Qualified technology providers can ease the transition to electronic medical records systems.
Mobility, change and choice are established hallmarks of the U.S. healthcare system. However, a lack of standardization in electronic medical record (EMR) systems can make it difficult for records to follow consumers as they move between medical providers. At best, this results in the inconvenience of filling out countless forms; at worst, it can cause critical information to be unavailable to physicians in emergency situations.
In a new report assessing the usability of EMR systems prepared for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), researchers cited the need for specific best practices and standards of design, along with increased testing and monitoring to ensure usability. Usability, which implies both ease-of-use and designing for effective use, will be critical to driving broad adoption of EMRs, according to the report.
“There are no standards most of the time, and when there are standards, there is no enforcement of them,” according to the report developed by two research organizations, James Bell Associates and the Altarum Institute. The reported added that while the software industry has plenty of guidelines and best practices, “in health IT, there are none.”
Usability issues and the fear of lost productivity during implementation are often cited as obstacles to EMR adoption. While EMR technology has great potential to reduce medical errors, provide transparent modes for reimbursement procedures and decrease costs, the vast majority of U.S. physicians’ offices remain dependent on paper-based record-keeping processes. By some estimates, only about 10 percent of U.S. physicians — many of them affiliated with a local hospital — have a fully functional electronic records system that provides real-time access to patient histories and streamlines practice management with electronic patient registration, scheduling and billing.
To make EMR adoption more attractive, the federal government has earmarked nearly $30 billion in funding for the systems through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). But time is of the essence. Medical practices that implement EMR and achieve “meaningful use” by 2011 are eligible to receive reimbursements of up to $44,000 in Medicare or $66,000 in Medicaid. Reimbursements decline every year thereafter until 2015. After that, physicians who do not achieve meaningful use risk Medicare and Medicaid penalties.
A qualified technology solutions provider can deliver a variety of solutions to make the transition from paper to digital systems relatively pain-free. Those with strong vendor relationships and well-developed sales channels are best positioned to work with EMR vendors to sort out interoperability issues to develop systems that are both efficient and appealing to use. These can range from fully integrated, total-office solutions to hybrid systems that offer baseline features but with a simple migration path to full EMR functionality.
Equally important as the specific knowledge of EMR systems is the solution provider’s expertise with business processes and workflows. A qualified solutions provider can help customers choose a document management solution that is designed to integrate with their existing medical practice management software. Another integration issue to be considered is ensuring that the imaging systems used to create digital versions of all paper forms used within the practice are properly aligned with the EMR system to automatically store the forms in the patient record. Digital charting solutions are flexible enough to accommodate a variety of charting methods, allowing physicians to either type, handwrite or dictate notes into a patient’s records.
EMR systems must integrate with other data networks, and a qualified solution provider should have the expertise to ensure that wired networks can carry voice and data calls with a high quality of service and that wireless networks provide staff with mobile communications and access to patient records. The provider should also ensure that charts, records and studies are secured and available on demand, and that security measures meet regulatory requirements for confidentiality of patient information.
EMR systems will continue to grow in importance as more and more types of diagnostic equipment interface with data networks. The digitization of medical images such as CAT scans, MRIs and X-rays, along with continued development and deployment of picture archiving communications systems (PACS) are fundamentally altering healthcare delivery processes. A qualified solution provider can streamline the process of implementing an EMR system, creating an easy-to-use solution that ensures patient mobility and choice while cutting costs, enhancing efficiency and improving patient outcomes.
The uptake of Wi-Fi within healthcare has grown at more than 60 percent over the past 12 months in both wireless local area network and Wi-Fi Real-Time Locations Systems (RTLS) deployments, and high double-digit growth is expected to continue for at least the medium term, ABI Research reports.
The firm says wireless communications continue to be adopted in healthcare applications ranging from Wi-Fi networks to wearable sensors that wirelessly transmit a patient’s condition to monitoring applications. Other wireless technologies being adopted and deployed in healthcare, including cellular M2M and wearable wireless sensors, have also seen significant growth over the past 12 months.
“Wi-Fi adoption has helped overcome initial concerns about complexity and reliability of wireless within healthcare,” says ABI Research principal analyst Jonathan Collins “The growing number of wireless technologies and wireless applications being developed, piloted and deployed within healthcare further underline the level of interest in using wireless to improve the flexibility and efficiency of healthcare services around the world."
