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EHR Safety First Steps
Every organization is different, but the following first steps should be applicable to most organizations, from small physician practices to integrated healthcare systems.                  

Organizational Preparation

1. Complete the EHR-Readiness Organizational Survey and review the it with your leadership group.
2. Identify the person in your organization who will be primarily responsible for EHR safety.

Vendor Assessment (Current or Prospective)

1. Meet with the vendor’s executive who is primarily responsible for EHR safety.  Review staffing levels, and how human-factors engineering principles and practices are incorporated in the development, testing, documentation, and upgrading of the product and its interfaces with other software products.
2. Review how the vendor gathers information regarding system flaws from customers and how they communicates flaws and their resolution to customers.
3. Review the vendors’ lists of safety flaws (active and resolved) and note how long it takes them to resolve flaws.
4. Include an explicit service-level agreement regarding timely flaw resolution in your contract.

Safety Flaw Prevention and Management

1. Identify safety flaws (starting before implementation) and track them to resolution.
2. Report all flaws to your vendor.
3. Work with your vendor to identify optimal flaw resolution or mitigation.