EMR (electronic medical records) software can make your practice more efficient and support your patients in numerous ways. Here are five major reasons to make the transition from paper to EMR.
1. EMR Increases Productivity
By streamlining many common tasks and removing the necessity for others (such as some aspects of data entry) altogether, EMR software can dramatically boost the productivity of your practice. Your office will run more efficiently, too, with fewer opportunities for errors and delays.
2. EMR Increases Your Practice's Quality of Care
EMR systems offer a range of automated population management tools. As well as automating the management of your patients, these tools also allow you to automate other aspects of care such as clinical protocols and managing outreach programs. Automation allows your office to deliver safer, more effective care much more efficiently. One example would be a clinical event management tool; this can be customized with a patient's specific state of health to better support care providers in monitoring clinical protocols and current guidelines on best practice.
3. Increased Patient Satisfaction; Increased Engagement
Electronic medical software can help to maximize your patients' satisfaction by ensuring that they're properly taken care of at every step of the way. Immediate access to your patients' notes from wherever you are helps to cut down the amount of time patients spend waiting for information. EMR systems with a patient portal allow the patient to update their information themselves, reporting changes in condition, asking questions, requesting refills of medication or arranging appointments. This improved engagement increases satisfaction; it also helps optimize clinical outcomes.
4. Financial Incentives
The government is keen to encourage practices to invest in EMR as soon as possible. For this reason, there are some attractive financial incentives for practices that can demonstrate "meaningful use" of an EMR system. Coupled with the savings that your practice might make, these incentives may be more than enough to offset the amount that you pay to a medical software company for EMR.
5. Financial Penalties
Ongoing government incentive programs will, after 2015, start to penalize practices that have not invested in EMR software; or who can't demonstrate "meaningful use" under the government's criteria.
Conclusion
With so much to gain and so much at stake, can you really afford to wait any longer to adopt EMR? Contact ADSC today.
Key Takeaways:
- EMR (electronic medical records) improve efficiency, productivity, patient care and patient engagement.
- Financial incentives are available for those who adopt EMR; in the future, those who don't may face financial penalties.