Electronic medical records are primarily used to enable doctors or other healthcare providers to have direct access on a patient's medical records, such as medication lists, lab results, imaging reports, refill histories, chart notes and correspondence from consultants. One of the key factors in developing an effective system is the use of proper electronic media records software.
To develop an office with minimal reliance on paper, standards must determine a process to answer tasks that creates data for the patient's health ensure. This is where electronic media records come play a crucial role, as they need to address the ineffectiveness of a paper-based, manual and labor-intensive process. Health workers and doctors will resort to placing "sticky notes" if an electronic tools are not readily available.
It is unlikely that a single software can offer all of the necessary features, so instead, a collection of programs should ably address all of the regular tasks in a health office.
There are seven important workflows that should be performed by electronic media records software:
- Scheduling: this covers the patient's appointments with doctors, confirmation and acknowledgment that they have attended the appointment
- documenting of patient communications: covers overview of patient's medical information, growth chart, and creation of de novo prescriptions for patients
- Accounts and billing receivables: covers management and creation of patient accounts, service billing, encoding demographic data, posting payments and processing incoming accounts
- In-house messaging: these include e-mails and phone messages from patients. A system needs to be developed to enable constant communication between doctors and other health workers.
- Analysis and actions on clinical tests: covers studies on clinical results, documentation of results already analyzed and actions take, may also include review of charts, finalizing reports and relaying results to the patient
- Processing refill requests: covers response to orders for refilled made via - fax, phone messages, e-mail
- Management of external communications for patients: covers reviewing, signing and filling documents that are submitted daily by fax and mail, includes old records, x-ray results, disability forms, hospital records
As soon as these tasks are addressed, the search for the appropriate electronic media records software becomes easier. Selecting the right electronic media records software also greatly depends on implementation cost, training and compatibility of tools that will be used.
There is a wide selection of electronic medical records software packages available in the market that caters to different types of practices such as large hospital staff, dentists, ortophaedic practices. A buyer should determine what electronic medical records software is appropriate for the office size and specialty.
In screening the right electronic medical records software, one must not be overwhelmed by the impressive features that may not be likely used in the future. It is important to concentrate on the programs that are essential to the operations of the health office. The software's ease of use is a high priority, as it will likely be used by a large group of people.
A known developer of electronic medical records software is PowerMed Corporation. PowerMed is a private company located in Portland, Maine and is known as among the top providers of Medical Practice Management solutions since the '90s. PowerMed in 2005 issued a fully developed integrated software suite designed to facilitate a wide range of responsibilities in a health office.