As more and more medical facilities junk their paper charts and shift to electronic data storage, the benefits for both care providers and patients are on the rise as well.
Here is a list of the most important advantages that electronic health records (EMRs) provide over traditional files:
Less Paper Usage and Data Storage Issues
In the medical care industry, administrative tasks demand a significant amount of time and money. Providers can spend big chunks of the day filling out and processing forms. When EMRs are used, routine tasks can be effectively streamlined. With a decline in the amount of paperwork comes a parallel decrease in storage space requirements. The instant storage and retrieval capabilities of EHRs allow offices to be less cluttered, as efficiency increases with the decrease in storage needs. Read this helpful post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/electronic-medical-records/.
Higher Quality of Care
EHRs allow medical care providers to share complete patient data in real time. Accurate, fresh, and comprehensive information can bring an increase in care quality coming from less errors and more accurate diagnoses.
EHRs send automatic reminders for preventive tests and doctor’s visits, allowing patients to be more involved in their own treatment.
On medications, paper prescriptions have always been less reliable because they could be easily lost or misread, causing dosage errors or even the dispensing of the wrong drugs. Electronic prescriptions, on the other hand, enable physicians to have direct communication with the pharmacy, saving time and reducing the risk of errors and the prescription getting misplaced. Patient safety is also improved, with electronic prescriptions being instantly reviewed for potentially dangerous reactions between the prescribed drug and other drugs.
Financial Perks
It is usually costly for medical care providers to buy EHR equipment and hire people to use the new system. Fortunately, EHR packages come with financial incentives that help organizations recoup their costs. Through Medicare’s and Medicaid’s EHR Incentive Programs, for instance, providers who are eligible can claim incentives for applying the technology.
Greater Efficiency and Productivity
With a centralized radiology information system and quicker patient data access with condition-specific queries, EHRs become more efficient than traditional record filing. Communication exchange among clinicians, diagnostic centers, pharmacies, and insurers improves and becomes trackable, minimizing lost messages and the need to make follow-up calls. Linking integrated scheduling with automated coding, insurance claims, and progress notes also paves the way for streamlined office management. Combining all these features produce substantial time savings, which ultimately lead to higher productivity.
Improved Patient Experience
Summing it up, a conclusion can be drawn – what’s best for care providers is best for patients. When a patient’s information can be readily accessed via an EMR system, there will be no need to fill out forms and other paperwork with every doctor or specialist seen. Providers can see what treatments have worked and haven’t for a patient, as well as what diagnostic tests have been given so far. Duplicate testing may be avoided as all results are stored in one place. With better coordination among providers, correct diagnoses can be given, managing chronic conditions is easier and more effective, and there is higher quality of patient care and experience, which is, after all, the key focus of health care services. Read on and click here to get started
Electronic Medical Records 