Electronic Health Records (EHR) were developed to save time, information, and make things streamlined. Earlier EHR software was considered a luxury, but over time it has become a necessity for modern providers who want to stay sustainable in today’s healthcare environment.
In an industry such as healthcare, technology is developed to decrease human efforts and error, streamline the workflow and bring an entire practice on a single platform. Therefore, it’s not possible for physicians and staff to adhere to the complications of EHR, and dedicate more time on EHR’s task instead of focusing on patient’s care.
Challenges providers face with EHRs
EHRs, in their current state, not only consume a lot of physicians’ time, but they also draw their attention away from their direct interactions with patients. Some of the several significant challenges providers face are:
- Administrative tasks such as data entry take up a lot of provider’s time – according to a study, during the office day, a provider spends as much as 49.2% of their time on EHRs.
- Providers are only reimbursed for face-to-face visits, lab work, and medical procedures and not for EHR tasks. This increases the risk of physician burnout.
- During patient examinations, providers spend almost 1/4th of their time on data entry and desk work, compromising on their direct interaction with patients.
Why can’t we go away with EHRs?
Imagine a practice without EHR, we can’t right? Their implementation was necessary, and that still holds true. Although EHRs consume the time of providers, we can’t go away with it because besides that there are many offerings of EHR that providers can’t deny on. Providers have to accept EHR with their own set of challenges. Therefore providers can only optimize EHR according to their needs and boost their working experience accordingly.
Benefits of EHR :
- Providesaccurate, up-to-date, and complete information about patients at the point of care
- Enablesquick access to patient records for more coordinated, efficient care
- Securely sharing electronic information with patients and other clinicians
- Helpsproviders to diagnose patients more effectively, reduce medical errors, and provide safer care
- Improvespatient and provider interaction and communication, as well as health care convenience
- Enablessafer and more reliable prescribing
- Helpspromote legible, complete documentation and accurate, streamlined coding and billing
- Enhancesprivacy and security of patient data
- Helpsproviders improve productivity and work-life balance
- Enablesproviders to improve efficiency and meet their business goals
- Reducescosts through decreased paperwork, improved safety, reduced duplication of testing, and improved health.
Related Article: Top 10 benefits of using Pediatric specific EMR
EHR Optimization to boost work experience
EHR optimization is the process of enhancing and refining the operations of an already installed EHR, to enhance clinical productivity and efficiency. Providers can optimize their EHR according to their specialties and needs. Nowadays, as more and more providers are shifting from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement, they are demanding more integrated and efficient EHRs. Opportunities for EHR optimization vary for every practice and range from simple to complex. However, the primary objective of every optimization is reducing the time consumed by providers and administrative staff.
Here are some ways healthcare providers can optimize the time spent on EHRs for improved patient care:
Clinical decision support :
By linking clinical decision support with EHR data, providers can ensure safer and efficient care delivery by documenting every interaction and eliminating repetitions. With every information documented, providers can address the gaps in care well in time.
Comprehensive and complete clinical records :
It’s important that a patient record is complete- right from their past medical history to their last lab test results. Along with that, if providers are able to look at all vital signs at once, the entire process of designing and implementing a care plan would become efficient.
Sharing vital information across the network :
Delay in accessing information is the major reason behind improper or delayed care. It’s important that clinical data, lab test results, referrals, etc. are shared across all providers to ensure seamless treatment and population health management.
Monitor, evaluate, and maintain results :
To ensure the success of optimization isn’t short-lived, providers should continuously monitor their process improvement. Organizations should evaluate their growth and shortfalls and make efforts to sustain and improve the results they achieve.
So, What to do?
When it comes to delivering quality care, healthcare providers should not worry about how data is being fed into EHRs and how it is being utilized, they should focus on how to deliver care as efficiently as possible. EHRs are just a set of tools, which were developed with the aim to unify disparate and paper-written data and to make the entire process of documentation time-effective. If physicians are overloaded with type-and-click tasks, then it’s time to bring about a change and optimize the right EHRs for your practice to obtain clinical, financial, and professional goals.
If you are looking for an EHR that works for you and helps you focus on the quality of patient care then, iPatientCare’s EHR is one of the most popular electronic health record software. It is capable of molding itself to suit your needs, rather than changing the way you work. In iPatientCare’s EHR software, you can customize everything – from organizing the tabs in the patient’s chart to restructuring the visit notes, templates, dashboards, and the workflow. It is as easy as 1-2-3. The user-centric design and high-performance architecture allow you and your staff to work efficiently, leaving a lot of time for your patients.
You can have the DEMO of iPatientCare’s EHR and add value to your practice. Just by clicking to this link.
