How EHRs and healthcare technology improve efficiency

Electronic health record (EHR) efficiency is the name of the game in this article. 

We’re looking to answer a broader topic, too: How has technology improved healthcare?

We asked 183 United States healthcare practitioners working in small private practices who use EHRs regularly. One comment in particular highlights how EHRs improve efficiency: “Patient billing is easier; a patient portal streamlines the refill process.”

Time will always be a significant factor in medical practices’ efficiency. Technology such as EHRs that streamline administrative work and empower patients will be a big efficiency win. 

Discover how EHRs and other healthcare technology improve efficiency for practices and their providers.

The easiest way to think of an EHR is as a digital version of a patient's medical record. 

It’s a comprehensive online chart that securely stores and organizes a patient’s important health information. Typically organized in reverse chronological order, EHRs contain a patient’s complete medical history, demographic data, medications, procedures, risk factors, and care plans. 

By centralizing this data and securely sharing it across pharmacies, labs, and other healthcare providers, EHRs allow providers to more effectively diagnose and treat patients.

Let’s explore the different ways EHRs improve clinics’ efficiency. 

Independent healthcare providers often have small teams with limited administrative support. 

EHRs can be incredibly helpful for these practices by streamlining workflow processes. We’re talking about automating tasks such as appointment scheduling, charting, and billing. These automations allow independent providers to manage their practices more efficiently with fewer resources. 

Manual administrative tasks, such as filling out forms and processing billing requests, require staff time and effort — not to mention the time it takes to decipher handwritten notes. 

EHRs have automated many of these processes, allowing healthcare providers to focus more on patient care than paperwork. By digitizing patient information, EHRs eliminate the need for physical storage of paper records, saving space and reducing the risk of lost or misplaced files. 

In today's demanding world, where patients want answers in real-time, paper charts are neither practical nor realistic. Patients do not want to wait until you return to the office to access their paper records for information.

Also, EHRs often include features for automated coding and billing, which not only saves time but also reduces errors in insurance claims and improves revenue cycle management. This increased efficiency in administrative tasks translates to cost savings for healthcare organizations and potentially lower healthcare costs for patients.

One of the primary ways EHRs enhance provider communication is through real-time access to comprehensive patient information. 

Healthcare providers can instantly view a patient's complete medical history, including diagnoses, medications, allergies, and test results, regardless of where the information was originally recorded. This immediate access to up-to-date information allows for more informed decision-making and reduces the risk of errors due to incomplete or outdated data. This is especially critical in emergency situations when emergency room doctors or other doctors need instant information about a patient's history and current medications.

EHRs help practices streamline care delivery in several ways.

EHRs centralize access to patient records, which can mean more accurate diagnoses, effective treatment plans, and overall better care. 

They reduce medical errors by improving the accuracy and clarity of medical documentation. The ease of sharing health records with specialists and other care providers ensures that all members of the patient’s healthcare team are on the same page.

Technological advances can also make rare diagnoses easier to identify, so patients get faster answers and more straightforward paths to treatment.

EHRs have revolutionized data accessibility for more efficient and effective delivery of medical services. Those with convenient interfaces that allow users to quickly access necessary information can be valuable assets for providers.

The enhanced accessibility of EHRs allows physicians to immediately review a patient's medical history, lab results, and previous treatments, enabling faster and more informed decision-making. The ability to quickly access and analyze this data has significantly improved the speed and accuracy of diagnoses and treatment plans.

Independent providers rely heavily on building strong relationships with their patients. EHRs facilitate patient involvement through patient portals by providing patients access at any time to their medical information. This means that individuals can access both recent information or something from past visits. 

Tebra’s EHR includes communication tools so patients can ask their medical teams a question that may preclude or necessitate a visit. You can also use them to send appointments or schedule reminders automatically to ensure patients are aware of their upcoming visits. Because non-adherence is so common, sending timely appointment reminders is essential. 

As with introducing any new technology, there are some best practices to follow.

Here are the most important ones:

The best EHR won’t be efficient if your staff doesn’t know how to use it. The system must be user-friendly, or it will defeat its purpose and actually decrease efficiency.

Effective staff training and education are crucial for both successful EHR implementation and usage. It’s essential to prioritize comprehensive training programs that cover all aspects of the EHR system, from basic navigation to advanced features. 

Make sure to include training costs in your budget and allocate dedicated training time to staff schedules. Training should be mandatory for your entire team. This training should be tailored to different roles to ensure that each staff member understands how to use the EHR effectively in their specific context. Consider an approach as simple as a video that can be viewed at convenient times, which means staff don’t have to continuously repeat themselves when training new members.

Ongoing education is equally important, as EHR systems often receive updates and new features. Regular refresher courses and workshops can help staff stay up-to-date with the latest functionalities and best practices. 

Additionally, creating a supportive learning environment where staff can ask questions and share experiences can foster a culture of continuous improvement.

To fully leverage the potential of EHRs, integrate with existing healthcare systems and technologies.

This integration can include laboratory information systems, pharmacy management systems, medical imaging systems, and even wearable health devices. Seamless integration ensures that all relevant patient data is accessible in one place for a comprehensive view of a patient's health status.

Best integration practices include prioritizing interoperability and data standardization for a smooth data exchange between different systems. This approach helps to improve care coordination and reduce the risk of errors. 

EHR systems are not static tools but dynamic platforms that need ongoing optimization. 

Assess EHR usage regularly to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary changes. This can involve customizing workflows to better suit specific departmental needs, refining data entry processes to improve efficiency, or enhancing reporting capabilities to support better decision-making.

User feedback is invaluable in this optimization process. Establish channels for staff to provide input on the EHR system to help identify pain points. Regular EHR users can speak to where the system could be more user-friendly or efficient. Users’ frustrations can lead to a search for a better, more intuitive EHR.

Automating routine tasks, data analysis, and telehealth are the main reasons for a more efficient healthcare practice.

EHR efficiency really shines when it automates manual and cumbersome tasks.

For instance, use EHRs to automate appointment scheduling and reminders and reduce no-shows and administrative work. Streamlining billing and claims processing improves revenue cycle management, and automated prescription refills and medication management further contribute to reducing errors and improving accuracy. 

By eliminating these repetitive, manual tasks, healthcare professionals can dedicate more time and energy to patient care and improve the overall quality of healthcare delivery.

Advanced analytics tools can quickly analyze large volumes of patient data to identify trends and patterns that can inform clinical decision-making. 

These tools can generate automated reports on quality metrics and outcomes, predict patient risks for early intervention, and optimize resource allocation and staffing. This data-driven approach enables more efficient care delivery for fast, informed decisions about allocating resources where they are most needed.

The integration of telehealth platforms and remote monitoring capabilities has revolutionized healthcare delivery.

Enabling patients to access medical services from the comfort of their homes has not only enhanced the quality of care but also improved accessibility. This is particularly helpful for patients in remote areas, those with mobility issues, patients who are abroad, or those who travel for work.

Advanced technologies, such as wearables used in remote patient monitoring systems, are being incorporated into healthcare software development to provide more precise predictive analysis of patient data.

Some examples of telehealth and patient monitoring devices include:

These devices measure heart rate and blood flow by detecting changes in arterial movement. They then transmit the data in real time to healthcare providers for evaluation.

Commonly referred to as wearables, these devices can monitor various patient metrics, including heart rate, sleep patterns, fall risk, and daily step count. Healthcare professionals can use this data from patients' everyday activities to inform and adjust treatment plans.

Wearable smartwatches can even help detect issues like arrhythmia in patients.

This non-invasive device, typically clipped onto a patient's finger, uses light wavelengths to determine blood oxygen levels. Additionally, it monitors the patient's pulse rate.

Create high-quality video visits, group appointments, dedicated provider URLs, virtual waiting rooms, and custom patient communications with Tebra’s HIPAA- and HITRUST-certified telehealth.

There are 3 standout future trends to be aware of: 

The adoption of medical artificial intelligence (AI) has seen remarkable growth.

In 2017, only 20% of respondents reported incorporating AI into at least one business area, according to McKinsey. As of 2023, the adoption rate has more than doubled, reaching 50%.

Both AI and machine learning (ML) have significant use cases. Those include integrations into EHR systems for tasks like predictive analytics, automated coding and billing, and providing deeper insights into patient care.

Blockchain is a technology that can help make healthcare data more secure and easier to share.

Think of blockchain as a digital ledger or record book that's shared among many computers. When new information is added, it's checked by all the computers to make sure it's correct. Once verified, this information can't be changed or deleted. 

With blockchain, patient medical records can be stored securely. Only authorized people, like doctors or patients themselves, can access or update these records. This helps protect sensitive medical information. 

Another example is that blockchain can help track medicines from the manufacturer to the patient. This can help prevent counterfeit drugs and ensure medications are stored properly.

Blockchain in healthcare aims to make medical information more secure, easily accessible to the right people, and harder to tamper with. This can lead to better patient care and more efficient healthcare systems.

Predictive data analytics in healthcare is used to identify trends, analyze large amounts of health data, allocate resources efficiently, and predict outbreaks. Effective use cases for predictive analytics include identifying vulnerable populations, treating them before health issues worsen, and providing medical choice support. Preventing a problem is much easier than dealing with it once it’s there.

Technology has significantly improved the healthcare industry as a whole, dramatically helping to enhance patient care and medical outcomes. 

EHRs have streamlined patient information management, while advanced diagnostic tools and AI-assisted analysis have improved accuracy and speed in identifying health issues. Surgical procedures have become less invasive and more precise thanks to robotic technology, while 3D printing has opened new possibilities in creating custom medical devices and implants. 

Finally, patient engagement has improved through digital health platforms by empowering individuals to take a more active role in their healthcare journey.

By adopting an EHR, your medical practice can both efficiently support your patients and improve how the administrative tasks you and your team need to perform each day are completed.

Our latest resource, the EHR selection guide, is now live. Check it out to learn how to choose and implement an EHR that’s the best fit for your practice today. 

EHRs can increase efficiency in healthcare practices by automating tasks such as appointment scheduling, charting, and billing. This allows independent providers to manage their practices more efficiently with fewer resources. 

Because EHRs eliminate the need for manual data entry or searching for records, their implementation both reduces errors and saves time for providers and patients alike. This allows providers to spend more time focusing on patients and less time worrying about technology. 

Patient information is also readily available from anywhere with an internet connection, which mitigates the risk of lost or misplaced records and drives practice-wide efficiencies. 

By the same token, relying on the internet or a third-party system can be disastrous if there's an outage. Practices need to ensure they have excellent internet connectivity and a contingency plan to continue patient care delivery in the event of a system disruption.

EHRs often come with patient portals, offering 24/7 access to medical records. This means that patients can view lab results, refill prescriptions, and schedule appointments. 

It’s also possible for patients to securely message their provider with questions or concerns. Patients experience a more continuous and convenient communication experience, and practices benefit from smoother operations. 

Easy data sharing via EHRs enables specialists, emergency room doctors, and pharmacists to instantly access patients’ complete medical history. Treatment decisions are informed, efficient, and effective. Medication conflicts are avoided, and each time patients seek care, their health story travels with them.