In the medical and healthcare industry, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be stressed enough. From small private practices to large private hospitals, patient and doctor confidentiality is a cornerstone of their operations. As things have become more digitized over the years, medical records have also transitioned into the electronic medium. If you’re starting a new physician’s practice, then this is something you have to consider at some point.
When starting out their practice, most medical practitioners often get by without an outline of Electronic Health Records (EHR) which is fine considering the scale and scope of business. But when do you know that it’s time to make the switch? Today we will discuss the five tell-tale signs that indicate that it’s time for you to transition to NextGen EHR.
You Have Paper Records on Records
Creating a backup of data and records is a no brainer for any industry, and the medical industry is no exception. Even though we are accustomed to keeping essential digital records on computers, there are many other auxiliary data records such as bills, receipts, certificates, etc. that are more difficult to be digitized and tracked. In these situations, a practitioner has to turn to something to create a backup of his/her records, which often tends to be hard paper.
The number of things to keep track of increases exponentially as a medical practice grows, and it starts to get difficult to keep track of everything. If your business has reached the point where you’re keeping too many paper records of your business details, it might be time to move on to an electronic health records outline.
Unorganized Billing
Bills and receipts are an important part of running any business properly. If handled in an efficient manner, all the services required to run your practice stay active, and you have no reason to be worried about anything.
But life is seldom perfect, and before you know it, your business gets bogged into nightmarish cycles of slow billing, late bills, insurance issues, errors, and no employee to handle it. All of these are crucial factors to run a medical practice, and any one of the above-mentioned scenarios can set you back for days or even weeks. When you start noticing such discrepancies, even if they are trivial, it’s time for you to transition to an electronic health records outline.
The Paper Records are Too Difficult to Read
This ties-in to the first tell-tale sign but in a different way. In many physician practices, patient frequency is understandably low. In these kinds of physicians’ practices, records, and other data don’t pile up in large volumes. But what does happen is due to the complex nature of the treatment, the patient records and other associated records become increasingly complex, often extending to 20-30 page transcripts. Or, they simply might be difficult to read due to quick, messy handwriting.
If your practice reaches the point where the paper records have become too difficult to be deciphered and cross-referenced even by yourself, you need to consider transitioning your database to outline an electronic health record system.
You Still Have a Medical Records Clerk on Your Team
This particular factor is mostly applicable to older medical practitioners who haven’t made the transition to digital yet. It’s 2020, and if you still have a medical records clerk on your team, then it’s definitely time to transition.
A recording clerk used to be necessary when data management the technology didn’t exist to record and take note of physician visits. Today, there’s no reason to pay the salary of a medical clerk when technology can do the job quicker and for less money. It is infinitely easier, not to mention safer, to use EHRs instead of a clerk. The data recording is more accurate this way.
You’re Misplacing Medical Records
As your number of patients increases, it becomes increasingly more and more common that medical records often get displaced. This can be quite problematic for you if you have a busy practice. Although the record is not lost, the time spent trying to find the right documents will often cause a lot of harm, especially in cases of patients with long-term illnesses whose previous data have to be constantly checked and updated.
When you move your medical records online, the chances of something like this happening are very slim as the employees don’t have the permission to move medical records or other important data around. So if you notice instances of misplaced medical records frequently happening, then it is time to hop aboard the electronic health records outline train.
Make the Switch Today
Switching your medical recording system to EHRs is not a simple choice as the cost involved is considerable. But if you consider the benefits it will bring you as a novice practitioner which physicians of yesteryears didn’t enjoy, then it’s definitely worth it.
