Ever since electronic health records technology was introduced in the late 20th century, the healthcare industry has undergone rapid progression. Currently, physicians’ use of EMR and EHR systems is at an all-time high. Let’s take this time to look back and review just how transformational this technology has been in the industry.
5 Benefits of EMR and HER
You’ll be hard pressed to find any industry that’s been more heavily influenced by the adoption and transformation of digital technology in the past 20 years. While smartphones, tablets, software, big data, and the IoT have fundamentally changed everything about society, the benefits these technologies have yielded modern healthcare are astonishing.
Let’s examine a few specific advantages:
- Improved Patient Care
For many large healthcare practices, there’s a lot of friction between doctors and patients. Most of this is logistical and can be fixed with the right system in place. Many EMR software solutions – such as PrognoCIS – can be totally customized to the client’s needs, which means reduced charting times, improved communications, better patient flow, fewer denials, and more custom reporting.
Ultimately, all of these benefits mean improved patient care. When less time is spent worrying about how processes work and where time is being spent, doctors can have more time to interact with and treat their patients. This makes everyone happier and healthier.
- Cost Savings for Practices
For most healthcare providers, electronic health records lead to increased practice efficiencies and significant cost savings. Consider the following statistics from a national survey of doctors:
- 82 percent report electronic sending of prescriptions saves time
- 79 percent report a direct relationship between EHR implementation and better practice efficiency
- 75 percent report receiving lab reports faster
When it comes to cutting unnecessary expenses and saving money, electronic health records are allowing doctors and their practices to save millions of dollars per year.
- Increased Patient Participation
“With EHRs, providers can manage appointment schedules electronically and exchange e-mail with their patients,” HealthIT.gov reports. “Quick and easy communication between patients and providers may help providers identify symptoms earlier. And it can position providers to be more proactive by reaching out to patients.”
This increased participation between doctors and patients is something that’s reshaping the healthcare industry. In the past, patients had become conditioned to little-to-no interaction with their providers. Now, it’s as if this imaginary veil between doctor and patient has been removed.
- Better Security
Everyone wants to know that their health records are private and secure. With EHR, your records are more secure than ever. They are stored on virtual servers and are encrypted for maximum protection. This eliminates paper documentation that could easily become lost or stolen. While there’s still a lot of room for improvement in this area, it’s clear that the industry is headed in the right direction.
- Improved Diagnostics and Case Outcomes
The ultimate goal of healthcare is to help the patient reach a positive outcome. At the end of the day, electronic health records and the empowering technologies are leading to improved diagnostics and better case outcomes. Moving forward, this will be the definitive measuring stick for the industry and will determine how quickly new developments are integrated into the healthcare system.
The Future of Electronic Health Records
As technology continues to emerge, it’s clear that the future of electronic health records is bright. New technologies are on the horizon that will make it easier than ever for doctors to help patients manage and monitor chronic illnesses, for patients to transmit files from home, and for healthcare facilities to increase security and reduce delays. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still so much progress yet to come!
