Tuesday, March 31, 2015

5 Secrets to Improving Your EMR Process

Unhappy with how long it takes to document your patient encounters? You’re not alone. According to a study by the Rand Corporation, almost half of doctors who have implemented EMR/EHR software say the system hinders their ability to interact with patients and overloads them with stress.

If you ask the doctors and clinicians at your healthcare organization to describe how they feel about their EMR, what do you think they’d say? What if you had a way to make the documentation process less cumbersome?

5 Secrets to Improving Your EMR Process
  • Dictation: Believe it or not, you can still use dictation to capture your patient notes. A lot of providers thought that when the HITECH Act was passed, dictation went out the window. However, you can use dictation to populate your EMR and achieve Meaningful Use.
  • Transcription: Providers today often feel like they do more clerical work than clinical work. Giving medical transcription professionals your dictations allow doctors the time and freedom they need to focus on quality patient care.
  • Back-End ASR: Medical records must be created quickly and correctly. Finding a balance between the two has troubled healthcare risk managers for decades. Using back-end automatic speech recognition software can help speed up the process and maintain accuracy. A provider’s dictated notes are automatically transcribed, then edited by a trained transcriptionist for accuracy and fact checking.
  • Patient Narrative: Including the patient narrative is vital for whole health care. On top of that, it is an integral part of interoperability. Being able to document, in the EMR, the patient’s wishes will help doctors and clinicians provide more patient-centered care. Consolidated CDA is a great tool for incorporating the patient narrative; make sure you choose an EMR/EHR that is primed for Consolidated CDA.
  •  Interoperability: With all the new federal and state regulations, along with major advances in healthcare information technology, choosing an EMR provider that emphasizes interoperability is essential for your patients, providers and bottom line. Your EMR needs to be updatable and should be compatible with other products and software specific to your industry and needs.

The Rand study showed that many providers believe that EMR and EHR systems often act as obstacles to quality care. This is probably the number one complaint with electronic documentation – doctors and clinicians feel like they look at computer screens more than their patients’ faces. On top of that, they face endless hours of digital paperwork, which really drains their morale. These five simple tips can improve not just the accuracy of records, but also reduce risk, improve doctor-patient relationships and increase morale.

These secrets can help you improve your EMR process.  InfraWare has helped many healthcare organizations. Our No-click Documentationsm solution could be just the thing your organization needs to leap into the new era of medical documentation and record-keeping.