Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/41086
It is the underlying, cooperative nature of the development work that was required to construct, test, and implement Cleveland Clinic's integrated electronic medical record system, as well as the work required to train every one of the various kinds of providers who would ultimately use it, that leads directly to a second important concept that is bound to resonate with healthcare providers of virtually every discipline: multi- disciplinary collaboration. No One Climbs a Mountain Alone It is an old adage that has become something of a cliché, probably because it is so self-evidently true, that no one climbs a mountain alone. Complex tasks are almost always accomplished more effec- tively when the cooperative efforts of a team of people with different, but complimentary skills, backgrounds, and perspectives can be focused and coordinated. This cooperative approach is refl ected directly in the work Cleveland Clinic clinicians and technology profes- sionals did during the original development of what would eventually become the MyPractice electronic medical record system that presently serves as the organi- zation's technology solution, and MyPractice Community, a version of the same system custom designed to meet the needs of physicians in private practice. And it is the driving philosophy of their ongoing efforts to translate the lessons they learn over time into system improvements in the future. Two of these lessons speak directly to the importance of ensuring that the people who use a technology tool can make that tool their own: a degree of system fl exibility that allows providers the freedom to create templates and workflows that match they way they think and work; and a level of training that leaves every end-user confi dent that they possess the knowledge and skills necessary to derive the maximum ben- efi t the system can deliver. As Dr. Harris explains, "Cleveland Clinic physicians represent a wide range of specialties, and they serve the comprehensive healthcare needs of a tremendously broad patient population. As is true in any physician practice, large or small, an automated system that would require our clinicians to signifi - cantly change the way they work is simply not going to be effective. So, our system is fl exible. And, because so many different people use it every day to accomplish so many different, practice- related tasks, the availability of initial and refresher training, as well as ongoing technical support, is critical. Our goal, from the very beginning, has always been to align our secure, health information technology tools in ways that would make using them meaningful for clini- cians, and their patients. From our experience, it is clear that the actual technology itself is really only one part of a much larger, more complex equation. From that perspective, I think that we, as healthcare providers, are all beginning to develop a common understanding of what the term 'meaningful use' really means; and that, in itself, is an interesting, and potentially even an important, event." To f ind our how the MyPract ice Community electronic medical record sys- tem for physicians in private practice can work for you, please call 216-738-4617, or visit www.clevelandclinic.org/mpc. MyPractice Community is powered by EPIC Systems, an ONC-ATCB-certifi ed solution. (ONC-ATCB: Of f ice of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology-Authorized Testing and Certifi cation Body.) *For a full description of each of the "meaningful use" measures and their thresholds, as well as links to detailed compliance-related Web pages, please visit http://cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/ Downloads/EP-MU-TOC.pdf. n 44 | Cleveland-Akron-Canton MD NEWS MDNEWS.COM SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2011