EHR Implementation Communication Plan
This is a practical guide to building a communication plan for an ehr implementation project — who gets what information, when, how and from whom, adapted to the realities of implementing an electronic health records system.
What a Communication Plan is
A communication plan is who gets what information, when, how and from whom. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Communication Plan. On an ehr implementation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for an EHR Implementation project
EHR Implementation projects live or die on implementing an electronic health records system. A well-built communication plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how ehr implementation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Audiences
- Messages / information needs
- Frequency and channel
- Owner
EHR Implementation-specific considerations
Tailor the communication plan to the risks that most often derail ehr implementation projects:
- Clinical workflow disruption
- Patient-data privacy
- Clinician adoption
Example
On a real ehr implementation project, the communication plan would be shaped by implementing an electronic health records system. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — clinical workflow disruption, patient-data privacy, clinician adoption — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.