1up FHIR Platform
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In Part 2 of this “Implementation Matters” blog series, I talked about 1upHealth’s knowledgeable and dependable Implementation team. We have the right people in place. In this installment of the series, let’s talk about 1upHealth’s implementation philosophy.
Our implementation philosophy is delightfully simple. Hire the best people, set clear expectations, develop a plan to successfully execute the project, and revisit that plan often with all the operational parties involved in the implementation.
Alignment and communication are key ingredients
Implementing a SaaS product like a health data management platform can be an exciting but daunting endeavor. In any implementation, the goal is to complete the project “on time” and “on budget”. Unfortunately, there are a number of things that could go wrong between contract signing and launching the solution in your environment.
There’s the risk of scope creep, which can impact both timeline and cost, as no two customers’ technical ecosystems and resource capabilities are alike. In addition, whenever change is introduced into any setting, it brings with it a level of discomfort to those impacted. This can cause resistance to implementation and ultimately product adoption. And on and on and on…
1upHealth has implemented over 80 customers so we know where the potential pitfalls could be and continue to learn from our clients every day. Our first few project calls are focused on building alignment by conducting discovery to understand our customers’ goals, human resource capacity, and capabilities. We align that with our own resources’ availabilities and build a source-of-truth project plan that we review frequently throughout the implementation. Basic project management hygiene in which we consistently keep the customer apprised with notes following all meetings, complete with details on decision points, action items and risks, ensure that there is constant alignment across the team. These may seem like simple actions but they go a long way in ensuring alignment and effective communication with our clients.
Focus on what you can control during implementation…
No two customers are alike, so no two implementations are alike. One organization’s system setup will be different from another’s, and the technical capabilities and bandwidth of one organization can vary dramatically from another. Also, unforeseen issues can always occur that hinder project goals.
We start with what we can control, and that’s creating a plan of action based on what we learn from our discovery calls. We identify what tasks are in scope in the coming weeks, the roles required to execute each task, and how long it should all take. We agree on a target Go-Live date that together we all strive to meet.
Although surprises can still arise, a baseline plan better equips us for pivoting to Plans B and C for any potential deviations. Our playbook of best practices and accumulated deep industry knowledge helps us to recommend the best course of action for our customers’ unique needs.
We also aim to consistently document any outlier situations, including context, workaround, and resolution, to ensure our documentation stays current and our Support team has everything it needs to provide the highest level of service to our customers after they move past the implementation stage.
But also think ahead…
Our main goal is to successfully implement the project at hand with quality and efficiency, but we are not shortsighted. We know that what we’re implementing for our clients could be the first brick in setting the foundation for a broader, integrated FHIR solution for the future. The intent of HL7 in creating FHIR was to develop a streamlined, future-proof standard for sharing data across systems, and we try to uphold this goal when we consider what FHIR profiles to use when converting customer data to FHIR.
While the majority of our customers’ goals are to meet compliance, we know that this first step will open doors to future data sharing with other payers, providers, health systems, and beyond. With that in mind, our goal is to ensure that the quality of the data is to our customers’ standards.
While we are not allowed to change the content of the records, we aim to bring any quality issues that we observe to our customers’ attention during the implementation, to give them an opportunity to repair the actual data or processes that impact the quality of the data, at the source. This ensures that the data in the 1up FHIR Platform is trustworthy and reliable, which gives our customers confidence when considering interoperability projects in the future.
We’re ready to make your FHIR data project a success
Building a FHIR platform can be complex, but the 1upHealth Implementation team is ready to make your project as smooth as possible. Let’s work together! Sign up for a demo today to learn more about 1upHealth’s range of healthcare interoperability solutions.
