Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is an electronic form of Medical Software for client records that allows clinics to track patient data across a health information system easily. This data is tracked across a health information system, such as a hospital, to allow for easier follow-up and data access to the patient data. This quick and easy process can increase the quality of care provided to the patient and the patient’s quality of life. Additnally, explore the benefits of EMR for your business.
As EMRs are introduced into clinics and hospitals worldwide, you will need to consider the advantages they provide for your institution. There will be pitfalls before successful implementation, and this must be considered prior to settling on a particular EMR application. Overall, better quality of care and life for the patient is always the end goal for a medical provider, and EMRs will assist with that goal.
Benefits of EMR
1. Save Paper Document Management & Storage Costs
The estimated cost of creating, tracking and maintaining paper charts is $8 per record compared to $1 per year per electronic record. The paperless office practice saves staff time by gaining immediate EMR access to any chart with less wasted time spent filing, searching for, pulling charts and shuffling paper notes.
2. Reduce Malpractice Insurance
Liability insurers increasingly recognize EMR as one important method of reducing liability and exposure. Electronic drug regimen review improves safety by reducing medication errors. Some offer significant discounts to those physicians using an EMR. Improved documentation increases accuracy, reduces medical errors and record auditing with improved legibility, quality of patient care and safety.
3. Participate in Pay-For-Performance Programs
The old adage if you cannot monitor it you cannot manage it applies here. Pay-for-Performance (P4P) programs offer bonuses for demonstrating better patient health outcomes and cost efficient care. EMR software technology is perfectly suited to assure adherence to strict quality control data. EMR reporting guidelines with substantial rewards for quality improvement.
4. Optimize Reimbursement
Automated charge capture with medical billing and coding software accurately documents the true work of each encounter and avoids unintentional down coding or upcoming. Combined with easy ICD-9 code searches and suggested E&M codes, the EMR returns the proper reimbursement for each visit or procedure. Accurate coding speeds up the claims process with fewer rejections and lower DAR.
5. Improved Health Outcomes
Integrated EMR system can significantly enhance patient safety. These systems can flag potential issues such as drug interactions and allergies, alerting doctors to possible dangers. By preventing harmful mistakes, they ensure more accurate and safer treatments. This proactive approach reduces risks and leads to better health outcomes for patients.
Benefit of EHR
1. Comprehensive View of the Patient
Providers should strive to have dynamic patient-centered records that track the care continuum over the person’s lifetime, in sickness and health. Having a single, continuous record for a patient provides a holistic view of overall health for better diagnosis and lifetime treatment.
2. Streamlined Workflows
EHR increase productivity and efficiency while cutting down on paperwork. Patients and staff have fewer forms to fill out, leaving clinicians with more time to see patients. Support and maintanance team can help patients when it’s time for annual checkups or alert them as they approach milestones that require regular screenings.
3. The Power of Data
Continuous data collection allows for greater personalization of care, enabling providers to address health issues preventively. Additionally, big data analytics and aggregated patient data may alert providers to larger health trends, such as potential outbreaks and prominent flu strains each season.
4. Greater Efficiency and Cost Savings
Digital records and integrated communication methods can significantly cut administrative costs. They can reduce the need for transcriptions, physical chart storage, coding, and claims management, facilitate care coordination, and reduce the time it takes for hard-copy communications among clinicians, labs, pharmacies, and health plans.
5. Reducing Errors
Digital records help track and standardize patient interactions, which can reduce mistakes. With digital notes, illegible handwriting in doctors’ notes or prescriptions is no longer a problem. This makes it easier to read and understand medical information. Coding for procedures or billing becomes simpler and more accurate.
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