Increasing EHR use among older physicians or longstanding office staff can be a difficult task.
You may have invested thousands of dollars in new equipment, implementations, and employee training time. But why isn’t your staff using your new EHR properly?
Well, studies show that unless certain vendor features are included in your EHR, chances are your practice might “just not get it.”
Technical Support
According to a study published in Journal Health Affairs, doctors who received more technical assistance when integrating their EHR were more likely to understand the system better than physicians who did not receive technical assistance.
The study found that implementation alone was not enough to boost EHR use in medical practice.
“The study supports proof of concept that EHRs can improve outcomes, but the widespread implementation of the technology and strong technical assistance is needed,” said Andrew Ryan, an assistant professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College and one of the study authors.
According to the study, practices started to show good improvements after at least nine months of EHR exposure and at least eight technical assistance calls.
However, offices that received little or no technical support showed no significant improvements, even after using EHR systems for up to two years.
Ongoing Training
I know we’ve said this before. And I’m sure we’ll say it again, but take full advantage of online training resources.
Most EHR vendors are constantly uploading videos, articles, webinars and other online tutorials for their EHR products. Many also host community forums, where users can help each other with their technical issues.
Training does not end after the initial implementation stage. If you have a problem, ask your vendor for their EHR training database.
Now, what happens when you hire new employees? It’s a good idea to set up a detailed training map that is laid out for all doctors and staff as they come in.
“Organizations that are successful … have been careful not to shortchange their new employees,” said Jerrilyn Cowper, solutions manager for CTG Health Solutions, a health care technology consulting firm.
Small organizations don’t have the resources to hire full-time trainers like large providers. Consequently, we recommend giving the duty to either practice managers or an EHR champion within the practice.
Templates
Another timesaving feature of effective EHRs is customizable templates. Templates minimize the time the doctor spends in the system, allowing them to offer patients their full attention.
A template in an EHR is a tool for organizing, presenting and capturing clinical data within the system. They allow physicians to gather all relevant patient data on a single screen while populating the information to the patient’s medical record. Most EHR vendors are packaged with a number of pre-built templates tailored to different specialties.
For example, a cardiologist may have a set workflow to input medical information during a high blood pressure visit, but a completely different workflow during an EKG check-up.
The ability to quickly utilize different templates allows the doctor to be flexible. The cardiologist may then simply choose the “high blood pressure” or “EKG” template at the start of the visit and the EHR should automatically present a recommended workflow.
Pre-filled templates let you document common patient complaints more quickly than writing everything from scratch.
Physician Dr. Juan Reyes, an in-house physician at CareCloud, credits EHR usability to effectiveness.
“An efficient EHR documents a clinical encounter and captures all the data required to provide the best outcome for the patient with minimum time and effort,” said Dr. Reyes. “The system’s goal should be to provide value and improve outcomes.”
Remember, in the end, EHRs are supposed to boost profitability simply by saving physicians time at each patient visit, allowing them to see more patients each day.
If your EHR isn’t meeting the needs of your doctors and employees, maybe it’s time to switch to a more customizable, modern system.
Do you know what you need when setting up a new medical practice?