When a healthcare organization decides to move on from McKesson Horizon to another EHR platform, there are several points to consider. First, you must determine which staff members will continue fulfilling their current day-to-day tasks and which will transfer to roles on the new EHR project.
This is important because it is extremely unrealistic to expect your employees to work on their current tasks, as well as assist in the building of the new solution. There are only so many hours in the day; doubling the workload on your staff could cause them to burn out. The overall quality of each employee’s work will likely diminish. In some cases, they may feel compelled to leave the organization. So, the question arises – what can you do to avoid this?
The easiest way to address this problem is to bring in a third party that can provide the same level of service from your legacy Horizon system that your customers, end users, and healthcare professionals are used to. The HCI Group’s Blair Powell, who has 23 years of experience with McKesson, provides some key reasons as to how a third party vendor can profoundly benefit organizations who need McKesson Horizon Legacy Support as they move to a new EHR.
1) Filling Voids
Within the IT department, individuals will be responsible for answering questions about Horizon modules for different departments, e.g. the pharmacy. The person assigned responsibility for the pharmacy application in the new system will have to leave for training, which can create a serious gap in their daily responsibilities for the current Horizon pharmacy system. The department will need an experienced person to fill this void and respond to support requests for the Horizon application.
So, while you have your original staff learning the new system, you will need to backfill the Horizon positions with individuals who have the same skill set and expertise to be able to help your customers. You must reallocate resources in anticipation of the daily requests that will continue to come in for Horizon. Be as transparent as possible during this change to maintain a high-level of trust with the customers you are serving.
At this stage, project stakeholders often choose to contact third party vendors to source individuals who have the level of expertise needed to fill gaps. Once an external resource is identified, you’ll now have a resource that has the same skill set and expertise as your internal employee and who can maintain the same level of productivity. You can keep your current customers happy while your internal employees are off learning the new system, allowing the project to be completed successfully and within your predetermined timeframe.
2) Mitigated Cost
Cost is often a factor that causes apprehension when organizations are considering bringing in a third party vendor. Any time you undertake a project of this magnitude, there will obviously be costs associated. In this instance, however, realizing that you will have to temporarily replace your internal team is the equivalent of getting the news that a tree has punched a hole through your roof. This “hole in the roof” moment will come with unavoidable costs. The roof needs to be fixed—you cannot just ignore the issue.
It is at this point that organizations often begin weighing the alternatives to contracting with a third party, such as hiring somebody new to fill the gap. However, new hires come with their own costs. You must go through an extensive vetting process to ensure they are qualified, followed by the orientation and training processes. Additionally, as you move fully onto your new EHR, you will have several decisions to make. Are you going to release that person? Are you going to train them again to understand the new system? Instead of dealing with the time and cost to train a new employee to fill the gap, a third party support resource can be instantly inserted and ready to take on daily tasks. Third party support will assist you in your time of need and will be able to perfectly plug the “hole in your roof” until your hired resource returns from training for the new system.
The biggest issue to consider when moving on from McKesson Horizon is how to provide your customers the same level of service and consistency to which they are accustomed. When your providers or nursing professionals have an issue with the computer that they are using, they need a solution so that they can more quickly provide quality care to their patients. This is also why it is important to accomplish these changes in as transparent a way as possible. Third party vendors can accomplish this by filling voids seamlessly and mitigating the cost of hiring new resources
For more information on Legacy Systems Support, please feel free to contact us below.