Key Takeaways
- Poor communication between doctors, breakdown of medical records during case transfers, and incomplete presentation of patient data are reasons for medical errors. Specialty specific electronic medical records can help healthcare providers to decrease error rates and increase the accuracy of ePHI.
- An automated EHR system can improve the medical billing process, thus saving time and energy for doctors and admin staff. Specialty specific EHR prepares bills only for those records which are documented in the system.
- Specialty specific EHR can help to maintain the peak performance of doctors throughout the day. It is well-equipped to automate documentation, which can also prevent duplication.
The CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) introduced Meaningful Use only to compel healthcare professionals to adopt to EHR and go digital. Despite 78 percent of physicians having a certified EHR, there’s so much they can do, considering their specialty. Not all EHR software is built to serve specific specialties such as urology, ophthalmology, dermatology, or gynecology.
Specialty specific EHR contain features and functionalities that serve such practices better. For instance, specialty-specific gynecology EHR will contain options for ultrasound, contraption history, due dates, or pap smears, but not anything related to skin allergies. Using specialty specific EHR can help healthcare providers in several ways, which are discussed below.
Why Choose Specialty Specific EHR?
1. Greater Accuracy and Less Errors
Roughly 1 in 10 Americans succumb to death caused due to medical errors. Poor communication between doctors, breakdown of medical records during case transfers, and incomplete presentation of patient data are reasons for medical errors. Additionally, physician burnout due to immense documentation work can decrease the accuracy levels of patient data.
Developing specialty specific electronic medical records can help healthcare providers to decrease error rates and increase the accuracy of ePHI (Protected Health Information). Healthcare providers can make use of voice recognition tools to convert voice to text while entering patient data in EHR, thus reducing burnout rates. This approach also allows physicians to spend more time in treating their patients. Voice-to-text conversion reduces errors and increases accuracy levels as well.
2. Streamlined Clinical Workflow
The hospital and clinic environment is fast-paced and healthcare professionals are required to optimize their workflow in such a way that they can spend ample time with patients. Specialty specific EHR can help with this task and maintain the peak performance of doctors throughout the day. It is well-equipped to offer automated documentation, which also prevents duplication. The prevalence of duplicate health records gives no value, instead, it takes up time to discern which is accurate data. This situation disrupts the clinical workflow.
Furthermore, to streamline data workflows, EHR can be automated to avoid manual data entry, which is a cause of physician burnout. A well-managed database not only helps to understand patient health issues but also guides healthcare professionals in giving the right care and treatment. Custom developed EHR software can be connected with local pharmacies for smooth e-prescription transfer, along with ePHI, so they can in turn provide the right medication to patients. This entire cycle optimizes data and clinical workflow.
3. Better Time Management
Healthcare organization commitment to optimizing EHR workflow can help to significantly save time for healthcare professionals. With specialty specific EHR, providers can:
- Use automated insurance coverage formulary and pre-authorization checks to reduce denied claims, thereby saving their time.
- They can spend less time in finding charts by organizing all data in one location.
- Create templates for forms specific to their medical practice, such as ophthalmology or urology, so patients don’t have to go about filling in details that aren’t relevant to it.
- Use voice recognition and AI to convert patient details from voice to text and enter them into EHR automatically to save time.
When healthcare organizations realized that providers are spending too much time on EHR, they came up with some solutions. For instance, Atrius Health, a non-profit independent medical group made use of bigger screens that allowed physicians to have more windows open at a time and cut approximately 1,500 clicks per day. The non-profit organization also found out that providers spent 20 percent of EHR time on sorting messages, so they moves about 40 percent of the messages on the dashboard, for physicians to manage them efficiently.
4. Improved Billing Process
Hospitals in the USA tend to lose $262 billion annually due to claim rejections and denials. Reasons for denials include errors within claim forms, improper documentation, code errors, and missed deadlines for claim submissions. However, a robust medical billing process integrated into an EHR prevents claim rejections, and denials, and ensures reimbursement. EHR with a proper coding system can help providers lower denial rates.
An automated EHR system can improve the medical billing process, thus saving time and energy for doctors and admin staff. Specialty specific EHR prepares bills only for those records which are documented in the system. Also, EHR features that assist with denial management, coding, and bills are crucial to the success of the practice’s billing operations. Streamlining the medical billing process with specialty specific EHR can help providers to deliver their services faster and offer better care quality.
5. Focus on Quality Care and Patient Satisfaction
Specialty specific EHR is designed to improve the quality of care and also to make healthcare convenient for patients and providers.
It helps providers to improve care quality by assisting with:
- Safe and reliable e-prescribing
- It supports interfaces with registries, and labs, and connects with other EHRs in the facility.
- Real-time reporting
- Clinical alerts, reminders, decision support, and access to medical information
- Get access to ePHI from remote locations and inpatient care for more efficient and coordinated care.
- Electronic referrals allow easy access to follow-up care with specialists.
6. Hassle-Free Appointment Scheduling
Specialty specific EHR integrated with appointment scheduling tools helps providers to manage their routine: weekly or daily. It allows them to fill in empty slots when there’s a last-minute appointment cancelation. From the patient’s perspective, they can check for slots on their phones and schedule appointment at any time of the day. They may even get last-minute bookings based on availability.
Further, missed appointments can be prevented by sending automated reminders or alerts to patients. Missed appointments can alter the entire routine of doctors and cause financial and time loss as well.
Choose a Customized Specialty Specific EHR Software
A customized specialty specific EHR software offers features that matches with your practice. Unlike a generic off the shelf EHR software that contains features and functionalities that may not be needed by certain practices. For instance, a cardiologist may require features like integration of ECG device, which may not be available in a general EHR software.
So, to improve your practice, move to customized specialty specific EHR software that offers you with functionalities that suit your practice needs. Arkenea, a leading healthcare software development company, takes a note of your requirements and offers customized EHR/EMR software that complement with your practice.