2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made the implementation and use of electronic medical records mandatory. While the forced change to electronic over paper-based records can cause a lot of confusion and inconvenience, it can also help your hospital or medicine-associated business run a lot smoother. Here’s how:
More and more patients have to turn to third parties and specialists for medical care.
While whether it’s more of a hindrance or a help with all of the legislated changes in medical care is still up for debate, it’s a logistical concern everyone has to deal with. A general practitioner needs to share medical information with specialists, who need to provide some of it to insurance agencies, who in turn give even more limited information to HSA and health insurance management companies. This sort of fluid service provision is only possible with electronic records. The faster and better they’re integrated into your business, the better you can compete in the market.
Electronic records cut down on real estate costs.
Do you have a file room? If so, you can calculate the monthly cost of that additional space in just a few minutes. Paper records take up a lot of space, especially because of how long you need to keep them both accessible and protected. Cut down on that space so you can rent more efficient office space or expand within your current property. Turning away from paper also means you can cut down on the unique security costs and hardware needed for their protection or organization.
There are a lot of reasons to switch to EMRs. If you made a whole-hearted attempt back in 2009 but the electronic systems weren’t advanced enough to handle your workflow, try again with tools from Imagex, Inc. that can preserve crystal-clear images, make organizing easier, and integrate with searching and editing tools.