How Luther Manor Successfully Transitioned to a New EHR in Three Months

The transition to a new electronic health record (EHR) platform can feel daunting, but breaking the implementation into steps makes the transition much smoother (and maybe even a little fun). Leading Wisconsin-based continuing care retirement community, Luther Manor, took this approach when moving from their previous system to the PointClickCare platform.

The first step they took? Identifying their need for a solution better suited to their requirements.

“We were working on multiple disparate systems for our resident data, none of which were integrated with each other, and our business operations became siloed and inefficient,” explains Erika Tole, Director of Information Technology at Luther Manor. “Getting any form of data analysis across our continuum was a time-consuming process.”

After determining that it was time for a change, the second step was to identify the system requirements they needed as an organization. To do this, the team at Luther Manor used a consultant to help prioritize business requirements, review contracts, and determine the best solution for the organization. Feedback and input from the direct care staff and billing team was also incorporated as part of the search criteria to ensure the solution met a variety of organizational needs.

The third step was to make a selection. Following the evaluation of a variety of EHR vendors, Luther Manor determined that PointClickCare’s solution was the right fit. Not only did it address the challenges they faced, but it was easy to use.

“We chose PointClickCare because it stood out as the most user-friendly and comprehensive of all the systems we reviewed,” says Tole. “With the addition of the Data Relay server, which made it easy to exchange data, we could see a clear path to interoperability and business intelligence analysis to which none of the other systems could compare.”

Once the decision was made to proceed with PointClickCare, the fourth step was implementation and training. Luther Manor chose to leverage SmartZone — an online learning system that provides access to more than 300 self-paced eCourses — to bring their employees up to speed. Team leaders were designated for each department to ensure staff completed training. They also turned implementation into a friendly competition to incentivize training completion.

“Because we made our project fun, we managed to increase our user-adoption and help our employees embrace this project like no other,” says Tole.

“We get so much feedback from staff on the ways there are using the system to make their jobs easier. Prior to PointClickCare, we were emailing out our census changes, which was an arduous and inefficient task, and now we have all teams accessing the software and formatting their dashboards to see what they need,” she continues.

The last step? Celebrate. To thank their employees, and recognize them for all their hard work, Luther Manor decided to throw their employees a party. On April 25 the red carpet was rolled out at Luther Manor to celebrate the successful implementation of their new EHR in an Oscars-themed party. Award winners were announced over the speaker and employees were treated to a photo booth, delicious food, and music to celebrate the organization’s achievement.

The leaders at Luther Manor established an extremely aggressive implementation timeline, transitioning from their previous system to the PointClickCare platform in only three months, which would not have been possible without the help and dedication of their team. In the end, the transition was extremely beneficial to business and has set Luther Manor up for continued success into the future.

“PointClickCare checked so many of our boxes and has continued to meet and exceed our expectations,” exclaims Tole. “In 29 years of work in long-term care, I’ve never seen barriers come down and major strides made toward cross-functional teams become a reality. Everyone is using the same core resource for information and the outcome is glorious!”

To learn more about Luther Manor, visit their website, and be sure to watch a recording of A Customer Success Story: Luther Manor to hear more about their transition to a new EHR platform.