Gone are the days, when medical practitioners used to keep the patient’s records on papers. Now the scenario has been changed. From the past decade, healthcare providers have found Electronic Health Records (EHRs), as the most efficient method of taking patients’ files from paper to computer.
EHRs have successfully been contributing to store a patient’s medical records and other relevant clinical administration data. Such as: demographics, progress notes, medications, treatments, symptoms, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory test results and radiology reports.
In addition to this, EHRs are real-time, patient-centred records that enable medical practitioners to access up-to-date patient data instantly. The implementation of electronic health records, not only helps you to store the medical data efficiently. But also play a crucial role in providing standard medical aid to the patients.
For example, you can easily share the data with another physician_ specifically when patients visit multiple specialists to receive healthcare services.
Topmost Benefits of EHR Solutions
Going beyond storing data, electronic health records have the potential to streamline your administrative workflows. For instance, it has the ability to support other care-related activities directly or indirectly such as:
- Easy Patient Scheduling: A comprehensive EHR system has appointment-setting capabilities. That helps your registration staff to schedule and register patients easily. Sending automatic appointment reminders is another major feature of EHRs.
- Enable real-time access to accurate, complete and up-to-date information about patients.
- Allow you to share electronic information with patients and other medical providers through a secure network.
- Helps medical coders to extract accurate information about patients’ diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, medical services and procedures. Which enables them to assign precise medical codes for maximum reimbursements.
- Improve the interaction and communication between customers and physicians through patient portals.
- Ensure clear and error-free clinical documentation. That leads to accurate billing and reduces the chances of claims denials. As a result, healthcare providers get paid faster for the medical care services provided to the patients.
- Restrict unauthorised access to protect your highly confidential health information from mismanagement, theft or cyberattacks.
- Reduces costs and burden associated with the paperwork and streamlines front-end as well as back-end operations.
How Can EHRs Improve Healthcare Quality?
Many medical practitioners still used to think that the implementation of electronic health records provides benefits only in terms of data storage. And for patients’ scheduling as well as registration purposes.
But in reality, physicians are stepping towards implementing EHR systems due to their immense benefits in improving healthcare quality.
Moreover, it has been estimated that approximately 75% of medical practitioners strongly believe that_the advanced EHR solutions play a significant role in enhancing patients’ satisfaction with better care. Many of them felt that electronic health records also enable them to achieve clinical benefits for the practice itself.
Furthermore, doctors having access to updated patients’ history, become able to treat them properly and in a timely manner. For instance, EHRs provide insights into multiple data regarding patients illness, injuries and previous medications. This helps physicians to get a better idea of what treatments they had provided to the patients earlier. And which type of medication they need now.
Are you still confused about the EHRs contributions to patient care? Then you must read this article carefully. Below are the top ways that electronic health records not only help physicians with their administration. But most importantly how they improve patient care.
Better Patients’ Engagement
In previous times, communication gap and less interaction between patients and physicians were major obstacles in streamlining the care services. But now thanks to the Electronic Health Records. That has become essential means to bridging patient and provider communication. Now the things are one click away from you.
For instance, patients can schedule their appointments through advanced ‘patient portals’. So, they don’t need to wait for long hours to get connected with your registration staff to get appointments.
As a result, they feel more satisfied and prefer to choose your medical practice. Instead of those, where they have to visit physically or spend time on phone calls.
In addition to patients’ convenience, online scheduling reduces the burden of your staff and more importantly frees up phone lines. Which is crucial to provide better customer support and other services related to public dealing.
Furthermore, integrated scheduling systems eliminate the patients’ hassles related to the long waiting hours in a physician’s clinic. Either for booking appointments or receiving treatments.
All these factors play a vital role in eliminating administrative issues. And improve the patients’ satisfaction by providing them smart options for appointments.
Easy exchange of information between patients and doctors also increases the interaction and engagement of both sides. Patients have the right to share their updated insurance or demographic information through the integrated portals.
Furthermore, they can read important documentation and access the medical bills, test results on their own. And can even communicate with clinical teams in case of any confusion or other issues. Which increases patient-provider collaboration.
So keeping patients engaged in the entire healthcare process makes the administrative tasks i.e billing, collecting co-payments, deductibles, painless.
Improved Care Coordination
As we have already discussed, electronic health records are used to integrate and organize patients’ health information. EHR systems ensure the quick distribution of patients’ data among all authorized providers involved in a patient’s care. Such as: multiple doctors, insurance companies and patients.
Sometimes, patients visit multiple healthcare providers from primary care to specialists. So, EHR enables medical practitioners to share information from one to another practice.
When a doctor gets access to accurate and up-to-date information about patients current as well as previous medical conditions. They become better able to suggest the medication that best fits their patients’ health. Which ultimately results in improved and coordinated medical care for patients.
Are you still struggling with managing the paper files of patients and losing sensitive data in terms of lost files? Then it’s the right time to benefit your practice from cutting edge EHR solutions.
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