Increase Efficiency By Connecting Labs To Your EHR Software

Today, everything in the healthcare industry has started to be done electronically. Electronic activities are the easiest form of transmission. They save time, money, and energy. Of course, there will be doubts regarding safety, security, and privacy when it comes to digital transactions.

We need not worry about that. HIPAA has many rules and regulations to safeguard the data and privacy of each user. And even if the services have any drawbacks or are even outdated, the industry always works on cementing any cracks that have happened in the system. 

They also constantly innovate new ideas and try to and sometimes succeed in upgrading old technologies to meet new requirements.  

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is the best example of this. Each organization has its requirements and needs. Providers structure the EHR according to them. There are various service providers available in the market to avail your desired EHR. 

Electronic Health Record (EHR) In Practices: Why It Is Important?

Before we get down to the importance of EHR in medical practices, let us know the basic things about EHR.

Electroni Health Record (EHR) is the digital version of a patient's paper record. Electronic Health Records software helps the healthcare providers or the physicians to manage the patients’ medical records easily without taking much time and increases the provider’s efficiency by automating the clinical workflows. 

In simple words, it is aimed at documenting and storing a patient’s medical information/history digitally. This helps to make a more accurate diagnosis and treatment.

It helps in reducing the time taken for the providers by eliminating manual tiresome work. 

It’s a modern and sophisticated tool that uses graphical representations, chart notes for recording a patient’s medical history, allergy information, test results, etc. In short, all the information regarding the patients.

So, answering the question now, as we mentioned above, EHR deals with electronic recording and transmission of a patient’s document. This saves the healthcare provider in avoiding so much tiresome paper works. So that they can concentrate on the patients and their other works efficiently.

Some providers also facilitate/allow the patients to access their EHRs for better decision-making and to avoid errors from happening.

Saves Practice’s Time

The Promoting Interoperability Program, an incentive program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is contributing to the increased adoption of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) by more and more practices. CPOE is the process of entering and sending treatment instructions, such as laboratory and imaging orders, electronically rather than by paper, fax, or phone.

To satisfy this objective, providers need to enter 60% or more of their medical orders directly into a computer or mobile device.

Traditionally, and even now some practices are using the old paper-file methods to record and submit laboratory and imaging orders. Some researches have shown that presenting lab and imaging orders electronically saves time for the practices.

Practices’ efficiency has been increased in multiple ways by using the electronic ordering

• First, the orders can be directly sent electronically to the labs or imaging centers. They are quicker than the orders placed using phone, fax, or even direct manual interactions. 
• The frequently used order panels with electronic orders can save time for clinicians by streamlining the ordering process.
• Some service providers may allow clinicians to save orders (lab work and imaging) as templates for future purposes.
• Electronic orders often return results faster than any other type of order.

Role In Improving Patient Safety

Interoperability and integration make electronic ordering easy and efficient. The integration of EHR with diagnostic centers and radiology centers makes lab and image ordering incredibly easy.

• The use of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE), as we mentioned above, can reduce the chance of errors and protect patients' safety, by ensuring the orders that are submitted by the providers are complete, legible, and standardized.
• This helps in reducing the loss of orders and double-entries.
• This saves the patient’s time, as the providers can access and see the older orders made by the patient without referring or checking paper-format documentation.
• Some providers use customized flowsheets to easily spot changes in patients’ results. Thus helping to track chronic and other health information easily.

Benefits Of Directly Connecting To Lab And Imaging Centers From Your EHR

Connecting EHR and the lab and imagining centers carry many benefits to the practice.

• The practices can increase their EHR workflow with electronic ordering by integrating their EHR with a lab or imaging center of their choice.
• With the new features for connecting, lab or imaging centers can be connected easily with the EHR.
• This integration provides various options for choosing the right lab or imaging center needed for the patient.
• Some providers apply no additional charges for practices that use electronic ordering, thus saving money.
• The practices can directly place an order from the patient’s chart.
• For any further tests in the future, the tests can be saved as templates.
• The results can be viewed in the patient chart.
• This enables excellence and encourages physician relationships for quality of care and improves business.
• It enables placing orders with the Lab Interoperability Portal (LIM), even if the physician does not have an Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
• Exchanges normalized patient information efficiently, effectively, and securely to all those involved in the healthcare spectrum.

Final Say

Everything happens digitally now. Electronic transmission saves time, energy, and money. That too in the healthcare industry where all the above-mentioned factors are available in less quantity, the only rescue is by using electronic means.

Connecting to a lab or an imaging center may be difficult using the traditional way. This has become easy now with the use of EHR integration with centers. 

Check out our Vozo website to know and avail of the EHR software and other healthcare-related products to make your practice easy and thus improve your efficiency. Contact us for further details. We will not disappoint you.

“Let’s make your healthcare practice efficient with our EHR, together”