Benefits

How EHRs Enhance Your Practice
  • EHRs are far more efficient than paper records. They are much less likely to be lost, misplaced, or misfiled. According to a recent study by the Institute of Medicine, one in seven hospitalizations is due at least in part to clinical information that is missing or somehow communicated inaccurately.
  • EHRs can provide busy practitioners with vital information relating to guidelines. According to a 2003 study by the New England Journal of Medicine, patients receive only 55% of preventive care services. Integrating EHRs into your practice can serve as an effective reminder.
  • EHRs can help you better manage your patient communications. For instance, if a certain drug is recalled, you’ll be able to determine which of your patients is using that drug with just a few clicks of your mouse. The same goes for certain diseases, such as the flu. As the flu season approaches, you can instantly determine which of your patients have high risk factors and send them reminders to get vaccinated.

     

In the video below, Joseph Hagan, MD, a pediatrician in Burlington, Vt., talks with VITL's Larry Gilbert about the benefits that his practice has realized from using an EHR.

 

How EHRs Improve Efficiency

One of the benefits of implementing EHRs is a more efficient practice. EHRs can help reduce chart pulls, streamline the reimbursement process, and enhance both interoffice communications and communications with patients.

Practice Management

  • Whether your practice has one physician in a single location or multiple physicians in several locations, integrated scheduling systems are a powerful tool that can be used to link progress notes directly with appointments.
  • Once you document a patient’s visit on your computer, that data collection automatically generates a list of codes for billing purposes, so that claims are submitted and managed electronically.

 

Chart Management

  • Charts will now live on a server, so you’ll never again have to go searching.
  • With EHRs, multiple staff members can view or make adjustments to a single chart at the same time. No more waiting your turn to look at something while it’s sitting in someone’s office.

 

Communications

  • You’ll now be able to access patient records from anywhere, which could be critical in emergent cases or convenient if you’re working at home or remotely.
  • Intra-staff communications can be sent electronically, streamlining the flow of information.
  • Staff members can submit, track, and receive information from referrals and hospitals.

 

Improved Processes

  • Automated formulary checks save your practice time and your patients’ money.
  • Order and receive lab tests electronically.
  • Link lab results directly to patient records.
  • Create templates for frequently used forms.
  • Create electronic links with state and national health organizations to streamline mandated reporting.
 
How EHRs Improve Care

 

Reducing Medical Errors

  • EHRs can be configured so that prescribing certain drugs triggers a warning about patient allergies or adverse drug events, reducing the potential for human error.
  • The potential for misinterpreting illegible handwriting is eliminated.

 

Ensuring Best Practices

  • Targeted reminders can be sent to patients reminding them of the need for recommended services and follow-up visits, markedly improving preventive care and disease management.
  • Electronic prompts “tagged” to patient charts can serve as reminders for tests or procedures that can be administered during routine visits.
  • Electronic tools allow practitioners to ensure that patients’ preventive care is up to date.

 

In this short video, one Vermont primary care practice discusses how it uses an EHR to remind providers when preventive services are needed.

Facilitating Better Information Management

  • EHRs allow for critical parts of each record to be gathered in a more systematic way.
  • Condition-specific protocols can be run to ensure proper organization of recommended services and follow-up care.
  • Electronic registries for disease management can help practices stay current with specific state and national guidelines for treating diseases.
 
How EHRs Create Economies

 

More Efficient Billing

  • Information from a visit can now be sent directly to the billing department, along with the appropriate codes, streamlining the billing process.
  • All claims can now be submitted, tracked, and managed from a central system, with no more written records.
  • Track patient co-pays and quickly identify delinquencies.

 

Better Insurance Management

  • Maintain records of patients’ insurance coverage history in order to streamline the reimbursement process.
  • Quickly determine the status of every claim, including the reasons for any rejection.

 

Improved Information Management

  • EHRs give you the ability to track the services you have provided with more complete documentation.
  • Easily run accounts receivable reports, as well as customized monthly reports on earnings and reimbursements.
  • Reduce the costs associated with storing paper charts and transcription costs.