Electronic Health Records For Dummies

Developing a mission and vision

If you start with documents that you already have, like a business plan, then you have a jumping-off point for thinking about your future with an EHR. Think of this as an opportunity to re-vision your practice in terms of mission. Consider your overall organizational mission and values and how you want the EHR to enhance or improve them. Here are some initial big-picture questions to ask:

What is your organizational structure?

How do you define your organizational culture?

What is the current structure of your leadership team?

What are your strategic goals?

How do your technology objectives align with your overall organizational goals?

Can you apply EHR initiatives across the board? In other words, can you use EHR to improve your primary strategic areas?

Do your leadership performance criteria match up with your organizational goals?

How does staff performance affect your goals?

After you answer these questions (and any other ones you think up), you can begin to envision (or re-vision, as the case may be) your organization’s mission and values. Think of these in simple terms, like this:

Vision: What you hope to do.

Mission: What you’re going to do (action-oriented).

Values: What’s important to you. Organizational values can be about anything from how you conduct research or interact with patients and colleagues to issues of quality and conduct.

That’s not so bad, right? Now, think about how an EHR can help you achieve those visions and missions ...