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Electronic health records were introduced to the U.S. healthcare system in the 1960s. For the first decade, they were mostly used by the government and large healthcare systems. By the 1980s, the software became more affordable, and adoption spread. By the 1990s, the technology could be found in most medical offices. The Internet age elevated the benefits of digital records. Today, EHRs are no longer considered a luxury; they are a medical necessity. The technology has transformed a heavily paper-based system into a paperless one – helping cut costs and improve productivity and efficiency.
The digital age of healthcare has followed three phases:
- Building infrastructure – digitizing patient recordsÂ
- Interoperability – allowing two or more systems to exchange health information and use the information once it is received
- Cloud-based systems – making medical record-sharing easier and safer, automating backend operations, facilitating the creation and maintenance of telehealth apps, increasing the efficiency of the healthcare industry, and decreasing costs, as well as improving data usage to leverage AI, advancing research, and more.Â
Cloud-Based Systems + Digitizing Competency Management
Cloud-based systems allow for continuous improvement. For example, patient data can indicate there are opportunities for improvement within a certain procedure. When that data are digitized and accessible, quality can be monitored more closely, and data can be leveraged to improve outcomes and the patient experience.Â
Digital tools offer numerous benefits to healthcare organizations, the greatest of which are reducing costs and improving healthcare staff productivity. Like with EHRs, digitizing antiquated processes, such as orientation, onboarding, annual mandatories, skills checkoffs, and more, provides a ripple effect – staff become happier, updates become easier, competency tracking is faster, and waste is eliminated.Â
For those digitizing competency management, Dossier offers:
- Immediate ROI due to eliminated waste and optimizing resources such as time, money, and talent
- Quick, easy implementation in weeks – not months or yearsÂ
- A dedicated Dossier team member to support you throughout the onboarding process
- Ability to maximize ROI from already acquired learning assets, such as LMS, simulators, procedures, and knowledge databases
The Digital ROI
Unlike the massive financial commitment required by an EHR migration, transitioning to digital competency management comes at a much lower price point. Plus, the return on investment for digitizing competencies begins on day one due to eliminating paper, binders, and storage and improving worker efficiency. When multiple departments use a cloud-based digital competency management platform, savings are compounded.
Implement in Weeks – Not Months or Years
Many software implementation timelines can take 18 months or more because of extensive requirements gathering, systems integration challenges, security concerns, attrition – the list goes on. A cloud-based competency platform, like Dossier, takes the implementation timeline from months or years down to weeks.
There are numerous benefits of using cloud-based systems, including:
- Accessibility – It’s available to staff anywhere at any time.
- Cost Savings – On average, our customers realize immediate cost savings of more than 10x within months of digitizing competencies.
- Insight – Because Dossier connects to your learning systems and activities, you get a better, more comprehensive view of your data and can report on learner progress.Â
- Increase collaboration – Improved accessibility means preceptors can better manage and engage with those they are training.Â
- Quality control – It eliminates competency plan duplication or potential differences in competency plans by the department.Â
- Loss prevention – No more missing binders or misplaced checklists; data lives in the cloud in real-time.
- Automatic software updates – When the system is updated, you gain immediate access to improvements; no more coordinating with internal resources or disruptive downtime.
- Improved staff and patient satisfaction – When staff is properly trained, they deliver better care, and the patient experience improves. When they have access to digital tools that allow them to manage their training and days better, they are happier.
- Scalable and sustainable – Binders require storage space, which isn’t sustainable as hospitals’ needs change. Cloud-based competency management scales easily, a great asset to hospitals undergoing mergers and acquisitions. As part of the M&A due diligence, cloud-based competency management can ensure all individuals, departments, and facilities receive the appropriate competencies.
- Better in-house resource management – As a cloud-based system, your IT team doesn’t need to create bandwidth for a system install. No need to worry about system integrations or security gaps.
A Dedicated Team Member
With Dossier, the resource lift on the customer side is minimized. How? A dedicated Customer Success Manager is assigned to each Dossier engagement. The CSM is responsible for helping clients onboard. All of Dossier’s CSMs have worked or are currently working as nurses in hospitals. Their experience in the field helps ensure customers’ competency plans are set up correctly from day one, and it expedites implementation and onboarding.Â
Having a dedicated CSM accomplishes three goals:
- Expedites creation of the competency plans
- Gets customer teams in and using the digital platform more quicklyÂ
- Generates additional customer savings on day one
Maximize the ROI from Healthcare Learning Activities and Systems
Hospitals and health systems typically have several learning systems that capture data about learner activities. Dossier easily connects to learning systems, adding significant value to current investments while providing visibility and reporting capabilities.Â
Go Digital with Dossier
Shifting to digital drives immediate savings by eliminating paper, binders, and storage space. Add to that the time saved by improving operational efficiencies, and you can see how the return on investment begins on day one. When cloud-based systems are rolled out across multiple departments and facilities, the savings are immediately compounded.Â
In an age when healthcare organizations are struggling to contain revenue, delaying digitization becomes a harder argument to make. If you are curious about how much your organization could save, check out our Competency Calculator.
If you are interested in learning more, download Dossier’s Guide to Digital Competency Management.
