“One of the biggest items found to interfere with physician
satisfaction is the current state of electronic medical records documentation,”
wrote Dike Drummond, M.D., in his article “9 Reasons Doctors Hate Their EMR.” Drummond,
the founder of TheHappyMD.com, explains that while electronic medical records,
in theory, are meant to improve patient care, they can actually hinder it. He
bases his findings off a physician satisfaction study conducted by the RAND Corporation.
Drummond writes, “Until the actual technology improves and
there is a smaller number of standardized documentation programs -- the only
option that makes sense is for doctors to become a power user of their current
system(s) and hope they stay constant in the years ahead.”
But that’s not
the only option.
InfraWare, an industry leader in healthcare IT since 2003, developed
a dictation and transcription platform that resolves providers’ issues with
EMRs. This No-click Documentationsm solution cures the common pain
points associated with electronic documentation. In fact, InfraWare’s solution addresses
all nine of Drummond’s EMR complaints.
Here’s how.
 |
| Drummond's Original Article |
Complaint #1:
Time-consuming. Doctors could spend more time with patients, but instead they
spend their time fumbling through an EMR with endless options.
InfraWare’s solution: Until recently, 60% of healthcare
encounters were documented via dictation because that was the fastest and
easiest method for providers. Our solution allows doctors to return to that fast,
expressive dictation and still meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements. When EMRs were implemented, dictation declined because EMRs
required structured data that transcribed documents could not provide. With InfraWare, they can.
Complaint #2: Hinders
workflow. Providers believe that their EMR systems add too many steps to
the documentation process, forcing them take more time to get less done.
InfraWare’s solution:
Providers had been satisfied with dictation, and they can be again. In fact, relieved of most of the data-entry
responsibilities, they can become consumers
of the EMR data. That is something
doctors report as an aspect of EMRs that they enjoy and appreciate.
Complaint #3: Less
face-to-face care. With many
EMRs, doctors and nurses spend more time looking at a computer screen, which
can alienate the patient.
InfraWare’s Solution:
Our No-click Documentationsm system unchains providers from the
computer or tablet, allowing them to dictate notes, even from theirsmartphones. A transcriptionist edits the note and it’s uploaded into the EMR
with the structured data already in place. Patients and their doctors can enjoy more
face-time.
Complaint #4:
Insufficient exchanging of health information. One of the strongest
benefits to an EMR is a health information exchange, where multiple providers
can exchange information about a single patient – digitally and securely.
However, many doctors find that paper faxes are still being used to transmit
information.
InfraWare’s solution:
The InfraWare solution is based on the Consolidated CDA standards that came out
of the Health Story Project and that were included in Meaningful Use Stage
2. Those standards are specifically
designed for interoperability among providers and disparate EMR programs. These documents contain both narrative and
structured data, and can be shared via Health Information Exchanges or Direct
messaging to replace faxing.
Complaint #5: Email Overload. Many providers,
especially those in a primary care setting, feel overwhelmed by the amount of
messages they receive through their EMR.
InfraWare’s solution:
While messaging overload is a problem affecting workers in every
industry, these messages are precisely the same that have historically flowed
through providers. The new capability is
to accept the information into the EMR vs. handling paper or reading fuzzy
faxes that can’t be integrated into the encounter.
Complaint #6: Meaningful Use vs. Narration. Providers
find that the Meaningful Use criteria doesn’t include all the important
elements of patient care, downplaying information that doctors and nurses feel is
crucial to high quality care.
InfraWare’s Solution:
This was the entire basis for the Health Story Project and InfraWare’s
sponsorship and leadership with industry peers.
Structured data has value, but pursuing structure data at the expense of
narrative context is severely limits the quality of care. Our solution puts an emphasis on
the whole patient story. What the provider finds important, we find important.
Complaint #7: EMRs can be expensive. Not only do
providers, especially those part of small, private practices, have to spend
time and money purchasing, training and implementing an EMR, but the cost to
switch to a different service is pricey, as well.
InfraWare’s solution: The most weighty cost of an EMR is the
time spent using it. Dictation that
supports Meaningful Use saves time.
Moreover, when providers change EMRs, the dictation solution remains
mostly the same. To those who consider
transcription to be expensive, let me suggest that the past two years have shown
us that it is far less expensive than the alternatives. It is, in fact, the least expensive part of
an encounter.
Complaint #8: Less meaningful work. Providers claim
that EMRs require them to spend more time on clerical work, limiting their
ability to take on more patients or offer quality care.
InfraWare’s solution:
By reestablishing dictation as a way to create a compliant clinical note,
doctors can step away from the keyboard. They can dictate on a phone, tablet or
a computer, documenting the encounter quickly and leaving the punching of keys
to others.
Complaint #9:
Templates in EMRs threaten quality. Providers can speed up their
documentation time with templates, or macros, in their EMRs, but many believe
that this greatly increases the risk or errors and complications.
InfraWare’s solution:
This is a very valid concern, especially for providers rushing through a series
of encounters. Doctors are comfortable with dictation; it’s the way they’ve
done notes for decades. Our No-click Documentationsm frees doctors to
use conventional dictation to achieve Meaningful Use.
So, yes, some providers, as Drummond pointed out, may hate
their EMR, but that can all be changed with InfraWare. Our solution is simple,
convenient, effective and, most importantly, compliant. By using dictation to
achieve meaningful use, doctors can regain their voice.
