Around 73% of healthcare providers in US have registered themselves for the EHR incentive programs of Medicare and Medicaid Service according to a report by CMS (Centres for Medicare and medicaid Service). There are certain challenges faced by many medical practitioners to capitalize their EHR application completely. We have address some of the frequently occurring challenges below.
COMPLETE ADOPTION
According to HEalthIT.gov cost of buying and installing EHR ranges between $15,000 to $70,000 per provider, including cost of software, hardware, training , implementation and ongoing network fees. In a recent CIO report many providers implement EHR software without adopting it completely. This can mean that you are installing digital technique but your medical staff is not able to adopt it completely. There are numerous shortcuts taken by administration and medical staff to avoid using new software.
You need to make sure that the training is not limited to introductory courses and new applications are upgraded in the software. There can be chances that your medical professional needs assistance in the beginning.
Another much more economical way is by hiring a vendor who can provide them with the software and well trained experts to save the time of your staff and can remain updated with the new applications of software.
DATA MIGRATION
Transcribing data to electronic system is time consuming. More than that you need to be very carefully during the conversion to ensure that any pertinent data doesn’t get lost in this procedure.
According to EHR intelligence healthcare providers should begin with most recent files and then work backwards. In this way doctors can get the most recent data and latest updates of the status of patient.
You can hire at least one employee for scanning and storing any new information as soon as it arrives. Any one member from your administrative staff can handle this procedure in a timely manner.
FLEXIBILITY AND CUSTOMIZED SOLUTION
Sometimes some EHR software doesn’t provide you with flexibility and customized solutions to all your requirement. This is the worst scenario for any practitioners as EHR softwares are highly expensive. According to EHR Usability Pain Point Survey conducted by The HIMSS Physician Community most deficient areas are related to documentation, clinical data review, decision support and many more.
One of the best way to avoid this problem is by getting an in depth demonstration regarding the function and features of the software by the vendor. Give a Test drive of the software to all your staff members. You can hire a company for getting your billing work done to update EHR software rather than investing in it without even reaping the best outcome of this tool.
Medical practices who miss the deadlines are subject to penalties. One of the best way to avoid this is to educate and train your medical staff in the working of software, hire someone from your administrative staff to look after the scanning and feeding of new data and getting test drive of new software. Another economical way is to hire a company that can look after all your billing requirements with their updated EHR software and expert team.
