How to Handle Legacy Data When Switching EHR

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How to Handle Legacy Data When Switching
EHR Working in medicine means handling data. A
lot of data. You might wonder how your practice
should handle all the information it generates,
especially if youre working on healthcare data
migration. This could happen if youre
transitioning from paper records to electronic
ones or switching between electronic health
record (EHR) systems. Handling data might be
easier if you consider a few things. Keep in
touch (or reconnect) with coworkers and former
coworkers So, youve stored data that you might
want to use one day. Will you be able to access
it when the time comes? The people whove used
the data before and have used prior systems might
not work at your medical office any longer. Or,
if they do, theres a good chance theyre working
on a newer electronic health system that the rest
of your office is using. So, if you need data or
assistance, ask these employees and former
employees what they know. If they no longer work
at your office, consider staying in touch or
reconnecting with employees who interacted a
great deal with your data and computer systems.
Their knowledge could save you time and be quite
useful. Have you fallen out of touch with these
employees? Are you worried about how to approach
them without feeling awkward? You could go online
for tips about re-establishing contact with your
former coworkers and supervisors. Emphasize
training Accessing data is more than rekindling
relationships with former colleagues. Its also
helping current and new coworkers. Training
yourself and coworkers could help you access
current and archived data. Check to see if the
manufacturers of your offices electronic health
record (EHR) and practice management software
systems could send representatives to your office
to provide training or offer ongoing
assistance and troubleshooting services.
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• Such assistance could probably help everyone,
  even people with more EHR system experience and
  higher comfort levels with your new system.
• Chances are, if one person has a particular
  question, other people might have that same
  query. Answering the same question in a group
  prevents many people from repeatedly bringing up
  the same concerns. Instead, theyll find faster
  resolution to their problems and resume working
  more quickly.
• Save and copy important information
• It might sound obvious but save and copy legacy
  data and other important data when youre
  switching from one system to another and
  conducting your EHR data migration.
• Many types of software systems allow you to
  migrate data from one to another seamlessly using
  electronic tools. But if they dont, you might
  need to save, collect, and copy this kind of data
  manually.
• Some data youd want to convert from one system
  to another might include information about
  patients
• Medical and personal histories
• Appointment and procedure schedules
• Standing or active orders
• Medications
• Immunizations
• Allergies

life and death.
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• Set parameters for storage
• Deciding how to handle your practices paper and
  electronic files and other data means setting
  guidelines.
• When keeping paper files or electronically
  archived information, youll probably want to
  determine
• How long you want to keep the data.
• Storage solutions for keeping your data in the
  office? Off-site?
• Whether you want to enter patients you havent
  seen for a few years into your system.
• Which employees have access to archived and/or
  new data.
• Remembering who visits your office and how often
  could help you determine how you want to classify
  current records, which information is older but
  should still be accessible, which information
  should be archived, and whether to discard other
  types of data.
• Other tips for handling data during your EHR
  migration
• For information you want to keep because you
  might need to access it, you might want to create
  an archival system.
• Some benefits of creating an archival system
  include helping your practice find documentation
  when it needs it, creating a centralized location
  for archived data, and saving money that you
  might otherwise use to manage legacy data.

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Transform your data into different forms Another
part of creating archival records is determining
how you want to save this data. Do you want to
save the information as data? Develop images of
each of your records? Consider doing both.
Discrete data allows you to create customized
reports, while fixed images could help you comply
with regulations because you cant change the
data further. Decide how you want to store your
data Once youve determined where your
information is and how you want to transform it,
youll want to decide how you want to store
it. You might want to keep your current system
to store data, develop a stand- alone application
that may or may allow easy access, or store your
data in the cloud (on the internet) and have
others manage your information. In fact, if you
have questions about your EHRs and how to store
and use information, you might want to contact
Eye Care Leaders. Working together, well develop
solutions that could help your health care
practice manage its data and handle other aspects
of its work.