How much are you saving when your highest-paid team members spend most of their time mired in data entry? EMR integration companies create customized systems to free up physicians and clinicians so they can spend more time with patients – and less time with their computers.
Patient care is the focus of everything physicians and clinicians do. When we find bottlenecks in the system that impact patient care, we need to fix them.
Documentation and managing patient records, in particular, can create huge bottlenecks. Since the move to EMR systems, many physicians and clinicians find that they are literally spending more time with their patient records than with the patients themselves.
That is unacceptable on many different levels including with regards to both patient care and physician job satisfaction.
EMR integration companies represent a viable solution. When implemented correctly, the systems they put in place provide clinicians with the clerical help they desperately need. In turn, these systems alleviate bottlenecks, reduce physician burnout, and improve patient care and experience.
6 Ways EMR Integration Companies Can Help
- Reduces physician burnout
- Saves Patients Time
- Allows You to Use Patient Data Properly
- Streamlines Documentation
- Encourages Patient Compliance
- Reduces Staff Workload
The EMR Integration Paradox
EMR integration into any practice, clinic, or hospital can be difficult. Many clinicians report feeling burned out with the added burden of adopting and maintaining EMRs. As we noted in last month’s post, physicians such as Dr. Jennifer Bacani McKenney quickly became overwhelmed with clerical work.
Although EMRs were supposed to save time, many of those promises remain unfulfilled. Improper EMR integration often means that clinicians spend more time managing their own patient records. That can be for several reasons, but one in particular: the clerical help they had before is no longer available to them.
Or is it?
Many physicians and clinicians remember a time before EMRs when dictation and transcription was the norm. They would simply dictate patient encounters and a transcriptionist would type out the notes. Once completed, those notes would slide right into the patient’s record. (In fact, many still use paper-based patient records.)
But now, that system is more complicated – even though it should be easier. EMR companies sold their software on the promise of eliminating the need for transcription. The cost savings made many hospitals and clinics take notice. However, what they didn’t mention was that someone still had to input patient data. And that someone became the clinician. How much are you saving when your highest-paid team members spend most of their time mired in data entry?
The ideal situation would be to have an EMR integration company that allowed clinicians the same level of clerical help as they had before. In other words, clinicians could use the help of a company that marries the best of both worlds – making the most of your EMR system with the help of clerical services.
That’s exactly the type of service transcription companies such as iMedat can offer.
EMR Integration Improves Patient Care AND Physician Burnout
One of the most obvious advantages of finding the right EMR integration company is taking a lot of the clerical work off the shoulders of the clinicians. Clinician and physician burnout does not help your patients, either. EMR integration companies can help on both counts. By finding the right EMR integration solution, you can reduce the amount of clerical work that falls to clinicians so that they can get back to doing what they do best: caring for their patients. Less screen time with the EMR means more face time with patients. Everybody wins.
Hiring an EMR integration company can help improve patient care in other ways, too.
5 More Ways EMR Integration Improves Patient Care
Saves Patients Time – Hunting and clicking through an EMR and stopping to type in notes takes up the patient’s valuable time as well, not just the clinician’s. With an EMR integration system, clinicians can have more meaningful interactions with their patients in a shorter amount of time.
Allows You to Use Patient Data Properly – EMRs offer many of the same advantages that computer-based systems offer including searchability and aggregate patient information for system-wide improvements. However, these advantages are lost if clinicians do not input patient data correctly. One of the most common errors is entering what could be captured data into uncaptured fields. Finding the right EMR integration service can help ensure that data from patient encounters and other activities are captured correctly and accurately.
Streamlines Documentation – It may sound obvious, but it’s important to underline the fact that EMR integration companies can help you streamline documentation. That helps the patient in many ways. Patient data that is accurate and correctly captured means that certain information is less likely to get missed. It is also faster for the physician to review past notes during the patient encounter.
Encourages Patient Compliance – On average, patient engagement naturally leads to better patient compliance. But how engaged are physicians who have their noses in their laptops? The impact of meaningful one-on-one time can be undermined if the patient senses you are more engaged with their patient record than with them. Leaving necessary clerical work to the professionals improves clinicians’ overall ability to engage directly with patients.
Reduces Staff Workload – This doesn’t sound like a direct patient care advantage, but it is. Busy, overworked offices are another thing patients notice – especially if they feel ignored or lose trust in a disorganized office. By bringing in medical transcriptionists, virtual scribes, or other clerical help, you are freeing up staff as well as clinicians. That means everyone in your office has more time to spend with patients, ultimately improving patient care.
The Core of All We Do: Patient Care
Patient care is at the core of everything we do. That means every new system, every new regulation, every new approach should ultimately ensure that we are improving the care we provide our patients.
EMRs are no exception. However, many physicians find themselves engaging with their computers more than listening to their patients. That isn’t helping anyone. Proper EMR integration into any clinical workflow means:
- Freeing up the clinician from clerical tasks
- Allowing the clinician to spend more time with patients
- Ensuring data from patient encounters and every step in the patient care continuum is captured correctly
Contact us to find out how iMedat can create an EMR integration system to fit your workflows. We offer both medical transcription services and virtual scribe services so that your clinicians can focus on patient care. Whether you are switching to a new EMR system or just want help making the most of the EMR you have, iMedat can help with an EMR integration system that works for you.