Imagine a sheet of paper which contains the entire medical history of your patient. From the allergies they suffer from to the medications they must have taken at some point in their life. Wouldn’t it make your diagnosis and other processes simpler?
Well, that is now a reality, even though on the surface we won’t see its impact but its use has become a common practice in some of the major healthcare institutions across the globe. To give you an insight about how it has made its place in the modern-day healthcare landscape, around 90% of the total healthcare organizations in the United States are using EHR systems in some or the other form.
But due to a spike in the number of EHR systems being adopted in healthcare practices, a new trend is emerging in the healthcare practices. For instance, the shift from off-the-shelf EHR software systems to custom EHR software systems have made the workflow in healthcare systems much more efficient.
Being a healthcare provider, the thought of having a practice specific healthcare software must have crossed your mind, doesn’t it?
Well, here are six signs that your practice might be demanding a custom EHR software solution to enhance itself. And let’s find that out in this blog.
Frustration with Workflow & Data Entry
There is a high chance that you must be using a generic EHR system that often comes with large and manual data entry processes. This might not only consume the precious time of your providers in doing administrative work but also cause irritation in the care delivery process.
Along with that, the generic software systems usually come with limited customizations options that do not give your software system the freedom to change workflow for better efficiency. For instance, your EHR system might not have customized dashboards to offer appropriate insights about any particular disease, whereas with custom EHR software you get that which will streamline the entire care delivery for clinical practices.
By streamlining the care delivery process, it will automatically streamline your data entry process, which will be specific to your practice. The pre-populated templates for common diagnoses will not only speed up the process but will allow your providers to focus more on care delivery rather than on administrative work.
Declining Productivity & Efficiency
There is no doubt that the introduction of EHR systems has increased the productivity and efficiency of healthcare providers. However, another pattern that has been observed since its introduction is that healthcare providers spend as much as 34% of their time updating EHRs.
This gives very little time to be the patient, which further complicates the process. This is where clinicians struggle to navigate complexities and miss a holistic approach to care delivery. Along with that, the longer time spent on EHR processes impacts the morale of providers, and productivity is affected significantly. This is one of the top reasons for frustration and burnout among healthcare providers.
Furthermore, the lack of customizations available in the healthcare ecosystem leads to inefficient workflows, which leads to delays in diagnosis and treatment plans. In such scenarios, major care delivery opportunities are missed where there is a high chance of the patient suffering from depleting care conditions.
Last but not least, the time wasted on EHR does not leave many patients, here revenue generation opportunities are missed, leading to decreased revenue and increasing higher operational expenses.
Lack of Integration & Communication
With generic EHR systems, the software lacks the ability to integrate with other desperate healthcare systems. This creates data silos, meaning isolated information that does not allow the healthcare providers to get a complete picture of a patient’s health, which leads to incomplete and inaccurate care planning, diagnosis, and treatment.
Furthermore, generic EHR systems offer very limited communication channels which leads to disjointed care experience for patients. Meaning the care journey is not well coordinated with the providers which leads to fragmented care and delays in getting the expected patient health results.
At the same time, the lack of communication channels also leaves the patient frustrated, and the inconvenience caused to them can lead to their discontinuing the treatment and care journey with the clinic and moving ahead with another care provider.
Limited Reporting & Analytics Capabilities
Reporting and analysis are some of the essential features of any EHR software. However, the limitations that come with generic EHR software systems are limited, which fail to provide an entire overview of the practice. For instance, a generic EMR usually reports the clinical journey of the patient, but when it comes to reporting insights about the practice, it fails to provide so.
Tracking specific metrics regarding the practice is crucial to improve the quality of care provided by the practice and what are the loopholes that make the practice perform efficiently. These insights not only help in improving patient health outcomes but also improving the efficiency of the practice.
With customizable reporting and analytics capabilities, the EHR system can tailor to the specific needs of the practice and provide you with data that can help you improve your practice. It can be used to improve the clinical workflow and to close the necessary gaps that might be present in holistic treatment of patients.
Poor Patient Engagement Features
One of the most important aspects of care in virtual care is the patient engagement. For effectively engaging patients in their care journey patient portals play a very crucial role. It not only help patients in managing their appointments but also offers communication platforms to get in touch with the stakeholders whenever required.
All these features required for effective patient engagement are well curated in a custom EHR, whereas they are limited in generic EHR systems. Along with that, with patient portals, you also bring transparency in your care practices. Moreover, patients can easily access their health records and ensure they are being treated effectively and appropriately.
Apart from that, what makes a custom EHR software system an ideal solution for patient engagement is that it offers exclusive communication tools which include secure messaging, appointment reminders and telehealth integration for virtual consultations.
High Costs & Inefficiencies
Generic EHR systems have an edge over custom EHR software systems due to its low costs and quick implementation process. However, with limitations and recurring costs over the course of time, the system turns out to be an expensive venture for clinical practices.
This is where custom EHR software solutions come into the picture, offering you scalability options, more flexibility, and lower costs in the future. Custom EHRs reduce ongoing maintenance costs and support the practice in controlling their expenses. Along with that, the scalability offered by custom EHR software solutions offers much scalability as it understands that as the practice grows, the system needs to be capable enough to scale along with it.
Conclusion
If your practice is facing any of these challenges mentioned above, then it would be wise to shift to a custom EHR software solution and improve the efficiency of your practice. Furthermore, with custom EHR software development, you get a lot of benefits that will help you give your patients a complete virtual healthcare experience. From data-backed better patient care practices to enhanced security features, it covers all the important aspects of making your healthcare practice perform at its full potential.
So what are you waiting for? Click here for a free consultation and start building your custom EHR system today.
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