In today’s fast-evolving medical landscape, businesses in the medical field can’t afford to waste time on outdated, inefficient processes. One of the worst offenders of inefficiency is paper patient records. To increase efficiency businesses often leverage a system for digitizing and sharing medical records, commonly referred to as an Electronic Health Record or EHR. Using an EHR can give businesses an advantage over others in the field. EHR systems aren’t just tools for digitizing and organizing records – they’re also a vital element of modern healthcare management.
If you’re looking to improve the experience for your patients and increase efficiency, implementing an EHR could be just the thing for your medical practice.
What are Electronic Health Records?
First, let’s establish what electronic health records are. Also referred to as EHRs, these are digital versions of patient paper charts. On their own, EHRs are a helpful way to modernize your business or practice. In the right system, however, EHRs can streamline so many aspects of your day-to-day.
Rather than relying on physical paper records and all their inefficiencies, you can utilize a system for digitizing and sharing medical records to help you automate organization and storage of patient information. EHRs are also great for streamlining how you access and reference the details in those files.
The Benefits of a System for Digitizing and Sharing Medical Records
Enhanced Patient Care & Safety
A system for digitizing and sharing medical records is designed to give medical businesses and healthcare providers real-time access to the most up-to-date and complete patient information. This enables medical professionals to make informed decisions and deliver personalized care throughout their patient interactions. With EHR systems, patients’ medical histories, medication lists, and lab results are quickly accessible, reducing the risk of errors like incorrect prescriptions, missed diagnoses, or duplicate tests.
EHRs also make it easier for practices with multiple kinds of providers to better coordinate together. Whether a patient is seeing a primary care physician, a specialist, or visiting the emergency room, their information can be shared seamlessly across an entire facility. Integrating this type of recordkeeping system can help minimize gaps in communication, ensure continuity of care, and ultimately lead to a better patient experience.
Increased Operational Efficiency
As a medical practice, you’re likely dealing with a massive amount of paperwork each day between patient records, billing information, and insurance claims. By transitioning to an EHR system, you can reduce the amount of physical paperwork required, freeing up time and resources to dedicate to more important things like patient interactions.
EHRs streamline workflow by automating many administrative tasks like appointment scheduling, prescription orders, and insurance verifications. This automation not only improves staff productivity, but it also reduces human error, minimizing delays in patient care and improving the overall patient experience.
Additionally, you can choose to implement an EHR system that has integrated billing and coding capabilities. With this, you can simplify the insurance claim submission (and tracking!) processes, track revenue cycles, and reduce the chances of your patients’ claims getting denied. This can mean faster payments and easier accounting for your medical business.
Easier Compliance & Data Security
In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen increasingly strict regulations – compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is just the tip of the iceberg. That’s why EHR systems often come with built-in features that help medical practices meet the necessary regulatory requirements. You can better track processes like securing patient data, controlling access, and who accesses what information. This helps to avoid the costly penalties that come with non-compliance.
With data security being such a key concern in healthcare as well, the best EHR systems come equipped with encryption and cybersecurity measures. These features help protect sensitive patient information from unauthorized access or breaches. Unlike paper records that can easily be lost, damaged, or mishandled, digital records in EHRs are better protected against theft or destruction, further ensuring patient privacy and security.
More Data for Better Decision-making
One of the lesser-discussed benefits of a system for digitizing and sharing medical records is the ability to harness data for analysis. Paper records can make it difficult to pull the data together. But by collecting and organizing the vast amount of patient data in your EHR, you can gather valuable insights to enhance how your medical business informs decision-making, identifies population health trends, and even predicts outbreaks or emerging health issues. Insights from EHR data can also help healthcare organizations like yours optimize staffing, manage resources effectively, and reduce operational costs.
Implement Your Own EHR System with Record Nations
When you’re ready to introduce a system for digitizing and sharing medical records into your daily operations, look no further than Record Nations. By connecting with one of our trusted scanning and storage providers, you’ll have a local partner in your corner that’s dedicated to keeping your patient records safe and secure. Take the first step in creating your EHR system by filling out our form or giving us a call at (866) 385-3706 today!
