Certified EMR and Meaningful Use

Implementation of health IT products like EMR is not only helpful to the healthcare professionals but also to the patients as well as the entire healthcare industry. However, the implementation cost has been a big hurdle in the path of smooth implementation. Recent Federal legislation has charted a new path forward. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, authorized expenditures of at least $20 billion to promote the adoption and use of EMR solutions / EHR technologies that would ideally be connected through a national health information network.

The Medicare program enables you to qualify for $44,000 if you are meeting CMS criteria for Meaningful Use with your electronic medical records software. The Medicaid program incentives reach $63,750. The Medicaid program is easier to qualify for in the first year, but it is in the hands of the individual states to conduct this program. Also, as a provider, you will need to see at least 30% Medicaid patients to qualify for this program.

To qualify for these incentive dollars, providers must be using a Meaningful Use certified EMR product. Vendors are quickly pursuing Meaningful Use certification for 3rd parties.

Electronic Medical Records - Benefits and Concerns

 

In this digital age, every thing seems to be digitized - the library catalogs, the telephone diary and so on. Healthcare industry is not an exception to the rule, the industry is under rapid transformation with the introduction of health IT solutions like electronic medical records system, pactice management system, claims processing system and more.

Benefits:

1) Digitization of patient medical records helps to drastically reduce the work load.

2) The use of EMRs supposedly reduces errors in medical records.

3) Digital records provide more safety to the patient medical records as compared to manual (paper based) records.

4) Digital records (EMRs) brings about increase in ROI for the practice.

5) Electronic medical records ultimately help to bring about the improvement in quaity of patient service.

Concerns:

1) Cost of implementation, training and operations.

2) Patient data security issues.

3) EMRs can lead to loss of the human touch in health care.

Certain concerns as regards the implementation of electronic medical records can not be denied, however, looking into the unmatched advantages it can deliver for both doctors as well as practice, more and more doctors and hospitals are turning to electronic medical records.

EMR and Data Security

EMR software has become a must have in today's healthcare industry. The software promises to deliver unmatched avantages for both doctors as well as patients. The system ensures to streamline the overall back end process of clinics as well as hospitals. EMR can bring about drastic reduction in time spent and costs, there by bringing about improvement in overall revenue for the practice. As far as patients are concerned, the system if used in a right manner promises to bring about improvement in the quality of service.

In today's hi-tech world EMR system is a very important component for any practice or hospital, however, the importance of data security can not be denied. HIPAA is playing a wonderful role by regulating the software. A certified EMR would necessarily possess the technical features to control the access of patient data, however, a full-proof policy as regards data access is equally important.

EMR For Better Productivity & Revenue

 

Clinics and hospitals are struggling to handle an overload of patient cases, and this struggle can often result in errors and difficulties. This has created a huge demand for EMR software.

EMR (Electronic Medical Record) software ensures to streamline the overall patient record management process of clinics and hospitals. A fully functional EMR system can cut down on time spent on various patient management functions. The time saved can be utilized for attending to more no. of patients.

The EMR software not only brings about reduction in time and costs, however, it also helps to bring about improvement in the quality of patient service. All these factors result into increased productivity and ultimately more revenue for the practice.

Can EMR Improve Physician Efficiency?

EMR (electronic medical records) is in existence for years, however, it is only recently that this technology has started gaining popularity across the entire US healthcare industry. The pressure on the US healthcare industry is rising persistently for want of more quantity and better quality of patient service.

EMR seems to be an answer to the growing pressure across the healthcare industry. The EMR software ensures to streamline the overall back end process of clinics as well as hospitals. It is believed by industry experts that EMR can not only save time, cut down on costs but at the end will benefit patients by improving the quality of patient service.

Looking into a large no. of advantages that EMR implementation can deliver; US government is keen on implementing EMR software across the entire healthcare industry. President Obama has also set aside a large portion of the American Reinvestment Act for electronic medical records.EMR

Is there any difference between EMR and EHR?

Electronic medical records (EMR / EHR) are the hot buzz-words these days as physicians are now heavily encouraged to switch from paper to electronic based systems. The two terms (EMR / EHR) are used interchangeably, however, there is size-able difference between the two terms. 

The NAHIT has provided the following definitions for EMR and EHR:

EMR: The electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created, gathered, managed, and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff from a single organization who are involved in the individual’s health and care.

EHR: The aggregate electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created and gathered cumulatively across more than one health care organization and is managed and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff involved in the individual’s health and care.

By these definitions, an EHR is an EMR with interoperability (i.e. integration to other providers’ systems). In other words, EMR is at micro level (single provider) where as EHR is a wider macro level concept (multiple providers / medical setups). So, yes, the difference between “electronic medical records” and “electronic health records” is just one word. But in that word there is a world of difference.