Increase Efficiency With Electronic Medical Records

The recent stimulus program has made electronic medical records a vital focus for physicians. Known before mainly as a purchase for large medical organizations such as hospitals and HMOs, smaller clinics and single physician practices are now looking at adopting EMR systems in larger numbers than ever before.

It has been shown again and again this system is just as effective in a small clinic with a far smaller workload than a larger HMO. Doctors who run a private practice can realize a number of benefits when switching over to EMR software.

1. Workflow Efficiencies - It's a simple equation: medical practices and clinics that use paper medical records almost never have a professional "design" their practice work process. At the same time, every electronic medical records developer worth its salt will automatically design a workflow process that is customized to the practice when a new adotpion occurs. With greater efficiencies come more time, and we all realize that time is money.

#2 - Increase Work Space - Most single practitioner clinics are not large and there is almost never enough room for the massive paperwork a typical office deals with in a day. Paper records are bulky and take up a major percentage of the available space in an office. A new practice can be quickly overwhelmed as it gets bigger. Paper cannot be completely eliminated, granted, but by using an electronic database it will be possible to eliminate a good portion of the paper in any office. Needed information can be accessed by anyone in the practice that has a computer hooked up to the network.

3. Error Reduction - Although medical practitioners never like to admit it, they are human. This means no matter how rigid the checks in diagnosis and record keeping, mistakes are unavoidable. Whether those mistakes are from ineffective transcription, handwriting illegibility, or simple communication issues, fact is, they occur. Because electronic medical records are altered and entered using a keyboard, typos are easily seen, and a template-ready system means that all records are consistent. Consistency reduces far more errors than most doctors assume.

#4 - Portability - In years past, physicians spent the most of their time in the office. Modern doctors are always on the move between hospitals, outcalls and various locations. Patient data must be accessible regardless of where the physician finds himself. Remote access to data is actually quite easy when all is kept electronically. Courier costs are a thing of the past when it comes to moving information from one location to another.

5) Get Payments with EMR Software - The time has never been better to make the switch to EMR. The recent Federal Stimulus Program has reserved payments that include rebates of $44,000 in Medicare and up to $64,000 in Medicaid for offices that adopt a digital record keeping system. These payments will decline each year until 2015. When that time comes around, practices still haven't gone digital will be subject to Medicare and Medicaid payment reductions.

The government subsidies coupled with the need to avoid Medicare penalties should be enough to convince any doctor to really consider adopting electronic medical records now.

By: Carl J Hardy

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Getting your practice started with electronic medical records is a lot simpler than many doctors assume. Check out www.electronicmedicalrecords.org/ for a variety of tips on how to choose a vendor, how time is your enemy when it comes to incentives, and how the best EMR offers extremely fast ROI.