Providing better care with the help of advanced technology is now considered as primary goal of the healthcare industry. Thus, care organizations remain in search of hi-tech health care oriented tools. EHR system is one among those technical tools that help them to meet their primary goal. However, it remains a tough task for the care providers to select an appropriate EHR system which has the potential to improve patient safety, care quality and efficiency by supporting coordinated care and real-time access to information.
Organizations who have made the investment in an electronic health record (EHR) need to conduct an in-depth review to ensure that they are optimizing their investment. Most providers are only utilizing 1/3 of the capabilities of their EHR. An EHR workflow that is built around proven processes and procedures can rapidly improve the proficiency and effectiveness of a practice.
Workflows regulates daily operations. They enable patient flow, ensure patient safety, and sustain the financial wellbeing of the practice. Any disruption to these workflows hampers providers’ ability to provide better care, and, consequently, generate revenue. If workflow is significantly impeded, it likely surpasses everything else, including implementing an electronic health record (EHR), meeting meaningful use and jumping through all the hoops required to be considered for incentive payments.
In order to get most form your EHR, Here are some steps practices need to follow:
Redesign your Workflow: In order to redesign your workflow, you should start with your operational and clinical needs and figure out how the EHR tool can be effectively used. Workflow redesign is a challenging process, however it maximizes efficiency and enhances health care quality and safety by eliminating chaos from your current workflow at the same time it helps to get better value from your EHR and improve care coordination.
Understand Patient Service: In order to be truly effective in coordinating care and providing patients with the best services available, practices must understand patient centric care to meet the actual needs of patients when it comes to the care continuum. The practice should take a new look at their patient service goals and standards. EHRs enable the practice to more proactively manage patients and, as important, manage patient services across the practice. If you get the right EHR and design your EHR effort to use these tools, you are on the way to provide better outcomes.
Rearrange Responsibilities: Change in the working responsibilities of the in-house staffs in the practice bring lots of complexities. Changes to responsibilities are enabled through the change to the workload as well as the flexibility enabled by immediate access to the patient record. However, changes to responsibilities and more flexible patient services requires a practice decision to use staff more effectively across the practice and not focused on the specific workload of a single doctor or office.
You need to select an EHR system which has the right tools to treat patients and improve clinical workflow. However, even the best EHRs are subject to the limitations on changes that you are willing to make to take advantage of your investment. Rethinking how your practice works and the use of staff and doctors will help you get the most from your EHR effort and investment.
