Checklist: 5 Ways To Evaluate Your EHR Smartly

Every practice works based on its goal, expectations, structures, and workflows. In the same way, every healthcare practices need Electronic Health Record (EHR) that suites their practice well. 

Even as a practice if you are going to implement a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) or looking for a better option for your current product, a thorough evaluation must be done in the first place.

You can select a vendor from hearing someone’s opinion and sometimes that is also a part of the evaluation, but what works well for them might not work for you in the same way. 

So it’s better to get your EHR according to the mode of your practice. SearchHealthIT says, “most providers prefer a solution that’s customizable, user-friendly, and certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)”.

Yeah, there is no “one for all” rule in evaluating EHRs provided by different vendors. We give you the 5 ways to smartly evaluate your Electronic Health Record (EHR).

1. Does It Fit Your Expectations?

Know your specialty first. Or for which you need an EHR. Each specialization requires certain functions of its EHR whether it is pediatrics, primary care, or another area of medicine. 

For example, for a primary care practice, the practitioners see patients with various conditions, and an OB-GYN has its tests and examinations to be undertaken. You should define and understand the need for an EHR for your practice, whether you require a new product or update an old one.

Your main focus should be that the EHR must meet the need of your specialty/practice.

2. Compliance

Many standards are to be met in the healthcare industry. Especially when it comes to patients’ data privacy, interoperability, and efficiency of the integrated system.

Check whether the EHR provided by the vendor enables you to share information with different EHR systems. Interoperability should be a priority. If the EHR system does not support interoperability, better avoid it. Check whether it has complied with the HIPAA standards. 

The Act which is known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires patient information to be kept private and safe. It also proposes strict civil and criminal penalties for violations.

It helps in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system as a whole.

RELATED: TOP 7 WAYS TO IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY WITH EHR

3. Distribution

You have got choices from which you can select when it comes to the formation of your EHR. Each comes with its pricing and usability. So there are two software deployment choices for you to choose from.

• Cloud-based software: This type of software is arranged, managed, and maintained by the software provider/vendor. Sometimes is it redistributed to a third party. Usually, this type of EHR software is handled using a safe login platform on a browser and the charges are made on monthly basis.

• On-premise software: This is the traditional way. It is installed, connected, and run on one or more computers on office premises. Using this option will allow you to store data locally. It avoids the payment of regular fees to the host/vendor and can access data in the cloud.

4. Guidance And Training

Proper attention and resources may be needed when implementing a new EHR system. The vendor you are choosing should provide proper required guidance. In the case of some providers who give functional training, ongoing communication, and client support it will be easier for you to cope with the new changes.

Make sure your vendor has a support team to help you with the process. You may have questions and doubts during some processes. They must be ready to serve you with answers and solutions without making you wait for a long time.

5. Services

An EHR system should have certain common features or services to enable your practice functions effectively. Some of the features are,

General ones:

• Charting: the data and documentation must be created, recorded, and stored electronically. The data re-entry should be allowed to be done using shortcuts, without going through the whole procedure again and again. Vozo’s cloud-based EHR uses a sophisticated smart charting option to make your work easier.

• Clinical decision support: The EHR system should enable the user to make better treatment decisions using patient-specific information thus ensuring patient safety and value-based care. Our EHR system supports you with your clinical decisions. And it delivers critical clinical decision support capabilities such as identifying the right drug interactions that ensure you are serving your patients by prescribing the right medications, at the right time.

• E-prescriptions: The EHR system which you are going to deploy must have the feature of e-prescription. Vozo’s EHR system allows you to electronically send an accurate, error-free, and understandable prescription directly to a pharmacy while ensuring 100% safety. 

Other features

• Patient portal: EHR systems should allow the patients to access personal medical information, lab results, and other services and should allow them to read messages from their medical provider securely. 

Our patient portal makes your patient visit easy and efficient. Gain access to features including appointment requests, HIPAA compliant secure messaging, online bill pay, clinical summaries, new patient registration, and prescription renewals for a more satisfying patient experience.

• Patient scheduling: Scheduling appointments should be automated for easy workflow. Advanced patient scheduling is the smart feature of Vozo EHR. Reduce no-shows and ensure better patient collections by online appointment scheduling and automatic appointment reminders, via email or text.

• Telemedicine: Remote patient care has become necessary due to the pandemic now. Utilize our telemedicine feature for remote patient care, attract new patients, ensure your patients in rural areas get the better care they deserve and improve patient outcomes cost-effectively.

Your next stop- “Vozo” for efficient workflow

After doing the evaluation process, you will now have a proper idea about the EHR system you should use for your practice. Your expectations will be easily met by our cloud-based best EHR software.

We provide you with ta smart EHR for better patient care. The Vozo cloud-based EHR software is built with easy-to-access advanced features to improve your practice’s clinical care.

With Vozo smart EHR tools such as convenient patient portal, advanced e-prescribing, clinical decision support, RCM, and billing solution with anytime mobile accessibility make it easier to provide quality care and better patient experience. 

Whether you’re a small practice or a large healthcare practice, our cost-effective EHR software helps to achieve greater success in the healthcare marketplace – not only today but also in the future.

“Let’s make your EHR a smart one, together”