Key Takeaways
- The answer to the question “how to select an EHR” is ultimately deeply personal – the “right choice” will vary based on your specific factors.
- Always begin by defining required features and functionality to help narrow your search down significantly.
- Evaluate your EHR vendor with as much care as you do the software itself.
- Training and support, pricing, and your ultimate ROI are all things that you should weigh heavily against your eventual decision.
Overview
Short for “Electronic Health Records,” an EHR system is a tool that collects digital versions of paper records, charts, and other data pertaining to patients. Not only can this provide better coordination among healthcare providers, but it can also improve efficiency and ultimately profitability at the practice level as well.
According to one recent study, the global EHR market will hit $45.9 billion in value by as soon as 2033. Much of this is being driven by an AI-driven analysis of EHR data, which is poised to transform things like Alzheimer’s prediction and more.
If you’ve made the decision to invest in an EHR for your own practice, you have no doubt realized the multitude of different options available to you. They all claim to be EHR solutions, but do they all do the same thing? What makes one better than the other?
Even though it may seem like your options are limitless, they really aren’t. Figuring out how to select an EHR system is a lot more straightforward of a process than you might think. You just need to keep a few key things in mind along the way.
Why EHR Selection is Crucial?
Selecting the right EHR solution is critical to the long-term success of a practice – particularly as the world becomes more digitally-driven around us every day.
By far, the number one reason to take care in choosing an EHR system has to do with the improved patient care that comes with it. Well-designed EHR solutions can help medical professionals access accurate and timely patient data, improve diagnosis and treatment, and more.
These tools also help enormously in terms of hitting the ever-moving target that is compliance, and unlocking the type of operational efficiency needed to stay profitable.
A carefully selected EHR tool will also help address a lot of the common pain points that practices typically face. A poorly selected option will only exacerbate them, however. This is particularly true in terms of data entry errors, poor usability, and an overall lack of support. A poorly designed EHR might have clunky data entry interfaces or insufficient data validation tools, for example, leading to errors in patient records that rear their ugly heads at the worst possible moments.
Step 1: Understand Your Practice Needs
When choosing an EHR system for your practice type, you need to assess the unique needs of everything you’ve worked so hard to build.
Your practice size will play a role, for example. Larger practices (or even hospitals) often require EHR systems with more complex functionality, like support for multiple user accounts. You’ll also need to consider the feature set you need in the context of your specialty, and especially your patient volume.
To help narrow down your search for the best EHR for your specialty as much as possible, ask yourself what the must-have features are that you need for your practice. Is it integrated billing? Electronic prescribing?
Then, you can ask yourself what your current workflow challenges are and how the best EHR for your practice will fix them. If you’re having bottlenecks with patient intake, obviously your solution should address that. You’ll also need to ask yourself how much you anticipate your practice growing over the next few years. Obviously, the best EHR system for your practice type should be able to support that.
Step 2: Define Required Features and Functionality
Another one of the key things to think about when choosing an EHR system has to do with the features that are more than just “nice to have,” but that your practice will literally depend on. Common features include but are certainly not limited to ones like:
- Patient records management.
- Appointment scheduling.
- Billing integration.
- Reporting tools.
If you already have something like an appointment scheduling tool, for example, the EHR you select should be able to integrate with it and pull data into one convenient experience. You shouldn’t have to worry about duplicating data in multiple places, as that will likely cause errors.
While this is happening, you also need to prioritize a user-friendly design and mobile accessibility. User-friendliness will involve an EHR solution that is intuitive and easy to use. Literally anyone within your practice should be able to pick up and use it to improve their productivity. Mobile accessibility will allow you and your team to access patient information on-the-go, offering the flexibility and efficiency you need to meet patient expectations.
Step 3: Evaluate EHR Vendors and Reviews
Another core part of your EHR evaluation checklist involves choosing the right vendor – something that is just as important as choosing the software itself.
EHR vendor selection is pivotal because you need a partner that will provide you with long-term support. This is especially true when it comes to EHR data migration.
Judge EHR software vendors based on their reputation and experience. You want companies that have a proven track record in the healthcare industry. Your vendor should also provide reliable, accessible customer service – which includes basic troubleshooting and more advanced technical support.
During this period, it will be important for you to read reviews from other healthcare providers and practices that can offer insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a vendor and their software. A good vendor should also respond to negative reviews and work hard to continually improve their product.
Step 4: Check Integration Capabilities
One central component for how to select an EHR comes down to the integration capabilities that come with it. As stated, you want your EHR system to integrate with any important tools that you’re already using at your practice. This includes your billing software, any lab systems you use, and any patient portals that your patients have come to rely on. EHR system integrations are key for creating a single, unified experience that actually ends up bringing benefits with it to how you operate.
Step 5: Consider Training and Support
When putting together your EHR checklist to compare EHR vendors, you also need to think beyond EHR features and about training and support. Implementation support will involve things like onboarding assistance to help your practice set up its new system, configure custom workflows, and make sure that all the necessary features are in place and ready to take advantage of. Ongoing support involves everything that happens after the system goes live, which can include things like customer service, upgrades, and enhancements.
IN terms of training, a well-structured training program will be one that helps get your clinical and administrative staff up-to-speed on what the system can do and, more importantly, why it’s a valuable addition to the way you operate. Continuous learning will help make sure that new features are embraced as they roll out and that you continue to get value from your purchase over time.
Step 6: Test Usability with Demos and Trials
By now, your EHR companies list should be in a manageable position and a seemingly limitless number of options should be a few. You can narrow things down further by looking for user friendly EHR software. This is especially true if you’re going to be prioritizing cloud based EHR.
Demos and trials are great for offering real-world testing capabilities, letting you try the EHR system’s functionality in the context of the way you and your people actually work. This can significantly help with the ease of transition, as everything you see and learn should go into finalizing your decision.
In addition to speed and ease of use, one of the key areas you’ll want to assess comes down to the level of customization that is possible. Look at whether the EHR you’re currently working with can be customized to your practice’s specific needs. If it can’t be, you need to move on – it doesn’t get more straightforward than that.
Step 7: Consider Pricing and ROI
As you would do with practice mgt or telemedicine software, you need to consider pricing and your ultimate ROI when it comes to how to select an EHR.
Some EHR vendors operate on a subscription based model, which means that you pay monthly or even yearly fees based on the total number of users (or the volume of patients) you’re working with. Others have one-time costs, which may seem more expensive at first, but can pay for themselves over time depending on how long you use the system.
To calculate return on investment, you’ll want to contextualize things based on the benefits you receive – meaning increased efficiency and better patient outcomes. Are these two things improving? If yes, by how much? Is that amount acceptable given the price you’re paying for the system? There is no “one right answer” to this and it’s something that you’ll need to carefully consider yourself to make the best choice.
Step 8: Ensure Compliance and Security Standards
Finally, you’ll want to carefully consider your EHR vendor and software within the context of all the compliance and security standards you have to adhere to. The most crucial of these is HIPAA compliance, which your EHR must meet for patient data security and privacy. If your EHR vendor isn’t HIPAA-compliant, guess what – you’re not, either.
Your EHR should also support programs like Meaningful Use to make sure they’re eligible for government incentives and to avoid penalties. Within this context, you’ll also want to make sure that any EHR you select has features like data encryption and access controls to make sure that all confidential patient data stays that way and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
By considering factors like those outlined above, your practice can make sure that you wind up with the best possible EHR for your specialty. You’ll be able to use technology to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and guarantee compliance with regulatory standards, all with as few of the potential downsides as possible.
If you’d like to find out more information about how to select an EHR, or if you have any additional questions that you’d like to discuss in a bit more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
Basic Functions of EHR
You should consider the essential functional requirements of your EHR. The prime concern typically is EHR usability. Usability includes – EHR functionalities, training, documenting, and accessing information, ultimately, making it easy and convenient for physicians, staff, and patients.
Essentially, the solution should make the process easier, rather than adding new tasks that take away from patient care. For many organizations, the requirements are only part of the process. The specialty, type of organization, and kind of patient will often be a significant factor in the solution that you choose for your organization.
Eight Core Functions of Your EHR:
Administrative Processes
The EHR system offers a wealth of tools to make the administrative process for the organization more cohesive. The EHR allows for a full picture of each patient throughout their billing lifecycle and a complete picture of the organization’s performance.
Reporting and Population Health Management
The reporting options allow the practice to maintain regulatory requirements. It offers essential tools to help prepare for new and ongoing needs in your community and among your patient demographics.
Decision Support
The decision support aspect of your EHR helps you create alerts and reminders. This helps identify medication interactions and other pertinent information that might otherwise not be readily available without viewing the patient’s full history.
Health Information and Data
The EHR replaces the paper records and charts with digital documents that physicians and patients can easily access.
E-Communication and Connectivity
The EHR should allow your organization to share records easily for better communication among other specialties and facilitate patient self-care.
Results Management
The EHR system should streamline the best results. Putting together all the patient information, health history, lab results, prescriptions means that physicians have complete information to plan treatment.
Patient Support
Patient support features help to improve wellness care for patients with chronic conditions.
Order Entry
The EHR allows for one central place to order prescriptions, tests, and follow-up requests.
EHR Hardware Requirements
You must consider your hardware requirements when deciding on the EHR solution that meets your practice needs. Talk to your vendor and the IT Department or IT Services to discuss the solution’s hardware. It would help if you also asked whether it’s cloud-based, how does it interface with any other solutions or devices utilized by your organization. Ideally, you want a solution that will allow you to streamline your processes while maintaining your data security.
Here are a few of the most popular solutions on the market:
There are several EHR systems to choose from and each has specific benefits and tools. The biggest concern for your organization is finding the EHR system that aligns with all of your priorities. It should include solutions for every aspect of your process without diminishing the success your organization currently has.
Advanced MD
Advanced MD is an all-in-one software solution used by medical healthcare organizations, independent practices, and other specialties, such as mental health. It includes workflows to aid in practice management, HER, billing and payment, and patient engagement. This is one of the most popular EHR on the market because it offers solutions that can fit practices of various size and specialty.
Athena Health
This EHR includes patient information, the ability to view and manage schedules, order management, and lab result accessibility. The billing feature can be used separately or with the EHR. Athena Health also works with a large network of providers and offers a marketplace to let users connect with third-party companies.
Kareo Clinic
Kareo is a web-based EHR that offers medical billing and practice management features. Kareo’s niche market is small practices and billing companies. Functions that help smaller practices schedule patients, manage collections, stay compliant with patient documentation, and develop customized reports are widely appreciated by smaller practices. Because they target smaller physician’s offices, the system is available at the lowest tier for a budget-friendly rate and no contract.
DrChrono
This solution is a web-based EHR that practices can use through iPad and even iPhone, for easy access to records while treating patients. DrChrono includes administrative functions and a patient portal.
eClinicalWorks
This solution is extremely popular and used across any size practice or organization. Most widely known for their Practice Management solution, this EHR helps streamline the administrative process.
