TECHNOLOGY: So you have selected an EMR, now what?

The following are four options you could consider. First, you can choose to “abstract” your patient charts. Abstracting is a very time consuming process during which your medical staff decides what needs to be included with the EMR and staff type the data into the EMR. The big advantage of this system is that the most pertinent information is inside the EMR. Disadvantages include the tremendous amount of time involved in selecting and typing these records and the concerns about data accuracy. Additionally, these paper files have to be kept under present rules.

The second method is to maintain the patient charts in paper format. This seems to be the easiest choice. However, now you must manage two systems and have not taken advantage of saved personnel, time, or space. In fact, do not be surprised if your patient chart management expenses increased compared to your pre-EMR days.

The third method is to scan your patient charts into your new EMR. This system gets the charts into the main system. However, this is a slow, labor intensive process again driving up your costs.

The fourth method is to use a dedicated batch-capture system that can reduce your project time from years into months. This method dramatically reduces the number of steps involved in the process. Ultimately, it enables your staff to eliminate dozens of steps per chart while capturing every page of the entire chart in full color.

A batch-capturing system enables you to place all of the tabbed sections in the feeder at once and scan the entire chart in a single step. This system handles the indexing and labeling, and then automatically links the scanned documents to the appropriate patient’s record in the EMR.

Whichever methodology you choose, it is prudent to base the decision on initial cost, cost to capture archival patient charts, ease of access to the information, workability with an EMR system, legal ramifications, and ongoing costs of the system. PB

Tags: technology