Functionality is a major point to consider when choosing an electronic medical records (EMR) software system, so it’s essential to develop an understanding of the key performance indices that should be captured for a medical practice by an EMR software system. Usability is also an important component, so be sure to consider how easy it will be for everyone involved to learn how to operate the system.
Working with a reputable consulting firm can help you get to the bottom of your practice’s needs, but a good rule of thumb is to find a system that will enable you and your staff to electronically complete all necessary tasks in the same amount of time (or less) than it takes to do them on paper.
Good EMR software systems should be able to accommodate doctors who are used to dictating, as well as those who prefer to type their notes. Also, scheduling appointments should be a snap, but ask about integration to make sure staff members don’t have to toggles back and forth between two systems. You should be able to quickly and easily scan paper documents into the system, and sending a prescription electronically should take mere seconds. Finally, allowing faxes to come directly into the EMR system should help the overall work flow, while staff members should be able to enter information regarding vital signs at the point of care by using a tablet, touch screen or laptop in the examination room.
You should also be able to easily track your clinic’s overall performance on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Many EMR software systems will allow doctors to chart the demographics of patients, revenues and accounts. This data allows you to evaluate the performance of different areas of a facility, spot trends and ultimately enhance your services by adjusting to the unique needs of your practice. On a very basic level, your EMR software system should also allow you to collect relevant information about the number of physicians on staff, the staff-to-physician ratio and the average number of phone calls that are received daily.
Imagine a paperless medical practice environment – All your medical records stored safely in one place and easily accessible; no losing file sheets or taking care of paperwork, not to mention the thousands of dollars you save in time and effort!
That’s what we promise to do for you with Medicalsoftware.com’s MedAppz. Electronic Medical Records Software (also known Electronic Health Records) is an electronic document containing a patient’s health details. The software which enables the creation, updation and retrieval of EHRs allows the physician’s clinic to function pretty much like a paperless office.
With EMR, the physician has the advantage of managing patient details from a centralized console with minimum effort, increasing the productivity of the entire consultation process right from scheduling an appointment to the final report. It also means saving a lot of time and effort that is usually spent duplicating the entire process when the patient lands up for another visit. Billing and managing receivables too now become an easy task, with the exact service details being available whenever they are required. And from a patient’s point of view, no more deciphering the physician’s famously illegible handwriting!
Most EMR applications are designed with features capable of handling the various stages of the medical practice process management. Medappz is one such application with a range of features in its integrated EMR MedAppz iSuite Software suite. The features, developed with inputs from physicians themselves, include appointment management, recording patient information, diagnostics and prescription, billing and claim management.
Further, the Medappz suite is available as a service, where the application is hosted at a central location on the Web. Physicians can use the software without the hassles of software installation/ maintenance, expensive IT infrastructure and technical resources, simply by means of a secure login access code. Medappz will also periodically back up your data to avoid data loss and allow future access. Thus the technical process tasks will be dealt with completely and efficiently, and the physician can spend quality time on the actual consultation.
By: Kirsten E. Silven