Electronic Health Records All Aboard

Whether you're a health care provider, nurse, or office administrator, nowadays, if you don't start using a computer on a regular basis, then you're probably several steps behind the curve. There is no questioning the truth that despite medical providers' best intentions, the business of patient care has evolved right into a world of diagnosis codes and insurance premiums - and at the biggest market of it all is the one and only a blinking icon, or rather, thousands of blinking icons signifying the beginning of a technological revolution known as EHR implementation.

The electronic health record debate is one that has raged ever since early adapters started singing the praises of provider efficiency and improved patient satisfaction all rolled up into one easy-to-use program. Whether you were the initial person on your own block to dial into this craze called the web or a self-proclaimed technophobe who hears the word "Blackberry" and pictures a carton of fruit rather than a handheld electronic device, it's difficult to deny the truth that EHRs offer some clear-cut benefits for those professionals who opt for them. From the patient care perspective, the usage of electronic health records means faster and more focused service, less waiting time for patients, and fewer errors. In the end, doctors aren't exactly known for his or her stellar handwriting skills, so the usage of electronic records can be truly instrumental in improving patient safety and comfort.

As a physician with a presumably limited budget for technology-related investments outside the realm of actual medical equipment, you may well be thinking "What's inside it for me?" The first point to contemplate is that nothing draws patients to a practice like reviews that are positive and a squeaky clean record - but that isn't all. The use of EHRs can actually improve productivity inside a practice while opening the doors for patient expansion. Imagine trying to boost your patient load by 30 % minus the help of an added support staff? Having an EHR, it could be possible.

Also, consider the proven fact that by implementing an EHR, you can overcome one of the greatest major failures of the still-popular (though not for long) paper system: billing. According to Roberta Mullin of HITECH Answers, paper billing is something that simply hasn't worked well for years, and the percentage of rejection on the part of insurance companies can often be enough to run an otherwise thriving practice into the ground. By running your billing through an EHR, however, you can avoid spinning your wheels to correct internal errors and external discrepancies, and, moreover, enhance your statistics on actually getting paid.

So why, then, isn't everyone jumping on the EHR bandwagon? For many, the resistance towards EHRs is due to a debilitating mix of financial investment and fear. After all, the expense of EHR implementation can be rather significant once you take into account the initial price tag of whatever program is deemed suitable for your practice in conjunction with the necessity for proper employee training - an opportunity cost unto itself. And while america government does have financial incentives available under Medicare and Medicaid for those who implement EHR systems starting in 2011, many are concerned about meeting eligibility requirements for what's quickly becoming the principal source of unease among healthcare professionals and software designers alike: meaningful use.

Within 2009's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, healthcare providers can receive government funding for adopting EHRs to their practices provided that such programs conform to the criteria inherent in meaningful use - standards that, according to many, should certainly go without saying. Even though guidelines inherent in the term "meaningful use" appear to be continuously evolving, the bottom line is, a qualified system should be certified as capable of maintaining patient records and facilitating efficient patient care in a meaningful manner (i.e. e-prescribing). It must enable the electronic exchange of health-related information among multiple providers to improve (and, ideally, expedite) patient care. Finally, to be deemed qualified to receive reimbursement, an EHR system must be capable of transmitting statistical data that can work to improve the healthcare industry on a complete.

What goes on if your EHR system doesn't meet the criteria for meaningful use? If your program of choice doesn't end up making the cut, it is possible to essentially kiss those government-issued reimbursement checks goodbye. However, before you get too caught up in the furor over meaningful use, why not shift that burden onto the software developers whose job it really is to create these programs to begin with?

As a healthcare provider, your role in all of this is simply to look around, take notice of the direction in which your industry is headed, and obtain your little bit of the action before it's too late. The deadline to implement an EHR system in exchange for government incentives is scheduled for 2016, and to put in a little juice to the pressure cooker, Medicare plans to lessen reimbursements to late adopters or non-adopters as early as 2015. To avoid getting overlooked in the cold, you may want to hop aboard this slowly growing trend, albeit in a well-thought out manner.

First, start outlining your specific EHR needs so that when you talk with software vendors, you'll know what questions to ask. Secondly - and this one's important - prepare yourself, your partners, as well as your employees for the idea of in-depth, time-consuming training. Learning a fresh EHR system isn't a thing that happens overnight, and before you begin lamenting those lost dollars in the form of decreased productivity, recognize that in the long-run, proper training may be the key to successful EHR use and the promise of operational efficiency - quite simply, higher profits overall.

Actually, do yourself a favor: The next time you find yourself crunching those numbers and worrying whether your system will be eligible for meaningful use, try focusing more by yourself personal commitment to EHR training, because by the end of the day, that is where your return on investment is truly going to come from. And remember, despite the fact that the EHR wildfire hasn't exactly engulfed the healthcare industry to date, the push toward health technology is slowly, yet steadily, attempting to improve those statistics. So instead of contemplate the price of EHR implementation over the next couple of years, decide whether it is possible to afford to keep things status quo.

Roger Shindell,

Founder & CEO,

Carosh Media & Marketing