The Advantages of Using Electronic Health Records in Your Medical Practice

Electronic health records have helped ease and expedite operations in healthcare. As more healthcare facilities switch from paper to electronic health records (EHR), the benefits to both providers and patients will increase. Before we discuss the advantages of EHR, let’s talk first about its definition.

What is an Electronic Health Record (EHR)?

EHRs are digital records of updated patient information that authorized users may access at present. These files contain a patient's medical histories, medications, allergies, treatment plans, and laboratory results. Additionally, they provide physicians and health providers with tools to assist with their decision-making. Below are the key advantages of using an EHR in your medical practice:

Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHR) 

Increases Efficiency

Using EHRs allows physicians to perform more accurate treatment and diagnosis while saving time. Also, healthcare providers can see more patients per day while speeding up appointments and office visits. EHRs offer templates that aid physicians in documenting common patient issues or complaints. Physicians may tailor these templates to fit their specific needs or customize them to suit their specialization. Furthermore, EHRs can also be more efficient than paper records because they allow central chart management and faster access to patient information from anywhere. It is quicker and easier to communicate with other clinicians, insurers, pharmacies, and diagnostic centers, reducing lost messages and follow-up calls. Automated coding, scheduling, and insurance claims streamline office management.

As well as reducing time and costs, an efficient practice can attract more patients. EHR also boosts efficiency with:

• E-prescribing reduces the abuse and addiction rates of controlled substances, specifically opioids. Therefore, it saves time.
• Physicians can use built-in templates.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps with the diagnosis and explanation of reports.

Improves the Quality of Care

EHRs improve the quality of patient care. It enables quick access to patient records, improves treatment effectiveness as well as improves operational efficiency. Through EHRs, physicians can recognize patterns, predict diagnosis and prescribe treatments using health analytics. In contrast to trial and error methods, these analytics are more likely to lead to successful overall patient outcomes. 

Let's take a closer look at how EHRs improve the quality of care:

• Suggests potential treatment options
• Patients access their medical details through Patient Portals.
• Improves treatment outcomes
• Easier access to patient records
• Effective patient-physician interaction
• Tracks preventive care easier

Offers Security

Medical practice must always secure electronic health information. EHR systems can ensure your practice is HIPAA-compliant and that your health records are safe. Furthermore, EHR firms that comply with CPT, IDC9/10, and other EHR standards ensure the highest level of security.

Increases Revenue

Any business aims to increase revenue. That's also often true of healthcare organizations. EHRs provide billing and payment tools for managing income and ensuring payments. We can automatically clean claims of coding errors and errors that could lead to rejection. By enhancing acceptance rates for insurance claims, we can speed up reimbursements without losing or delaying claims. Physicians can also use the EHR to document every detail of a patient's visit, making it easy to verify the accuracy of individual claims.

Partner with DrCatalyst

You can double the benefits and support with DrCatalyst Virtual Medical Staff. Our remote medical staff is highly trained in using EHR, especially with IMS. Speak with our experts to get the right clinical and billing support for your practice.  Give us a quick call so that we can start right away!

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