Electronic Health Records (EHR) effectively refers to the digitization of the patient’s information charts for archival and retrieval purposes in future. This digitized information is easy to access, even from remote locations, thus ensuring that the physician has accurate information about the patient’s medical history at his fingertips at all times.
The tactful benefits offered by digitization of patient records have pushed physicians to aggressively adopt EHR in their practices. According to the latest CDC survey, cardiologists and neurologists have the highest rates of EHR adoption. Overall, over 86.9% of all medical practices have incorporated some form of digitization in the country.
State wise survey shows us that digital integration is at fair numbers, with 19 states having over 90% digitization rates. Delaware is leading the pack with 98.8% of digitization, and Louisiana standing last with just 74.8% of medical practices having incorporated the EHR processes.
The participants in the survey were asked about their digitization processes, which includes recording necessary information about the patient’s medical history, prior prescriptions, clinical notes, a comprehensive list of the patient’s medications, presence of allergies, etc. Most respondents seem to satisfy the minimum requirements as prescribed by the Department of Health and Human Services, which effectively sets up a standardized data recording and retrieval system that the entire medical field is privy to use.
Over three fourths of the physicians use certified systems that are able to handle rapid digitization of patient records, however, less than half these establishments tend to go beyond the basic requirements or incorporate newer, efficient systems to handle large volumes of patient data.
Shifting lanes
The most common complaint among some professionals is that the rapid digitization is slowly steering physicians towards data entry, thus causing them to neglect their practice by a considerable amount. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that doctors are frequently experiencing burnouts since they spend about half as much of their practicing time on administrative tasks such as EHR and spend only 27% of their time attending patients.
Although this shift is existent, it does not undermine the importance of recording patient information in the digital format. In fact, this mundane job can be outsourced altogether, thus ensuring that the physicians concentrate on their patient’s wellness instead of redundant information compiling work.
Looming deadline
The American Medical Association and a number of associated groups have approached the CMS to delay the deadline for the physician’s practices to comply with the 2015 EHR certification, till January 2019 to allow for the medical practices to easily enter into the new system. They believe that 2018 is too short a deadline for the practitioners to clearly understand the nuances of the EHR, which might lead to inaccuracies creeping in frequently, thus affecting patient care in the long run.
At MedConverge, we help our clients to integrate EHR solutions to meet your medical practice’s needs. For more information about our services, contact us at info@medconverge.com
References
- Bryant, M. (2017, March 29). Heart docs, neurologists lead specialists in EHR adoption. Retrieved May 05, 2017, from www.healthcaredive.com: http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/heart-docs-neurologists-lead-specialists-in-ehr-adoption/439188/
- Landi, H. (2017, March 27). CDC Survey: Cardiologists, Neurologists Have Highest EHR Adoption Rates. Retrieved May 05, 2017, from www.healthcare-informatics.com: https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/ehr/cdc-survey-cardiologists-neurologists-have-highest-ehr-adoption-rates
- Sweeney, E. (2017, March 28). Cardiologists, neurologists lead the way in EHR adoption. Retrieved May 05, 2017, from www.fiercehealthcare.com: http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/ehr/cardiologists-neurologists-lead-way-ehr-adoption
