How A Poor Analyst Gambles With Your Go-Live: 5 Ways To Spot Them

[Health IT Social]

I'm begging you, please, don't be that guy.  You're go-live is completed and now, four months later, you're losing money and you're blaming the software.  I've been through implementations before and seen all of the moving parts--there's more to it.  So let's suspend time for a second, throw out all your preconceived notions regarding what happened and ask this one question.

If it wasn't the software, then what could it have been?

Odds are, looking for these 5 warning signs on your implementation team might have helped your roll out go much more smoothly.  How do I know?  Because I've personally seen people like these cost hospitals millions...yes, millions...

 

Your project manager has an implementation strategy, but not a plan.

Any good recruiter will tell you that a project manager is only so valuable as a consultant.  Why?  Because they spend time managing people, deadlines and benchmarks.  What's wrong with that?  It means that all their reports back to management are based off of what people are telling them--in short, they don't know the nuts and bolts enough to tell a knowledgeable analyst from an incapable one.  Low and behold, months down the road, things go sour and the first thing they do is blame individuals who told them false information.

Expect more from your project leader.  Ask them further details into each module's rollout plan and determine whether they've asked each team the right questions.  Do they have faith in all of the team leads?  If not, they need to speak up before things go further downhill.  Most importantly, make sure they've got an understanding of the full scope of the project.  Just because they've done an implementation before doesn't mean they did it with Siemens, or even did it right the first time.

 

Your team lead is always on the defensive.

This trait has to be the most dangerous.  It basically means that not only are they not on schedule, but that they feel like they could be missing things and mask it by looking pestered.  When push comes to shove, analysts are terrified to let anyone know that they don't know something.  Most figure they'll figure it out as they go along, or that it won't be a big enough deal for anyone to notice.  You think I'm joking?  It's the sad truth--I've seen it.

Take the warning sign seriously and find ways to insert others you know that will still involve the analyst who is insecure.  I once saw an analyst who completely destroyed a particular dictionary that was central to a clean operation.  Eventually it left a scripting mess with reversing charges and frankly, I still don't think the damage has been completely fixed.  What happened 6 months after implementation?  She left on her own accord, along with her mess...

 

They start saying bad things about your support staff.

The biggest mistake any hospital can make is not involving their support staff, period.  They know the in's and out's of your particular network which is invaluable.  What does that breed amongst implementation analysts?  Insecurity.

This red flag is major since at some point, there is going to be a transition to the support team.  Given the scope of any implementation, there are always going to be pieces that don't get resolved.  If you've made the mistake not to involve them already, make sure you squash any sort of resentment between those implementing and those supporting--it's only going to make things tougher in the end for your project.

 

You're given the *pause* before they answer your question.

Hah, everyone knows this one.  "Did you make sure to update the Charge Procedure Dictionary with those GL codes we discussed".  *PAUSE*, deer in a headlights for a second, then with eyes open a little wider than usual, "yes, we looked into it".

The pause is huge--nobody ever wants to admit when they're wrong or they don't know.  If someone is giving you anything like this, move quickly to get another set of eyes on it.  The example I mentioned was a small thing.  What if it's an entire interface that they haven't dealt with yet?

 

My favorite...they tell you someone else is taking care of it.

I'll leave this last one by simply saying, there is never anyone else taking care of it.  It's likely the person saying it to you that needs to be on it.  If you ever hear this phrase, drop everything and ask for every update under the sun that you can get from that team.  Odds are, they're likely not handling other key components.  Not sure what to ask?  Go to your support staff--that's what they're their for!!

 

Although these can be helpful hints that certain analysts or managers need some serious assistance, nothing beats your intuition.  If you're a part of a team and know that there's someone who isn't cutting it, I encourage you to do the right thing and speak up.  I promise you that it may not seem like a big deal early on, but months down the road, there are some pieces that could take months to fix if done improperly.  Working within the current state of healthcare with rising costs and patient care implications, we need to find mistakes early and be proactive about fixing them.  This isn't a blame game--it's about finding success as a unit to successfully implement software that can cut costs and more importantly, help save lives.

 

The Health IT Social blogger has worked in the healthcare industry for the past seven years.

His goal is to get people to understand that a great piece of software can save a life the same way a proper diagnosis can...