As a clinic owner, it’s your responsibility to implement all the necessary technology and strategies to ensure your patients receive the best care possible. However, you are also responsible for your team’s success. Your clinic is also a business, and you need to think of all possible avenues to make work more efficient and productive. You can focus on both aspects of running a clinic by implementing an Electronic Health Records, or EHR, system. Not only will this make clinic visits more pleasant and convenient for patients, but it’ll also take a lot of burden off of your staff, allowing them to focus on growth and serving their patients.
What are Electronic Healthcare Records?
An electronic health record is a digital version of patient records and documents. Those documents include everything from previous diagnoses and allergies to their current condition and former healthcare providers. But instead of storing them in manila files, they’re stored digitally, in on-premise servers, or on the cloud.
However, simply scanning your patients’ records into a PDF version is far from efficient. You need electronic health record software. Some advantages of EHR include quick and efficient access to patient records and easy transfer without sacrificing records integrity. It also reduces the cost of thousands of paper documents and eliminates most risks of losing files due to natural disasters and incidents such as floods and fires.
1. Security
Patient healthcare records are classified and highly regulated according to HIPAA regulations. Using electronic health record software ensures you meet their standards and keep patient records and data secure. They’re much harder to steal than physical documents, and you have the option of storing them remotely on the cloud. That way, they’re safe from a myriad of dangers from losing them to incidents that would, otherwise, damage paper files.
2. Faster Access
If you’ve ever tried searching for the right file or document from a pile of thousands, you know that it’s far from efficient. The situation is even direr in the healthcare industry, where medical emergencies mean you need to get a hold of a patient’s file as fast as possible to understand their condition and react accordingly.
However, even without the element of urgency, electronic records are much more efficient. You can easily share them with your patients and even send them immediately and securely to a specialist healthcare provider. All of which is a quick search away with the patient’s name or ID number.
3. Improved Workflow
Workflow in the average clinic is much more complex than any other business. It requires constant communication and collaboration between physicians and nurses from different sections and departments. Electronic health records allow you to schedule multiple appointments using a centralized calendar. That way, be sure your staff wasn’t double-booked and all of their appointments lie within their shifts.
It also makes it simpler for your patients and reception staff to schedule appointments, whether it’s regular visits or emergency visits. Patients can schedule in person, over the phone, or online through the patient portal. This will likely cut down on phone calls to your front desk staff.
4. Lower Costs
Implementing specialized electronic health record software is an investment that pays for itself in no time, both in revenue and satisfied patients. EHR requires, on average, less staff as it relies on tech and automation to streamline and complete simple background tasks. Not only is it more efficient and productive, but you’ll also only need one or two staff members experienced in tech to manage it, rather than half a dozen individuals who need specialized training. As a result, you pay fewer salaries and work fewer hours as a whole.
5. Benefits the Patient
While commercial business operations are important, your patients’ comfort and satisfaction are priorities as a clinic. All of the benefits also influence your patients’ experience. Security allows them to rest assured that their private information is safe, with faster access, they receive the medical attention they need swiftly, and an improved workflow ensures physicians and nurses provide them with the care they need.
The automation that electronic health records provide allows patients to book appointments, reschedule, and cancel more efficiently from the comfort of their homes. The improved workflow your staff experiences allows them to provide better care for your patients.
Investing in the Future
Healthcare is one of the few industries most affected by technological advancements. To make the most of it, you should gradually invest in the latest tech and train your staff to use it. Not only will tech allow you to better run your clinic, but you’ll also be able to provide your patients with better care.
