The EHR Project

Welcome to THE EHRPROJECT. This site developed as a result of my Twitter presence @EMRAnswers.  I am sincerely grateful to be a member of the #HIT5 on Twitter, with peers and colleagues  passionate about HealthcareIT.

TheEHRProject is s a news n views, articles and interviews #HITsm weekly newspaper. Let’s “Keep the conversation going “without the 140 character limitation. Send us your email. Subscribe. Read. Pass Along. This is your industry e-news.

I had a chance to speak with Dr. David Scher this week, regarding how Physicians benefit from Electronic Medical Records and Practice Management software, from a Cardiologists’s perspective. Dr Scher was a practicing cardiac electrophysiologist for 20 years with extensive experience in healthcare IT. He is a member of HIMSS. He is currently director at DLS HEALTHCARE CONSULTING, LLC.

Dr. Scher’s second article at TheEHRProject reflects on his experience in early adoption, and the benefits of EHR technology as it relates to the Doctor-Patient relationship.

Ten Ways Healthcare Providers Can Get the Most

out of EHRs

EHR’s are being promoted by the government in the Meaningful Use program to improve patient outcome and reduce cost.  The value of EHRs to healthcare providers lies in ways it can improve workflow and improve patient care on an ongoing basis.

1. Utilizing the EHR to prepare for the encounter in advance.   I have recently left the practice of medicine.  But had an EHR system since 1997.  Initially it was a proprietary ‘home grown’ one, but then merged with a commercial vendor.  In any case, I would review my patients’ records from home the evening before my office day.  I would take shorthand notes on the results of tests performed since the last visit, and what treatment plan options I would formulate. I would make note of the pertinent cardiac medications were active (I was a cardiac electrophysiologist).  This allowed me to spend that 20 minute time slot looking into the patients’ eyes not the computer tablet.  It markedly increased quality time discussing how the patient felt, explaining a recommended procedure, or the ancient and now outdated few sentence social conversation.  In summary, it made for a more human, old school doctor-patient relationship.
2.   Make sure medication changes are up to date.  When medications changes are made during an encounter, they need to be done at the time of med change, not wait until the following visit.  This keeps the EHR totally up to date and decrease confusion when the EHR is referred to prior to the next visit.
3. Incorporate as much ancillary digital data as possible.  This means having an EHR that interfaces well with outside labs well (work with your most frequently used labs/imaging facilities and hospitals).  If you purchase any electronic testing (heart monitors, other mobile health monitors, etc) equipment, talk to the vendor and make compatibility with your EHR a requirement.
4. Optimize your patient portal (personal health record-PHR).  This is the patient’s side of your EHR.  Good patient education material links are crucial.  They are good for PR, decrease office time (patients can look at this on a PC in the waiting room or at home), and increase patient compliance.  By having documented logins, this PHR can also act to improve informed consent.  Patients can catch any mistakes or give you an update of their meds/status.
5. Providing practice management tools.  Scheduling, billing, interfaces with branch offices may be useful resources for the provider.
6. On call or after hours access to records.  This is huge, and significantly saves time and anxiety when on call.  Records, medications, allergies, test results all can determine the best patient management after hours.  It can prevent needless hospitalization or duplicative tests.
7. Provide for easier patient relocation or specialist referral.  A patient who moves or is referred to a specialist can have records referred electronically without wait.  It was not uncommon for a patient to travel hours to see me and the records were not faxed over yet, necessitating a long wait or even a cancellation of the visit.
8. Improve office workflow.  A receptionist can determine if the patient registering is up to date with payments. A medical assistant can know via the EHR tablet whether there is a patient registered and in the waiting room. A nurse can tell when the provider encounter is over and referred to another room for a med counseling session or test.
9. Remote monitoring integration.  A patient with a pacemaker, implantable defibrillator, or other wireless technological data (insulin pump data, etc) can all be monitored and the data integrated into the EHR
10. Mine data.  Data in the EHR can be searched when a drug or device is recalled to rapidly identify pertinent patients.  Data can be mined to identify patients eligible for a new investigational drug or device or clinical trial protocol.

These are ways in which EHRs can best be utilized by healthcare providers that will make THEIR lives easier as well as benefit patients.

Thanks again, Dr Scher!