What Are Electronic Medical Records and How Can EMRs Help Me in My Clinic?

Electronic medical records are an electronic form of client records and allow clinics to easily track patient data across a health information system. The EMR contains critical patient data such as demographics, vital signs, clinical encounters, labs, screening, and scheduling data. This data is tracked across a health information system such as a hospital to allow for easier follow up and data access to the patient data. This quick and easy can increase the quality of care provided to the patient and increase the patient’s quality of life.
Quality of care and life are not the only reasons to consider using an EMR in your clinical setting. The ease of access to the patient data is only the beginning for reasons why the use of an EMR in clinics is important. With the coming transfer to electronic records an EMR application will assist you with the transition and help you be an early adapter. In being an early adapter you will enjoy the benefits of EMRs and be ready for the transition before others in your community are even considering the switch!
As you may have considerable patient backlog in the beginning it is important to consider all EMR options for your clinic. Some electronic medical record applications allow for the importing of data into the application with minimal transcription. Other EMR software does not allow for importing external data at all and you will need to manual enter all data during the initial setup of the application. This is a very important point to consider when you are first thinking about the transitioning to an EMR because it can increase the overall cost of implementing the system for your site. This is in both monetary and personal resources, so please consider all data that must be transferred into the new EMR prior to deciding which one you would like to use.
Another important consideration before transitioning to an EMR is how will your physical setting affect the use and implantation of the EMR? Are you a single clinic with a couple of case mangers or are you public grantee with multiple sites and possibly hundreds of users? Some EMRs are better suited for and only support small clinics. This allows for the clinic to contain all computers and software in house. This will increase costs if any upgrades are needed in order to implement the EMR solution.
At the other end of the spectrum there are settings where there could be tens of thousands of patients and hundreds of users. These settings require special consideration as an in house implementation of EMR software could be costly in terms of monetary value and human resources. It may also be that the EMR application folds in nicely with the existing IT infrastructure and requires little or no additional expenditure for the EMR. In any of the cases outlined above you will need to sit down and out line your own clinical setting prior to considering a particular EMR application for use. This is a very important part of implementing any software in a clinical setting.
There are several EMR vendors that can provide their particular flavor of EMR software and help you implement it. The numerous EMR vendors as charge various prices according to their business models. Some EMR applications are free to implement Chemotherapy For Blood Cancer and use and also provide free technical support on an on-going basis. These vendors are often subsidized by government organizations and are often for use in specialized clinics that focus on one one aspect of clinical care or disease.
Other EMR vendors use paid for software models and will charge fees based on the number of user licenses required, the clinical setting the software is used by, or installation, setup, and technical support fees. The EMR vendors normally provide a more generalized application for use through out a clinic and Current Events In America Public Health have several additional add-ons such as billings, email notifications, and automatic lab importing. The fees charged by these larger vendors may seem out of reach for smaller clinics or providers, but the additional benefits granted by them can offset the initial cost as the program is used over time.
As EMRs are introduced into more and more clinics and hospitals across the globe you will need to consider the advantage provided by them for your institution. The eventual move to EMRs will be completed in the near future and early adapters will benefit the most as they will be able to provide the best possible quality of care to their patients. This in turn will increase the number of patients who are willing to go to the clinic or hospital for care and increase the bottom line. There will be pitfalls before successful implementation and this is to be considered prior to the settling of a particular EMR application. In the end the better quality of care and life for the patient is always the end goal for a medical provider and EMRs will assist with that goal.