EMR – Will It Help Only Physicians?

An electronic medical record (EMR) is a computerized medical record created in a physician’s office or hospital. It is an electronic version of paper based medical records that have been serving customers till now. However, with the advancement of information technology, the industries across different verticals are making the best use of automation to improve the quality, productivity and ROI of their business. Healthcare industry being not an exception to the rule, has started realizing the importance of automation and particularly EMR.

Though EMR is a new buzz word in the healthcare industry, a question often disturbs patients – is EMR only for doctors? As far as the adoption of EMR in a physician’s clinic or hospital is concerned patients are often disturbed as regards the benefits of implementing the system. A large no. of patients have a feeling that the system would only benefit doctors, would interfere with security issues, would result into appointment and treatment delays.

According to health IT experts, it would be absolutely wrong to say that EMR is meant only for doctors. In fact, EMR has to benefit both doctors as well as patients. The implementation of the system has to benefit doctors as well as hospitals with improved work flow, increased productivity and ROI. As far as patients are concerned the whole exercise of implementing the system is based on the ultimate goal of providing better medical care to the patients. The focus of the software product is on making life easier for patients with improved work flow and quality of care.

If we carefully analyze meaningful use criteria, which being introduced by US government for availing various incentives for implementing EMR, the ultimate goal of achieving meaningful is to bring about significant improvement in the quality of patient care. So it is the patients who are ultimately going to be benefited from EMR implementation, hence it wouldn’t be right to say that “EMR is only for doctors”?

Top 10 Must Have Features in an EMR for Physicians

Just as every medical specialty has its unique requirements; all physicians have their own preferences for what is most important to them in selecting their EMR Software. Here is a universal list of the top 10 must-have features in an Electronic Medical Records Software (EMR Software). The list includes the important technology and day to day usability features. The list also takes into account the features that physicians deem important in the context of being eligible to receive a number of incentive payments available from the multitude of agencies (federal and state) for implementing EMR / EHR software, that fulfill the requirement in demonstrating meaningful use of EMR / EHR software.

1) A fully Integrated EMR Software System

2) Integration of EMR Software with ePrescription

3) An EMR system that supports PQRI Automation

4) EMR with tracking capability

5) Secure access to EMR records

6) Integrated patient portal

7) EMR with simple / easy-to-use templates

8) Document and image management

9) Voice and handwriting recognition capabilities

10) Meets all regulatory and compliance requirements

Your EMR Software must satisfy all mandatory Federal and State regulatory and compliance reporting, general reporting requirements, and appropriate coding documentation.  The other upside of requiring that these features be built-into your Electronic Medical Records Software, is that this is extremely important to qualifying each provider in your practice to receive all the incentives available for EMR from Federal and State agencies.

If all you did was to require these top 10 must-have EMR Software features from a vendor, you can rest assured that you will also get the other essential, most up-to-date, and easy to roll-out and use functions, found in the leading EMRs like Claimat EMR today!

Choosing a Right EMR and Migration of Data

EMR (or electronic medical record) is the electronic version of manual patient medical records. The world is going digital to reap the benefits of digital technology and medical industry is not an exception to the rule. EMR is the new buzz word in the medical industry for the benefits it can deliver to doctors, hospitals as well as patients. However, the success to a great extent depends on selecting a right “EMR system” for the practice.

Selecting a right EMR system for the practice or hospital is not an easy task. There are numerous vendors providing a wide range of systems, each with a different set of functionalities. In this situation the task of choosing a most suitable system becomes very difficult. In case wrong or unsuitable electronic medical records software is chosen for the practice, instead of streamlining the process it might make the task more difficult.

There are certain points that need to be taken into consideration when choosing an EMR for the practice. At first, taking note of the existing system of records management is very important. Then defining current and future practice needs is of utmost importance. Before choosing a system one should also compare a no. of available options in the market and also ensure that the vendor provides with training and long term support.

Once a right or suitable EMR is selected for the practice the next important task being data migration. The basic setup tasks need to be considered before migration can be started. The migration must be done very carefully so that the product works fine. However, certain bugs can not be eliminated at this stage. Truly speaking, it takes about 6-12 months (and sometimes longer) for a practice to become comfortable with an EMR system and get the bugs worked out.

Reluctance to Change into EMR

Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a program which makes the storage of patient medical records much easier. The records which contain a patient's medical history are kept in an electronic format and are readily accessible by authorized medical personnel.

With the use of electronic medical software the medical staff is better equipped to streamline their workflow and make it more productive and efficient. It cuts back on time that, in the past would be spent on manually updating and filing records or searching for a particular record. All the relevant information can be acquired with a few clicks of the mouse and can be accessed by more than one person at a time.

However, in spite of a large no. of advantages, there is reluctance to change into EMR . There are many reasons cited for the reluctance such as:

1) High initial cost of license acquisition, computer hardware and implementation.

2) Difficulty as regards migration into a newer system.

3) Time and cost involved in acquiring training.

4) Operational and upkeep costs.

5) Data security issues.

Above all, healthcare professionals are doubtful as regards the success of EMR implementation. Most of them are not sure if EMR electronic medical records software would deliver the required results.

Benefits of EMR in Medical Terms

Healthcare has always been competitive, and with the advent of modern technology those medical service providers who use this technology in an efficient manner are the ones who are going to thrive. One of the main components of modern medical record keeping is EMR (electronic medical records) software, which enables you to store and access patient records electronically.

While the benefits of quality EMR software are abundant, here are few main reasons why EMR software will be a vital asset for your healthcare facility:

1) First and foremost, EMR software improves the overall function of your healthcare facility.

2) EMR can be easily stored as electronic files in secure locations.

3) EMR makes the process of file management very easy as it can store a very large amount of data at ease.

4) The history of the treatment and the prediction and detection of problems becomes very easy and fast.

5) The EMR creates the conditions for easy analysis of the medical records which would otherwise have been a very tedious job.

6) The electronic storage of the data is very economical as compared to the large amount of paper work that was required traditionally.

7) The professionals and the practitioners associated with the health care industry reap huge benefits from the EMR at times of emergency situations.

Above all, EMR (electronic medical records) helps to improve the quality of patient service, thereby enhancing the patient satisfaction.

Implementing An EMR, Is It Worth It?

 

An EMR (or electronic medical records) is a patient's medical information in an electronic format. EMRs contain information regarding the past, present, or future physical and mental health of a patient, medical test reports, medical images, financial and demographic information. In addition, the ordering of medical tests, medications, treatments, and clinical guidelines are accessible within the EMR. The data contained in HER can be captured or transmitted securely and in real-time by users at the point of care. This medical information is accessible via computers on a network, to provide health care and health-related services.

In spite of the widespread advantages associated with the EMR implementation, it is estimated that EMR use is about 20% in the hospital sector in the US (less in Canada) and about 5% in clinics (probably about the same in Canada). Some studies report the major barriers to widespread EMR implementation. They analyze different criteria, among which the major ones are: doubt as regards the achievement of the objective of implementation, the cost of EMR purchase; the adaptation time; the length of a patient encounter; the time required to record the encounter, etc.

A question often disturbs – Implementing an EMR is it worth it? Truly speaking if a right EMR is selected for the practice and used in an optimum manner, it can help to reduce overhead costs and minimize wasteful expenses. Is it really true though that you can actually increase your revenue using EMR (electronic medical records) software? Yes, because the same measures that allow you to streamline your operation also help facilitate new patients and new business, not to mention retain your patient base.

Why Web EMR?

A question often disturbs many users as to Why Web EMR? In order to decide between a desktop or web EMR a user must analyze well the differences between the two. A number of health IT consultants believe that there are huge advantages of implementing a web EMR as compared to its counterpart desktop version. A desktop version of EMR is installed on to the local machine of the user itself. The software and the user data gets stored into the local hard disk of the user. This creates great problem as regards accessing patient medical information.

There are times when a physician would like to pull the patient medical records while on the move, however, in case of a desktop version this flexibility is not available to the physician (user). The user gets tied up with a particular machine; the biggest disadvantage of a desktop version as against a web EMR can be experienced at times of emergencies when it is required to pull patient information at places other than the physician’s clinic. 

According to industry experts, a web EMR is a gift of advanced internet technology that provides with immense flexibility as regards storage of patient data and its retrieval. In case of a web based EMR, the data is stored centrally, which provides with all the flexibility. As the data is stored centrally (server), it can also be used to integrate / compile it with other applications like EMR and so on.

Security is one of the most important concerns when using web EMR software. The web based software offers more security than many small clinics can provide themselves. Provided server maintenance is also a huge benefit to web-based software. The provider of the software program takes care of server maintenance so that you can focus on what you do best; take care of your patients.

The initial investment for web EMR software is much lower compared to other systems. This is because you do not have to purchase hardware, servers, or software that can be very expensive. The initial investment is very low and the monthly fee incurred to utilize the system can be written off as a monthly operating cost. The most outstanding features of a new age web based EMR is that of “portability”.

EHR Usability Factors

There are approximately 500,000 total providers and 5,100 hospitals throughout the United States eligible for "incentives" on implementing EHR for their practice. However, only a handful of them have implemented the system so far. With such a low market penetration, the data suggests that the U.S. healthcare system still has a long way to go in achieving one hundred percent adoption of EHR technology.

Currently, there are several factors that negatively impact EHR adoption, but dissatisfaction with usability is surfacing with greater frequency. EHR usability is typically associated with user satisfaction, but usability is actually more aligned with physician and patient workflow integration.

Here are five elements every physician and practice administrator should consider when evaluating EHR usability:

1. Physician and Patient Workflow Support

2. Degree of Difficulty

3. Flexibility

4. Efficiency

5. Effectiveness

When it comes to determining EHR platform usability, it's a process that's ultimately driven by the medical professional and their patient. As with any business, the customer is always right, and EHR technology is no different.

EMR - HIPAA Guidelines As Regards Data Security

Implementing an EMR system for the practice could be of great help and benefit for both doctors as well as patients, however, patient data security is a very important issue that can not be ignored. HIPAA has set certain guidelines as regards patient data security when using an EMR system.

Usually there are four areas to examine when it comes to EMR data security:

-Physical Security – can your computers with patient data be stolen?
Put your computer server in a secure room, locked

-User Security - can anybody log on to the patient database?
Use an EMR with user management and permissions

-System Security – what happens on a hard drive crash?
Make regular back-ups and store them in a secure place

-Network Security – can unauthorized persons outside your facility access patient data?
Employ a computer specialist.

There are HIPAA penalities in case when there are violations when using EMR system as regards patient data security. The penalities can go up to $250,000 and five years in jail depending upon the seriousness of violation of security norms.

Meaningful Use and Certified EMR

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is the new buzz word in the healthcare industrty. The implementation of the EMR software across different practices is facing numerous problems including the initial cost of the software license. In order to give relief to practioners and hospitals providing services under medicare and medicad plans, the US government has announced special incentive program. However, it can not be availed unless n until the providers meet certain meaningful use criteria.

The meaningful use criteria is nothing but a set of meanignful use objectives: Use Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE), Implement drug/allergy checks, Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9-CM or SNOMED CT®, E-prescribing (EP only), Maintain active medication/allergy list and so on.

The EMR software must be capable of performing the above tasks. The software must have the provision for automated checking, reporting and management features. There are numerous vendors offering different versions of EMR softwars, however, a certified EMR guarantees the availability of above mentioned features plus other standard features as required by the practice or hospital for smooth functioning.

In order to avail meaningful use benefits (financial as well as improved patient quality), adoption of certifed EMR is a must have!