Major Benefits Of Adopting A Specialty EHR

Electronic health record (EHR) requirements vary across specialties and every medical practice aims to achieve accurate and thorough EHR documentation. Electronic health records (EHRs) have vastly improved patient care coordination and delivery. Practices can now implement electronic health records for specialists that are flexible and help providers create a complete centralized patient record. Specialty EHRs work efficiently in all conditions and medical practices rely on medical transcription outsourcing to manage clinical documentation and focus on patient care.

Customized templates and a host of other features of specialty- specific EHRs can support workflows to meet the specific needs of medical specialists. It helps to promote error-free, timely documentation with functionalities like end-to-end documentation of patient notes, medical history, and lab reports. By integrating with the practice management software, a specialty-specific EHR can reduce no-shows, and improve patient satisfaction and engagement, scheduling, billing, payment processing, and communication. This highlights the major benefits of adopting a specialty EHR for medical practices, especially in today’s highly competitive healthcare environment.

While choosing a specialty- specific EHR, consider key factors such as – flexibility to meet the specialty’s needs, scalability, technology that improves patient engagement, secure HIPAA-compliant messaging, system architecture, seamless integration with relevant practice tools, real-time insights, and support for telehealth consultations.

Advantages of a Specialty EHR

• Special features to cater to the niche: A specialty-specific EHR is an all-in-one solution that enhances the efficiency of the practice and allows the provider to manage all aspects of patient care. For example, ipatientcare.com lists the features of a cardiology EHR as:
  • Dashboard that comprises built-in MACRA for MIPS reporting to avoid penalties
  • Patient engagement portal and access to the practice with ability for patients to self-serve and make online payment securely
  • Extensive cardiology-specific templates with built-in cardiology specific codes
  • Checklist of past/present (CAD, IDOM, CVA and other heart conditions)
  • Diagnostic equipment interfacing
  • Medication tracking mechanisms
  • Palpation with PMI, heart sounds and pulse functions
  • Capability to identify patients for clinical trials
  • Manage reports

  Specialty- specific EHRs are flexible, operate efficiently in all conditions, and help providers create a comprehensive centralized patient record.

• Improves the quality of patient care: Specialty-specific software improves the quality of care for patients. They can improve accessibility to patient records, allowing providers to evaluate key information pertaining to the patient prior to the scheduled appointment. For example, a quality cardiology EHR comes with add-ons like built-in checklists that ask patients for a full family medical history, which provides a comprehensive understanding of a patient’s health risks. This allows the specialist to process actionable information at all points, improve the clinical decision-making process, and meet the patient’s specific needs at a faster pace. Specialty EHRs can have a positive impact on the quality of patient care as well as the patient experience.
• Improves workflow and processes: Most practices have uniform charting and workflow processes, but an EHR that is custom-built for a specialty will make charting and recording-keeping quicker, more accurate and efficient. This will have a direct impact on diagnosis and patient outcomes. For example, neurologists treat complex disorders and have unique requirements in the evaluation, diagnosis, management, and follow-up of patients. They can benefit from customized EHR solutions with modules for imaging, diagnostic testing, and streamlined data entry. In addition to detailed medical documentation of history and physical examination, a neurology-specific EHR would support specialty-specific neurophysiologic testing (e.g. electromyography/nerve conduction studies, EEG, evoked potential studies, neuroradiologic imaging (i.e. MRI, CT), and more. The neurologist can choose and set up modules and templates to automatically obtain patient data and add notes during the visit, eliminating errors and redundancies, and duplicate data entry. Overall, a customized system improves documentation and specialty-specific workflows and enhances practice productivity.
• Saves time and eases specialty-specific clinician burnout: A specialty-specific system is designed to meet a particular specialty’s needs. It comes with templates and information for that specialty. As the study authors of a University of Texas Science Center in Houston study explained, “A bespoke EHR is an EHR custom designed to meet the unique needs of providers in a specific specialty or care setting. Bespoke EHR can prevent clinicians from spending a significant portion of their workday sifting through large amounts of clinical data for the specific data elements they need” (ehrintelligence.com/news). The study found that specialty-specific and physician-centered workflow improved clinical efficiency for users and delivered reports quickly. For example, while the average delay time for an EEG report is nearly 15 hours, the specialty-specific EHR delivered EEG reports on the same day.
• Accurate documentation: Proper and detailed documentation of the clinical examination is crucial to accurately diagnose and follow the progression of complex neurological disorders. Specialty-specific EHR software is designed to promote error-free, timely documentation with functionalities like the end to end documentation of patient notes, medical history, and lab reports. Medical transcription providers support the process with customized documentation for all major medical specialties and sub-specialties.
• Integration with other office systems: Custom EHRs can integrate with the other practice software, which simplifies implementation, improves clinical workflow, and supports efficient billing workflow, communication, and patient engagement. This demonstrates the strong role of specialty EHR in streamlining clinical workflows, from billing and scheduling to patient engagement. By integrating with the practice management software, a specialty-specific EHR can reduce no-shows, and improve patient satisfaction and engagement, scheduling, billing, payment processing, and communication.
• Meets specific billing requirements: Physicians providing specialized care have different medical billing and coding requirements. EHR systems with specialty specific features offer access to templates and codes relevant to the provider’s niche, allowing easy reporting with specific ICD-10 codes to identify the reason for the visit. By automating processes such as scheduling, billing due dates and patient tracking, these value-added systems allow physicians to focus on delivering high-quality care rather than cumbersome administrative tasks.

Choosing a Specialty EHR – Key Considerations

The best specialty EHRs include the advanced features described above. Keep the following considerations in mind when choosing a specialty EHR:

• Flexibility to meet your specific needs
• Scalability to accommodate all the providers in your practice
• Technology that improves patient engagement
• Secure HIPAA-compliant messaging to enhance patient-physician communication
• System architecture – Must be directly installed on computer servers and accessible from anywhere
• Seamless integration with relevant practice tools
• Real-time insights
• Support for telehealth consultations

Specialty EHRs are built with custom features, reports, and templates to match personalized needs. Proper EHR training and education are essential to optimize the use of these systems. Medical transcription outsourcing to a company that provides custom EHR documentation solutions for healthcare specialists can help providers streamline and coordinate effective care.