EHR Implementation Risk Register
This is a practical guide to building a risk register for an ehr implementation project — the living log of risks with scores, owners and responses, adapted to the realities of implementing an electronic health records system.
What a Risk Register is
A risk register is the living log of risks with scores, owners and responses. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Risk Register. 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 risk register 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
- Risk description and category
- Probability and impact
- Risk score
- Owner
- Response and trigger
EHR Implementation-specific considerations
Tailor the risk register 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 risk register 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.