Healthcare is more than seeing patients and ordering tests or prescriptions. A lot of information has to move seamlessly in the background. Patient histories, labs, medications, insurance info, appointment notes, billing info, referrals, follow-up instructions all of that needs to go somewhere. And when it doesn‘t, things get ugly fast.
Therefore, athena health electronic medical records can be a valuable component of a practice‘s day-to-day operation. EPIC are intended to replace loose-leaf charts and nonintegrated data sources with a single digital record. That sounds straightforward and often is, but the effects can be dramatic. A clinician can access current and past medical histories without rummaging through file cabinets. Staff members can access details without constantly interrupting others to ask for them.
Most important, the entire practice runs from a common, consistent record of each patient‘s history. Of course, a good program can‘t address a poorly managed practice. Infrastructure, reporting tools, standard procedures, training technology is only part of the equation. But implementing a well-designed EPIC can virtually eliminate much of the friction that typifies traditional practice management. It provides a collaborative environment for providers and staff alike a necessity as practice size and digital commerce continue to accelerate.
While there was a place for paper records, they are time-consuming to access, cumbersome to share, and surprisingly easy to lose track of. Digital records make patient information accessible at the time that the authorized user needs it, and that can aid caregivers in making decisions with better context than incomplete notes and a patient‘s protracted memory.
The choice of an electronic medical record system is not just another office software purchase that shouldn‘t require a thorough evaluation before implementation. It affects how clinicians will be documenting and how staff will manage patients day to day. The right EMR should be makes regular operations smoother, not another administrative headache. This is where practices need to look past the glitzy features.
A system might have dozens of tools, but if staff can‘t easily access patient histories or find a patient‘s last lab results, do those features matter? An ideal electronic medical records platform should support documenting clinical care, enter patient histories, order labs and medications, document lab results and communicate with other systems without making the workflow unnecessarily complex. Ease of access is another big factor. Providers are constantly moving between exam rooms and offices and from location to location. If the system can provide the right patient information without requiring you to be consistently hooked to a single machine, you‘ll notice. Integration is another consideration. Few practices function on a single application.
Billing software, scheduling programs, services available through the patient portal, lab and pharmacy information, all may need to be incorporated into the users’ workflows. If the various programs can pass data back and forth without requiring reentry of countless pieces of information, the efficiency of your workflow goes up significantly.
Clinicians already document too much. An EMR must assist to structure it, not every episode of care should become an marathon of data entry. Templates, structured histories, computer notes and streamlining workflows will allow providers to spend less time in front of screens and more in front of the patient.
The greatest benefit of electronic documentation is often not a single feature. Instead, it‘s how many seemingly mundane procedures can be integrated into a cohesive workflow. Imagine a patient comes in for an appointment. The reception staff need the registration information. A provider needs access to the patient‘s history. Some previous results may need to be pulled up.
An order of some sort may need to be checked. If they had to search for the record or enter the same information into multiple places, the handoff points inevitably increase. Staff need to spend more time hunting through files or documenting details by hand. An integrated EMR workflow can eliminate some of that friction. Administrative staff know where each piece is located and can efficiently transfer the documentation. Providers can gather information at the point of care while other team members perform the administrative steps. This does not indicate that every healthcare organization will transform overnight into a model of efficiency. That is not how real life plays out. Teams still have their busy mornings, they have missing data, they have patients running late, and perhaps they will always have a glitch in the system. However, when you eliminate the need for redundant repetition, your team has the space to breathe. The patient‘s experience can also benefit.
Having rapid access to the necessary data can reduce the wait time waiting for records to be retrieved. Having better documentation can lead to easier follow-up because the team has more information about the details of earlier visits. Small things may not seem impressive at first, but when you consider how much you can save by taking a few minutes out of each individual encounter, the numbers become striking.
Teams are more effective if the story they are hearing provides a consistent flow of information. This consistency can be provided by digital records, which ensure that there is a shared account between multiple staff when looking after a patient.
When evaluating healthcare technology, epic healthcare software is another term that frequently comes up. Epic is often one of the first things to come to mind among hospitals, health systems and large organizations when thinking about large-scale electronic health record and healthcare information systems. Comparing platforms like athenahealth with epic is helpful but there is no clear champion.
The better question is: will this platform be appropriate for the size of our organization, our workflow, resources, and future plans? Large health systems may have far more complex needs, involving hundreds of specialized departments, certain subspecialty areas, multiple facilities, and lengthy clinical processes; smaller or independent practices may focus on ease of access, billing, scheduling and revenue cycle concerns, and quick implementation. This is precisely why selecting the software platform with the biggest name just isn‘t always a good idea.
Healthcare organizations should consider what employees really want to know. How many will use this? What systems will it need to interface with? How many staff members can be trained? What is the healthcare practice environment like when it‘s not working? Is information easy to locate? These questions aren‘t as fun as listening to a product give a demo but are much more helpful. That platform should be designed with the healthcare practice environment in mind, not the other way around. Opportunities for implementation support, interoperability, security controls, customization, reporting abilities, patient engagement features and continual expense should be evaluated.
It‘s tempting to strip down a lot of EMR comparisons to a black and white “System A versus System B” debate. That‘s often not accurate. A system that is perfect for a large health system can feel overly complex for a medium size specialty office. Context counts.
As practice volume grows, the way in which information is handled shifts as well. For a small practice that knows everyone in the practice, knows where everything is, who does what, a loosely organized system might work for a while. This assumes the volume is still manageable (which it likely is). As new providers join, new patients are seen, additional locations are opened, more services are added… all of a sudden, those loosely organized systems are failing. That‘s when a scalable EMR comes in.
Electronic records, when designed correctly, can provide a common database infrastructure, which can organize and connect information, even as a practice grows. They can make it easier for new employees to learn new workflows... rather than getting everything through trial and error and word of mouth. They can allow providers to access patient information without staff members having to access its native system. They can provide operational reports that tell administration exactly what‘s going on under the hood (something that‘s critical when practices grow fast, but still can‘t afford chaos). And a robust electronic medical record system can prepare practices for evolving needs with digital patient engagement, home monitoring, remote access, information interoperability, and even data warehousing. But nothing (software, technology, workflows, or policies) will have value unless staff members adopt it.
If a new system is introduced and staff members don‘t understand it, or know how it can help them, they will find workarounds or work arounds. And work arounds…are where digital devices and software are no longer worth their price tags.
An EMR that is technologically sound will still fail if the people hate using it. Begin training by simulation how to do the actual workflow and not where all the buttons are. Have people practice common scenarios. Listen when they complain. Some complaints are justified.
Purchasing or deploying an EMR is only the start. The real value begins when the organization becomes adept at utilizing the system. One method to consider is to determine the most time-consuming portions of the staff workflows. Is registration time lagging? Are clinicians editing excess or redundant text? Are employees re-entering information unnecessarily? Is follow-up neglect on the part of everybody? These could be revealing.
Practices should also monitor data quality. An electronic record full of outdated phone numbers, duplicate and stubby notes, or incoherent information isn‘t much fun. The staff need clear rules for managing data and editing errors. Security measures should be well thought out (barriers to entry, a coherent access strategy, proper security controls, continuous monitoring, reliable backups, etc.) and should never be an afterthought in the design process. Reporting is another valuable function.
A practice can analyze operational trends and uncover hold-ups. Is demand for a particular type of appointment shifting? Are some workflows taking longer than they should? Does a particular department have an abnormal amount of administrative chores? You shouldn‘t think to measure just because a piece of software makes it possible. Measure what will make you a better resource allocation decision-maker. Otherwise your measuring cup will just be gathering dust.
Practices don‘t have to employ all features. That‘s something practices often make the mistake of doing. Begin with the workflows that are problematic, optimize them, and then move on. Simpler systems that are well utilized are more beneficial than complex systems that no one understands.
Choosing an EMR is a decision that warrants more deliberation than a product tour, a sales pitch, and a positive review from Google. Practices need to know their current workflows well and then determine areas of potential enhancement before beginning an EMR search. It is always a good idea to speak with physicians, nurses, front-desk staff, billing teams, administrators and receptionists since each of these personnel has different requirements. For example, the front-desk staff will definitely focus on registration/scheduling, and the physicians may emphasize clinical documentation. Billing staff will have entirely different interests to ponder.
These viewpoints need to be included in the overall determination. It is important to factor in implementation duration. Transferring from one system to another may be disruptive. Nothing bad will happen by not ignoring this fact. Data moving, staff training, designing new processes, testing, and changing staff familiarity with the new system will all take up time. The practice should have a realistic conversion plan, not just hope that it all works out by Monday. Check the interoperability options carefully. Find out which other systems interface, what data can be transferred, and whether interfaces add price. The practice should understand the security and compliance issues close up and personal. Lastly, consider the vendor‘s support offered when one‘s practice is bleeding during a booming clinic.
If this is a booming clinic, then waiting days to get any prompt help is not a great, long-term practice strategy. Do not go for the system with the most bells and whistles; go for the system that helps the clinicians and staff be productive without complication.
There are plenty of familiar names in healthcare tech. Buying just because the names are familiar isn‘t the right approach. The system that a practice purchases must fit with the reality of its current workflow, budget, staffing model, and growth plans that‘s the practical way to approach it.
Healthcare electronic medical records have transformed the way that healthcare organizations will manage information, and this is not going to be reverted. The real question now is how practices may be able to utilize systems like these that do not drive the process of healthcare forward. athena health electronic medical records could be part of this ongoing discussion for organizations that are exploring technological solutions to clinical and administrative information management and processing. There are, however, other options, such as epic healthcare software, that may be more appropriate for larger or more complex healthcare organizations. The key is not to select one product simply because it appears to be popular.
It is important to analyze workflows, speak to end users, and evaluate usability, scalability, security, implementation, and support. The right decision will be based on the right information, not on hype. The ideal healthcare electronic medical record will remain in the background of normal work processes as much as possible; it will assist clinicians in accessing information and recording care, in managing activities, and in moving people along through the system in as smooth a fashion as possible. This is the goal. This is not more screens. This is not more features. This is better work.
Athena health electronic medical records are electronic systems for recording, organizing, storing and sharing patient health information. These systems are used to document clinical information, patient histories, orders and results, medication information and much more.
They are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference. An electronic medical record is a record of information within a specific provider or practice. An electronic health record tends to promote the acquisition and management of a wider perspective.
Help clinicians transition to the paperless environment by minimizing reliance on paper charts
Enhance access to information, clinically relevant documentation, and data entered into the system
Decrease duplication of data entry fields
Reduce workflow variability within the care team
Not necessarily. Epic is an extremely robust healthcare IT platform, but timing and fit also depend on the size, complexities, size, workflow requirements, integration needs and installation resources of the organization.
Behavior must take into account the usability, clinical documentation, interoperability, security, scalability, reporting, integrations, implementation support, training and total cost. The decision should be also based on staff suggestions.
They can. Immediate access to reliable data can help avoid potential unnecessary waits and allow providers to extract patient records more quickly. Furthermore, with integration to other digital solutions, EMRs may also facilitate easier communication and follow-up.
A good system will not be successful if the users are not skilled in using it. It is shown that the training of the users help them to adapting a new workflow, to avoid work around, and to develop familiarity with the system before it becomes part of daily patient care.
No automatic yes or no. A switch might be justified if the current system continually causes workflow problems, if it does not have the required integrations, if it doesn‘t scale as you grow, or if it creates too much administrative overhead. First, you must understand the costs and disruption of changing.
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