You are already aware of the vital role that computer and software systems play in the provision of healthcare, particularly in terms of enhancing worker productivity and effectively treating more patients. In general, that’s accurate, but not all medical professionals are knowledgeable about a specific kind of software called electronic health record, or EHR software, which is used in hospitals, practices, and clinics all over the nation.
The enormous amount of data that hospitals, clinics, and medical offices generate and store for each patient in the field of medicine must be managed through computerization. EHR software enables practices to instantly communicate with insurers, hospitals, and referring physicians while saving them time and money.
However, some healthcare organizations still rely on generic software to manage patient data because they are unaware of the complexity of an EHR solution. When the practice first started, a simple database may have been sufficient, but a software solution designed with medical staffers in mind is much more appropriate.
Before deciding to install an EHR solution and train staff on how to use it, a medical practice manager or owner should weigh the potential advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Why is EHR so important in Healthcare?
The benefits of electronic health records are aplenty! And so are the limitations of not having an EHR in place. Here are top insights that will throw light on why EHR is so beneficial for your services if you own or are a part of the healthcare service sector.
Advantages of Electronic Medical Records
There are many benefits of electronic health records to think about, with templates, financial advantages, and patient portal functionality being crucial:
1. Economic Possibilities
Your company must use an EHR that has been certified and computerized patient records. That is required to demonstrate Meaningful Use and qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid financial incentives (the government encourages EHR usage in the name of efficiency and promotes use of the software accordingly).
Only medical professionals who use an EHR to document their compliance with value-based care initiatives, such as information to support the Patient Centered Medical Home or PCHM model, are eligible for additional financial incentives from the government.
2. Time-saving Templates
One of the main benefits of using electronic health records is the availability of pre-designed templates. Using templates will guarantee that staff members always input the correct information about patients before closing the updated record (for instance, the staff will type in very different information for an oncology appointment and for a patient visiting the OB/GYN).
3. Access is Enhanced by Patient Portal
Enabling the patient portal in your EHR system is a great way to improve patient engagement and save time. It frees patients from entering redundant information on multiple stacks of paper forms by allowing them to type in their own information on a computer at home or at a kiosk in your waiting area.
As the country struggles to deal with the growing coronavirus pandemic of COVID-19 infections, patient portals are proving to be very helpful. According to the Centers for Disease Control, patient portals are a good place for storing and transmitting secure messages, data, and images from telehealth modalities.
Cons of Electronic Health Records
When you computerize patient records, you must take special care to safeguard the information against unauthorized access. When getting ready to roll out a system, you should be aware of some potential drawbacks of electronic health records.
1. Criminal Hackers
You must, for instance, be on guard against ransomware attacks, which continue to dominate the news. Hackers commit this type of crime by placing malware on the servers of a medical institution. In order to cover their tracks, they often pay in bitcoin and hold data hostage until they receive it. In the interim, work may slack off due to the lack of patient information.
By working with IT experts to secure your system with a firewall and other software security tools, you can address these worries head-on. This safeguards you in case of an emergency, such as a server issue on your end or a natural disaster that forces you to relocate your staff.
2. Developer Fails to Provide Timely Updates
If the developer of the EHR has not released updates on a regular basis for some time, that could be another potential drawback.
3. Ignoring Industry Best Practices for Software
What’s worse, the developers might not be able to update their EHR in accordance with standards set by the government and the business community. It is best to choose an EHR software provider with a solid track record and extensive experience in the field.
Consider the Pros and Cons of Electronic Health Records for Your Practice.
Doctors are taught to adopt new techniques with caution and wisdom, seeking proof and documentation that doing things differently will be advantageous to them and their patients (in improved care as well as saving time, for example). When considering the computer systems and software your medical staff will use on a daily basis to care for patients that is a good approach.
There is no need to install immediately. Waiting to see how the most recent version performs in actual field use before upgrading your own software is a safe approach because early adopters occasionally have to put up with bugs and crashes with new software.
However, delaying the adoption of an EHR that would unquestionably benefit patients, staff, and your organization can have a negative impact on your bottom line.
If your team has determined that you need to deploy the software right away, don’t let information paralysis prevent you from doing so. The impact on your bottom line will increase the longer you wait. EHRs are a tried-and-true way to increase a practice’s healthcare revenue cycle because they encourage efficiency.
Paper records have some drawbacks.
The same criticisms levelled against legible doctor handwriting also apply to handwritten office notes. Additional restrictions include:
- Your paper records’ data make it simple to compute or conduct analyses.
- The inability to quickly store or locate data
- The anxiety of losing important data to burglary, fires, or other events.
- Destruction of priceless medical records is simple.
How to Use EHR Software Successfully
Many solo practitioners and small group practices are reconsidering their decision to continue using paper charts and records in light of potential Medicare reimbursement reductions for practices not using electronic health records (EHR) by 2015. The advantages of the incentive payments provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were initially outweighed by these providers’ worries about entry costs, returns on investment, and disruptions to their practices. Many of these healthcare professionals have decided to join the ranks of healthcare providers who have adopted this healthcare information technology after learning that their EHR concerns have been addressed in the most recent releases of EHR software. What medical professionals need in order to successfully transition to HER
EHR Strategies for Success
The work done to lay the groundwork for the use of EHR software, according to healthcare providers who have already made the switch to EHR, is what contributed to their success in making the transition. To successfully switch to EHR software, follow these steps.
- Redesign patient work flows, point-of-care documentation, document management, communications, and paper-to-EHR chart conversion processes.
- Select an EHR system that will cooperate with the clinic as a partner.
- To cut entry and ownership costs, think about using cloud-based EHR.
- Choose EHR software that can scale and adjust to shifting coding and documentation standards.
- Make sure the EHR software provides a full practice management solution.
Practitioners can transition to EHR with little disruption to their practices by following these steps. After the adjustment period, the practice will function much more effectively, and the productivity of the providers will rise. As a result, the practice will soon see a significant return on their EHR software investment.
