The collective opinion of doctors regarding the state of technology illustrates a population that is unhappy with the current state of health IT. According to Physicians Practice’s 2017 Technology Survey, nearly 43 percent of physicians cited issues with their facility’s EHR as the most pressing information technology needs. In the same survey, about 75 percent of respondents agreed that health IT is failing because doctors generally do not like the technology available to them.
The medical profession’s technology woes take attention away from patients, and leave medical staff fighting their computers and the EHR rather than interacting with their patients. Healthcare organizations must find solutions to lower this level of frustration by optimizing record keeping and paperwork processes. Streamlining document workflows can increase both doctor and patient satisfaction and lead to a higher quality of care. Facilities can equip their staff with tools to augment EHRs and everyday office hardware like printers and scanners to ensure that capturing patient information is convenient and comprehensive while safeguarding protected health information to remain HIPAA compliant.
Leverage scanning to digitize and properly route documents
The typical patient brings a large volume and variety of paperwork when they check into a healthcare facility. Admissions documents, medical history, referrals and prescriptions all must be entered into the facilities’ records. Doing this manually is time consuming and can cause mistakes that potentially lead to inconveniences like delays in reimbursement, or worse, medical errors.
Healthcare organizations should consider equipping their staff with document capture tools to streamline this process. Scanners can be paired with software that utilizes optical character recognition technology to “read” the paper documents and then automatically input information into the appropriate areas in the EHR. This eliminates manual entry which leads to quicker intake times and fewer transcription errors, while also ensuring EHRs are more timely, accurate and complete.
This transition can feel like a daunting challenge for facilities with filing cabinets full of old patient records and other related documents. Healthcare organizations should consider image and document conversion tools – including “industrial-strength” solutions that are capable of fast and accurate conversion of thousands of paper documents into digital, searchable files. Interactions with patients, during admissions, point of care and discharges become more efficient when all historical records are digitized and easily accessible.
Make record keeping easier
Doctors are responsible for capturing patients’ health status and all their interactions during appointments. This is an extensive process, made exponentially more difficult for doctors who are already frustrated or confused by their facility’s EHR, and takes precious time and attention away from patients. A 2016 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that nearly 49 percent of doctors’ time was spent on EHR while just 27 percent was spent with patients in direct clinical engagement.
Equipping physicians with tools to augment the EHR and optimize their record keeping process is necessary to simplify note-taking and free up more time. Advances in machine learning have turned voice recognition and OCR into practical options by converting speech to text and helping make the process of inputting and updating EHR information faster and easier. A recent study showed that voice recognition software is faster and more accurate than typing. OCR technology, when paired with document scanners, convert paper documentation such as patient reports and clinical tests into searchable content for immediate use by the clinician in the EHR
Better outcomes for patients and doctors
Technology has made everyday life easier in numerous ways, and there is no reason this shouldn’t be the case in healthcare. Tools that streamline document workflows and allow doctors to spend less time doing administrative work will increase patient satisfaction and improve care dispensation through shorter wait times and more face-to-face doctor/patient interaction. The EHR is not yet a cure-all for paperwork and record keeping. It should be accompanied by a broader ecosystem of tools and capabilities that allows it to deliver on its potential – a comprehensive and easy way to capture patient information and a reliable foundation for optimizing care.
