The Best Electronic Medical Records Software

What is Electronic Medical Records (EHR) Software?

Electronic health records software (EHR software), also known as electronic medical records software (EMR software), creates electronic data sets of patient information, such as charts of medical and treatment histories, diagnoses, medications, immunizations, allergies, lab results, and more. This information helps streamline provider workflow and is often used by doctors, physicians, and healthcare providers to make informed decisions about a patient’s care.

Electronic medical records is the original term, which covered the clinical functions of the software, which included drug/allergy interaction and documentation of encounters. Today, electronic health records is the more commonly used term that refers to any software used by healthcare physicians to track aspects of patient care. This can encompass medical practice management software features such as medical patient scheduling, medical billing and more.

EHR software can be used by hospitals, laboratories, specialist offices, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics. The EMR data gathered by EHR software is designed to be easily transferred between different healthcare providers’ offices, so all information on patient care is available to those who need it. These businesses use EHR software for productivity and financial improvements, to improve the quality of care offered, and improve the job satisfaction of employees responsible for recording the data.

Features of EMR and EHR Software

• Patient Scheduling: Create and view custom schedules for providers across multiple locations. Color code timeslots for easy identification of what. Send out automatic appointment reminders via email or text in order to reduce no-shows.
• Patient Workflows: Improve the workflow of your medical practice and avoid bottlenecks. Track charts as they flow through the office–from chart preparation to registration, to the nurse, the billing department, and the physician, etc.
• Task Management: Streamline tasks into an electronic to-do list. Provide a single point of view for all your daily work activities, including encounters, reviewing lab results, signing prescriptions, tracking orders for needed office supplies, and more.
• Patient Encounters and Charting: View patient history like medications, allergies, existing problems, and immunizations. Receive prompts for questions related to medical and psychosocial concerns and note responses accordingly. Ensure documentation is thorough as to not affect claims reimbursement.
• Templates: A customizable complete note to mark the clinical encounter that meets documentation standards with minimal extra typing. Templates are meant to fit your specialty, workflow & preferences and optimize your charting process. Create templates for medical charting, SOAP notes, patient intake forms, flowcharts and lab orders.
• e-Prescribing: Digitally prescribe and maintain records of controlled substances in a HIPAA compliant manner. Create and sign prescriptions before sending them to the patient’s preferred pharmacy.
• Reporting: Create reports base on real-time clinical and financial data. Get insight on key areas of improvement or where the focus is needed in your medical practice.
• Patient Portal: A custom landing page for patients to log in and view/create appointments, receive prescriptions, speak with doctors via telemedicine conference or secure emails/messages, pay bills, and more.
• Revenue Cycle Management (RCM): Helps automate and streamline claims management, payment processing, and the overall revenue process. Used by healthcare organizations to improve cash flow from tracking all patient care from the initial phone call, appointment scheduling, co-pay, and final payment on the remaining balance.

Benefits of EMR and EHR Software

EHRs let healthcare providers exchange information securely via electronic methods, which helps your medical practice provide higher quality care while enhancing the type of services your organization can offer patients. This means patients will continue to use your organization for all their healthcare needs. Benefits not offered by EMR solutions can usually be found via integrations with other systems, such as HIPAA-compliant accounting software.

Some of the top benefits of electronic medical records software include:

Provide Up-To-Date Information About Patients When Needed

Integrated electronic health record systems improve care coordination by connecting all providers with the same accurate information regarding a patient’s health. With the number of specialists available in today’s world, many patients see multiple doctors and practitioners depending on their needs. Alternatively, patients have more resources at their fingertips to see multiple providers for second opinions, or to find someone more favorable to their insurance plan. Healthcare providers having easier access to their patient’s health records reduces medical errors.

Patients also have the ability to view their health records online via patient portals. These web-based systems let patients log in from their home computer or their mobile device via iOS or Android smartphones. This lets patients easily adjust certain details about themselves, such as contact information, current medications, allergies, and more. They can easily see when their next appointment is, pay bills, find a nearby pharmacy that can fill their prescriptions, and more.

Diagnose Patients and Reduce Medical Errors More Effectively

How does electronic health records software diagnose a patient? EHRs improve the risk management of a healthcare facility by considering all aspects of a patient’s condition. Diagnostic information can be used in decision-making when it has all relevant health information in one place. This includes lab results and previous medical conditions and surgeries a patient may have had.

A smart EHR software will not be a simple ledger of information, but rather a computer system that calculates when potential problems may occur. For example, if the EHR system has a list of a patient’s current medications or allergies, it can give an alert if the patient is prescribed something that may conflict. Likewise, if a patient goes into the emergency room for any reason, health care decisions can be adjusted appropriately when they are in situations where a patient is unresponsive.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

Electronic medical records software was originally created to streamline the gathering and recording of the necessary information. This is because an electronic system will be more efficient than paper records by allowing for a centralized location for charts while providing quick access to pertinent patient information. In a life or death scenario, quick access to a patient’s medical history means everything.

In addition to quick access to patient records, communication is also improved. Some may feel that the health industry is rather disjointed; you go to your general practitioner for a lingering health concern, who recommends you to a specialist, who prescribes you medicine which you have to get filled at a nearby pharmacy and get billed to your insurance company. EHR solutions will let all of these channels speak with one another easily, so the patient experiences little to no interruption in their care. Offices will be able to easily schedule appointments, and physicians and insurance personnel will get to see everything they need to about the appointment.

Merit Based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS)

Medicare and other merit based incentive payment systems continue to encourage healthcare organizations to use EHR systems in their organizations. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 can be responsible for creating a critical national goal for all hospitals to implement an EHR software. The concept of meaningful use means using EHR technology in a certified manner, which will help:

• Reduce health disparities
• Engage patients in their health
• Improve care coordination
• Improve public health
• Ensure privacy

Differences Between EMR Software and EHR Software

What is the difference between electronic medical records (EMR software) and electronic health records (EHR software)? One may believe it’s a matter of personal preference of using the term “medical” or “health”, but the terms have evolved to mean two different things. For the sake of simplicity, you are usually fine to assume that EMR software and EHR software are the same things.

EMR is the older term that contains the standard medical and clinical data gathered in one provider’s office. The concept of electronically recording this medical data came in the 1960s; it became a reality when the first EMR system was developed in 1972 by the Regenstreif Institute. As most new technology is, the first EMR’s were high-priced and not widely used except by large hospitals.

With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, as well as the prevalence of computers being more readily available in the workspace, healthcare IT budgets started to increase faster than ever before. Today, medical records are increasingly paperless and accessible via computer systems, or even available online.

In the name change from electronic medical records to electronic health records is the meaning behind that middle word. The “H” for health implies a bigger meaning than the “M” in medical. Many felt that EMR was a tool only to be used by doctors. Today, EHR systems can also be used by patients, insurance companies, and the government. “Medical” also is more of a limited word, implying that the software is only storing medical records. In reality, EHR software options store info on patients’ mental health and can be used by non-traditional medical offices, such as chiropractors and ophthalmologists.

Emerging Trends in Electronic Medical Records

• Telemedicine software features have become increasingly popular in light of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic which encouraged the importance of social distancing and limiting face to face contact. Telemedicine software provides remote clinical care by connecting patients and doctors in real-time via the use of video conferencing and the internet. A part of the telehealth movement, this software provides an effective and convenient method to provide healthcare to those who are not able to get to a healthcare facility as easily as others, such as the elderly, the sick, or people who live in rural areas.
• Artificial Intelligence and Voice Recognition can help healthcare providers with making diagnoses or recognizing historical trends about a patient’s condition. Similar to the use of a voice-activated tool such as Alexa or Google Home, a voice-activated EHR solution can let a doctor ask for details about a patient’s recent blood tests, for example. The system would indicate whether they’re in a healthy range.
• A 2017 report by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) found that 92% of the nation’s largest hospitals use six EHR vendors: Cerner, Meditech, Epic, CPSI and it’s subsidiaries, McKesson and Medhost supply certified EHR technology.