Medical offices may want to see immediate results once they have decided to adopt an electronic health records system. This is only natural. But patience may be one of the most important factors in making sure a technology project goes according to plan.

Given the complexity of health IT projects, each step of implementation needs to be taken with care. Software analyst Shahid Shah told Healthcare IT News that practices need to think about this in the context of how the process affects their business.

"All technology takes time to implement," he told the news source, adding that after a system is fully up and running "it should start improving, or 'healing' [the organization]."

He said that rather than rushing to get a project completed, practices should ask questions of their EHR vendor. This ensures that the technology company understands the precise needs of the medical office and can supply the right solutions.

Furthermore, the Healthcare Finance Management Association says that EHR projects should be focused on long-term improvements in a practice's quality of care. This should preclude one-sided consideration of short-term benefits.