systems.

But along with the benefits the platform brings, Epic-based organizations also face common challenges, like overwhelming workloads and limited resources.

Thankfully, solutions exist to help overcome these obstacles. For many organizations, a partnership is the answer. The right partner, such as CTG, can help you keep up with routine tasks by easing your internal team's workload, reducing staff churn, and accomplishing high-value projects.

Common EHR Challenges:

1. Limited Resources

With a larger team, you’d have a greater capacity to accomplish business goals. Yet, because skilled analysts are in such high demand, they are often difficult to hire, retain, and support.

In fact, the odds are good that there's a shortage of qualified Epic analysts in your local area. Hiring remote workers is an option, but your organization may not be set up to hire and manage a distributed team.

You might also consider hiring uncertified analysts and helping them earn their certification. But, newly certified analysts often leave soon after to accept higher-paying roles elsewhere—leaving you with a wasted investment and a reduced workforce.

Of those who stay, analysts frequently struggle to find satisfaction in their role. That's partly because many Epic tasks are repetitive and simple. As dissatisfaction grows, you're likely to see turnover rates increase, as well.

2. Managing Heavy Workloads 

There is a seemingly endless stream of daily responsibilities, like reporting and user support. Then, of course, you have the larger objectives handed down from leadership.

These high-value, strategic imperatives don't always include considerations for how the work will get accomplished. Executives tell you what needs to be done, but not where the resources or bandwidth will come from.

Consider an acquisition or Community Connect relationship, for example. Each has the potential to add a tremendous amount of work to your already-strained team. The resulting workload may be so overwhelming that burnout becomes another challenge with which to contend.

When faced with these difficulties, it helps to have a partner who can manage the daily tasks that demand so much of your team's attention. Your analysts could be free to focus on the strategic imperatives that create substantial impacts for your organization, while boosting their satisfaction in the process.

3. Strategic Imperatives and IT Leadership Pressure 

You have just received a new task from leadership and it’s flagged as a top priority, all hands on deck. Meanwhile, you have zero resources and are struggling to manage your current workload.

For example, with the rise of value-based care, generating more patient engagement is a great way to increase reimbursement rates and boost revenue, not to mention health outcomes. That means your team's work with Epic's MyChart patient portal plays a direct role in organizational growth.

The good news is that you have options. CTG provides the experience and expertise you need to make the most of your Epic investment. Some areas of expertise include:

• Mergers & acquisitions (M&As)—Managing the daily responsibilities while you focus on the larger projects
• Community Connect—From workflow negotiations to user support for your partnering organization
• Value-based care—Providing tools for increased patient engagement and satisfaction

CTG's Epic Stewardship Solutions Focus on Your Success

We have a long history of investing in our Epic support staff. We're dedicated to helping team members gain the experience and skills they need to perform at the highest levels and advance their careers. This includes educational opportunities to continue their professional development.

That's what attracts new analysts to our team, and it's also why they stay. Some of our analysts have been with us for more than a decade.

CTG's Epic Stewardship Solutions ease the burden of system support, reduce staff churn, and accommodate budget constraints. We offer a suite of services to help overcome these common issues so your organization can make the most of your Epic investment. Our stewardship services include:

• Epic implementation and modernization services to enhance your current technology and accelerate your digital transformation. You can digitize your data and move storage to the cloud for more efficient workflows, preparing your organization for future challenges.
• We boost patient engagement and satisfaction by offering tools to help patients play an active role in their care, including support for MyChart and telehealth.
• With application management and Epic service desk, we'll help you optimize your application portfolio (including legacy systems) to get the most out of them, all while simplifying your environment and resolving user issues quickly.
• Readiness, training, and activation services make it easier to manage change. Leverage our technology and training experts to plan, manage, and execute a successful system change that results in adoption.
• Our value-based care and population health solutions reexamine how your organization approaches patient care, which can help increase reimbursement rates as patient outcomes improve.
• Essential business solutions provide the support you need to execute strategic imperatives that leverage Epic for organizational growth. You'll have access to experts in areas such as analytics and reporting, M&As, and Community Connect.
• With comprehensive, automated testing, you can implement with confidence knowing each build will achieve its intended purpose while providing an enhanced user experience.
• With improved data governance, analytics, and reporting, your organization can make informed decisions that drive your strategy forward while ensuring consistent, standardized data.

Free your team to take charge of strategic imperatives without sacrificing daily tasks. Rely on CTG, a partner with proven success to help overcome staffing and budget limitations while increasing revenue and creating opportunities for organizational growth.

Contact CTG today to learn how our Epic Stewardship Solutions can solve your most difficult challenges.

contact the CTG Team