Taming the EHR Playbook: Resources

The selected practical tools listed here are to get you started on several of the new or adapted processes outlined in this Playbook. The individual toolkits on the AMA STEPS Forward® website include these and additional resources. Click on the following links for immediate access to the listed resources.

• Example Letter to Patients About Electronic Messages (DOCX)
• Sharing Clinical Notes With Patients Pocket Card
• Using Choosing Wisely® Tools to Empower Patients
• Annual Prescription Renewal: Implementation Checklist
• Questions to Help Uncover Nonadherence
• Pre-Visit Questionnaire
• Visit Planner Checklist: Order Sheet for Patient Visits
• EHR Inbox Reduction Checklist
• Inbox Buckets and Team Pool Assignments Visual
• Sample Intake Processes for Telephone and Refill Encounters

Physicians from 3 organizations provide a 9-step process (PDF) and a checklist (PDF) to reduce EHR inboxes at the system level based on their personal experiences eliminating unnecessary burdens and improving EHR workflows at each of their organizations.

Want more? Find more strategies and tactics to help you save time and reduce the burden of EHR work in variety of formats in the curated list below. To see all the content AMA STEPS Forward® has to offer, go to stepsforward.org.

Playbook and toolkits

Explore more on the tactics highlighted in this playbook with these 13 AMA STEPS Forward® toolkits and the companion Saving Time playbook. To see all the toolkits AMA STEPS Forward® has to offer, go to stepsforward.org.

• Simplified Outpatient Documentation and Coding toolkit
• EHR Inbox Management toolkit
• Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff toolkit
• Sharing Clinical Notes With Patients toolkit
• Choosing Wisely® toolkit
• EHR Inbox Management toolkit
• Patient Portal Optimization toolkit
• Annual Prescription Renewal toolkit
• Medication Management toolkit
• Pre-Visit Planning toolkit
• Pre-Visit Laboratory Testing toolkit
• Team Documentation toolkit
• Saving Time playbook

Webinars and videos

Dig deeper on the subjects covered in this Playbook with these webinars and videos:

• Taming the EHR webinar
• E/M Documentation and Coding: Update for Ambulatory Visits video Part 1 | Part 2
• Building Trust: Addressing Inefficiencies video
• Joy in Medicine™—Efficiency of Practice Environment video
• Adopting OpenNotes webinar
• Team Documentation: Improve Efficiency of EHR Documentation video Part 1 | Part 2

AMA STEPS Forward® podcast episodes

Did you know AMA STEPS Forward® has a podcast? Access the same great content wherever you are—at the gym, on your commute, or walking the halls between patients—and hear physicians and other health care professionals share their EHR-taming tips, successes, and learning experiences in their own words:

• Taming the EHR
• Electronic Health Record Optimization
• Improve Practice Efficiency with EHR “Quick Wins”
• Reduce Pajama Time and Work Outside of Work (WOW)
• Treating Attention as an Asset
• Small Interventions Matter
• Sharing Clinical Notes With Patients
• Training Medical Assistants as “Encounter Specialists"

Success Stories

Read how other physicians and health care professionals are successfully taming the EHR—and how you can apply the lessons they learned to your own practice—in these short but sweet Success Stories:

• The Inboxologist
• Leverage Standing Orders and Protocols to Ease In-Basket Burdens
• Teamwork Tames the Inbox
• Annual Prescription Renewals Could Save Hundreds of Hours Each Year for Your Organization
• Four Interventions Stemmed the Tide of Refill Requests
• Decrease Patients With Poorly Controlled Diabetes By One-Third
• Working Smarter in Primary Care Means Transitioning to In-Room Physician Support
• Team Approach to Visit Documentation Saves Time
• Encounter Specialist Model Promotes Physician and Team Satisfaction
• Make the Electronic Health Record Work Easier and Cut Down on Daily Clicks