Electronic health records contain data like patient demographics, medical histories, allergies, medications, radiology images, immunization statuses, laboratory test results, and much more.
Hospitals can share EHRs across different health settings and with a variety of healthcare professionals through network-connected information systems.
It should already be clear how valuable the information in EHRs can be for professionals working in hospitals and other healthcare settings, but let us take a more detailed look at how hospitals can unlock valuable insights using electronic health records.
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EHR Interoperability Provides Healthcare Professionals with Valuable Insights into Patients
You can find out what EHR interoperability means in more detail by reading the insightful post from Foothold Technology.
But in basic terms, it has to do with the ability of healthcare professionals in hospitals to input and share client data with others in the same network using cutting-edge EHR interoperability features to collaborate with pharmacies, laboratories, and other healthcare providers and facilities.
Thus, healthcare professionals in hospitals and other settings can quickly and easily access up-to-date information about patient details. In turn, that enables healthcare professionals to gain valuable insights that can be used to provide better and more efficient patient care.
Hospitals and other healthcare providers should strive to better use patient-centered records to track the care of patients.
By having single and continuous records for patients, a holistic view of patients’ overall health can be gained. In turn, that means better diagnosis and treatment throughout patients’ lifetimes.
Hospitals Can Use EHRs for the Better Coordination of Care
Following on from the last point, with access to up-to-date digital health records, clinicians and other healthcare professionals in hospital settings can more easily coordinate and track patient care across different practices and facilities.
For instance, information pertaining to things like a patient’s hospital visits, surgeries, and prostate examinations can be coordinated and scheduled over the course of just one visit, instead of creating multiple time-consuming visits for patients.
In turn, that means hospitals can run more efficiently, while also ensuring patients receive better care.
With EHRs, Information Can Easily Be Shared for Unlocking Valuable Insights and Providing Better Care
As mentioned above, with EHRs, information can easily be shared.
That means information can be shared across hospitals, pharmacies, emergency response teams, and different specialists, so that every professional and healthcare provider can easily access data from various sources to make better and more timely decisions for better patient care, especially in critical situations.
Workflows Can Be Streamlined with the Adoption of EHRs
We have already seen some ways in which using EHRs can increase efficiency and productivity. It is worth noting that utilizing EHRs also means the amount of paperwork that healthcare professionals in hospitals need to complete is significantly cut down.
Therefore, healthcare professionals have much more time to provide better patient care.
Basically, with EHRs, workflows become streamlined. And that leads to things like referrals and prescription requests being sent out more quickly and patient waiting times for appointments being reduced.
EHRs can also be used to send patients reminders for things like checkups and specific screenings.
Furthermore, EHRs contain integrated features like billings and insurance claims, which better ensure such things are conducted in a timely manner.
A Greater Amount of Data Enables Hospitals to Make More Informed Decisions
Ultimately, the more data that is available in one accessible place, the easier personalization of care becomes in hospitals.
But EHRs are not only used to improve operational efficiency and better patient care. The data stored in EHRs can also be used by healthcare professionals to identify larger health trends, such as potential outbreaks of flu and details about which strains may be most prominent during a flu season.
With continuous data collection, healthcare professionals at hospitals can make more informed decisions.
The Data Contained in EHRs Can Be Used to Help Hospitals Cut Costs
Another valuable insight that hospitals can gain from using EHRs is the costs across all the different channels.
Furthermore, EHRs can help hospitals to cut many administration costs, such as physical chart storage, transcription storage, and claims management.
The fact that EHRs enable hospitals to become more efficient also means they can reduce operational costs.
Human Error Can Be Significantly Reduced when Hospitals Utilize EHRs
The fewer errors there are, the more healthcare professionals in hospitals can unlock valuable insights.
EHRs enable better tracking of information and a higher level of standardization.
They also eliminate problems like doctors’ illegible handwriting and prescriptions that are missing codes.
And when errors are reduced via the use of electronic health records, hospitals can run much more efficiently and provide better patient care.
