My name is Betsy Haines. I am a psychiatrist and an electronic medical record (EMR) implementation veteran. I am starting "Getting to Go Live" to help other people involved in implementing an EMR lead their organizations through a successful launch. The observations, lessons learned, best practices and thoughts I will share are based in my broad range of experience. 

I spent my 30+ year career on the clinical faculty of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ. For 25 years, I did direct patient care with people with serious and persistent mental illness. My absolutely best days were when I saw patients in the railroad station and did initial contacts in McDonalds. I also supervised professionals of every disciplinary stripe and held a number of administrative positions.

 

Then for 6 years, I morphed into the project manager for an electronic health record (EHR) implementation. (BTW Aficionados hold to the distinctions between an EHR and an EMR, electronic medical record. We will use the terms interchangeably.)  The implementation was complex, arduous, challenging – your average EHR implementation. Happily, it was also successful.


For the last 4 years I have consulted on EMR implementation with behavioral health providers across the country.