What To Look For In a Cardiology EMR

One of the specialties that have benefited the most from Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is cardiology. This is because many customizable specialty-specific EMRs for cardiologists contain features that help transform the clinical operations of their practice.

General features: Moreover, integration with Practice Management (PM) systems for billing, an integrated patient portal module to engage existing patients, and bi-direction interface with labs allow for better coordination and more efficiency.

When looking for an Cardiology EMR, ensure that the system contains these general features to begin with. Additionally, here are the cardiology-specific features that your system must have:

Clinical documentation tools: The provision for custom reports in addition to a large number of cardiology-specific procedure and exam reports must be present in your system. CAD, Chest Pain, Angina and CHF are some examples of such reports that you will be utilizing on a day-to-day basis. Such provisions for clinical documentation will save you a lot of time and effort as you’ll simply need to fill in readily available procedure specific reports, and the chances of errors and missed entries will exponentially decrease.

Cardiology planning capability: Your system must also contain single-click diagnosis specific order sets to immediately begin procedure planning and for ordering labs. Confirm with your EHR Vendor if they will be automatically attached to the provider notes; as this will avoid duplicitous entries.   

Integrated EKG system: Another vital feature that any EMR must contain in today’s advanced health IT industry is that of an integrated EKG module. Such a module will help digitize EKG attributes, information and results directly onto the system creating a comprehensive patient record which includes all the stats, data and reports the clinical process requires.   

Patient education module: And finally, in addition to engaging the patients, a Patient Portal can be used as an educational tool. Heart patients are more likely to view educational documentation related to tests, treatment plans and procedures for their care; thus such a medium could help deliver better care.

Selecting the ideal cardiology EMR for our practice can be a strenuous process, but following these guidelines will surely simplify this process for you. 

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CureMD Healthcare: Reasons for the switch from EMRs to EHRs

CureMD Healthcare: Reasons for the switch from EMRs to EHRs: Over the years, Electronic medical records (EMRs)   might have served your practice very well. However, all good things come to an end and ...

Reasons for the switch from EMRs to EHRs

Over the years, Electronic medical records (EMRs)  might have served your practice very well. However, all good things come to an end and it’s now time to move to a more comprehensive, interoperable solution; Electronic Health Records (EHRs). 

The reasons for this ‘switch’ can be classified into three sub-types:

•  You must move with technology to survive and grow in this extremely competitive industry.
•  Interoperability
•  Government incentives and penalties

The first point pertains to the survival of the fittest. A chef will fare a lot better with a running supply of gas in contrast to maintaining a fire that has been started by rubbing two stones. Moreover, the knobs on a gas-stove will allow him to set the heat he requires to create a perfect steak in lesser time.

Similarly, EMRs allowed the recording of clinical and medical data, facilitating the automation of charts and to enhance patient care. However, EHRs provide a more comprehensive patient history. Clinical support and decisions making is made a lot easier for the physicians in charge of administering care.

Patient care is advanced beyond a level which was once thought possible, and there is further room for growth. Interaction with patients is also enhanced via Patient Portals which allow doctors and patients to send and receive information including lab results, etc.

The second point, interoperability is generally viewed as the most significant difference between the two systems. In contrast to EMRs, EHRs are made in such a way that the information stored on the system is not constrained to the premises of a hospital; it can be electronically sent across locations including other hospitals, labs, radiology centers, payers, patients and other stakeholders.

And lastly, government regulations and requirements, most significantly the Stimulus Act have put huge pressure on healthcare providers to incorporate Information Technology (IT) into their everyday workflows. There are attractive incentives for those who start to “meaningfully use” certified EHR technology. Moreover, there are penalties for those who fail to do so.  

EHRs and EMRs both enhance the clinical aspects of a practice; however, the aforementioned reasons including interoperability put EHRs way ahead in terms of features and advantages.

Read more: EHR Breakups: A heartbreak for Practices

Remain competitive in the EMR market for more customers

Currently, healthcare IT is perhaps the most happening industry in the United States. The industry is going through complete transformation with the help of regulatory laws, innovative technology and becoming customer-centric.

The basic idea behind these changes is to manage health of Americans in a proactive manner, besides provide cost-effective and quality care to patients.

The major agent of change has been the technology, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) that manages large to small healthcare facilities in workflow management and making electronic records. EMRs have become a necessity for every physician, working in a hospital or running a practice, in order to meet Meaningful Use requirements.

This has resulted in mushroom growth of EMR vendors in last decade, which has made the market competitive. In order to survive this competition, vendors should bring these changes:

Cloud-based EMR

A web-based EMR can give an EMR Company a huge competitive edge, particularly among those that cater to small to medium size medical practices. These practices neither have space, not enough financial resources to maintain a server-based EMR.

Having a cloud-based EMR will allow the providers to bring their practice up-to-date with healthcare IT without having to spend extra money. If it’s a solo provider or small practice, they don’t have to move into a spacious office to set-up a server room for the technology.

Similarly, they wouldn’t have to hire one or a team of IT professional to look after the server. All they need is a computer and good internet connection to start working.

More importantly, Cloud-based EMR is relatively more protected than a server. EMR Vendors are equally responsible for HIPAA compliance when it comes to data protection and privacy. Moreover, physicians can access patient data out of office.

Make your EMR available on different platform and gadgets

Android, Apple, Windows, Blackberry – try to utilize every platform available to reach out to more customers that is physicians. With developments in healthcare IT, vendors are gradually turning to make their product more gadget-friendly.

Be it smart phone, laptop, iPad, notebook or any other gadget, physicians are using them and they would like to have software that functions as smoothly on a computer as on other gadgets.  

So, don’t be left out in this competition and develop EMR software that can attract more customers in the market. Also before creating an EMR read the EHR Software Reviews and know what the customers are asking for and what are their requirements for different EMRs.

Read more: Avoid EHR Switching Mistakes To Save Your Practice From Unnecessary Costs