Benefits of EHR For Small Practices
When looking for an EHR system to implement for a small practice with less than 20 providers, there are key factors everyone should weight before choosing an application. Although there will be new requirements out in late 2009 for all software developers to comply with, providers can begin searching for an EHR solution now.
- Key benefits of an EHR system should:
- Improve clinical process or work flow efficiency
- Increase quality of care
- Improve clinical documentation to support appropriate billing service levels
- Share patient information among other health care providers
- Reduce opportunity for medical errors
- Provide remote access to patient records
- Improve clinical data capture
- Contain or reduce health care delivery costs
- Meet the requirements of new standards set forth in late 2009 (not available yet)
- Facilitate clinical decision support
A checklist to begin your evaluation of EHR systems might include the following items:
- Administrative/management reporting
- Audit trails
- Claims processing
- Clinical documentation
- Clinically driven billing
- Coding support
- Contract management
- Decision support
- Outcomes management
- Patient access
- Patient disease registry
- Patient education
- Physician order entry
- Referral tracking
- Registration eligibility referral
- Scheduling
- Specialty clinical software
- Speech-based capabilities
- Supports simultaneous users
- Supports wireless
- Touch screen
- Transcription
- Utilization management
- Web-based
- Web-enabled
- Work group tools
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