When health care providers have access to complete and accurate information with EHRs, patients receive better medical care, and have improved patient outcomes.
Electronic health records (EHRs) can improve the ability to diagnose diseases and reduce, even prevent, medical errors, leading to improved patient outcomes.
EHRs can aid in diagnosis
With EHRs, providers can have reliable access to a patient’s complete health information. This comprehensive picture can help providers diagnose patients’ problems sooner for improved patient outcomes.
EHRs can reduce errors, increase patient safety, and support improved patient outcomes
How?
EHRs don’t just contain or transmit information; they “compute” it. That means that EHRs manipulate the information in ways that make a difference for patients.
For example:
A qualified EHR not only keeps a record of a patient’s medications or allergies, it also automatically checks for problems whenever a new medication is prescribed and alerts the clinician to potential conflicts.
Information gathered by a primary care provider and recorded in an EHR tells a clinician in the emergency department about a patient’s life-threatening allergy, and emergency staff can adjust care appropriately, even if the patient is unconscious.
EHRs can expose potential safety problems when they occur, helping providers avoid more serious consequences for patients and leading to better patient outcomes.
EHRs can help providers quickly and systematically identify and correct operational problems. In a paper-based setting, identifying such problems is much more difficult, and correcting them can take years.
Risk Management and Liability Prevention: Study Findings
EHRs May Improve Risk Management By:
A) provides clinical alerts and reminders
B) improves aggregation, analysis, and communication of patient information
C) makes it easier to consider all aspects of a patient’s condition
D) supports diagnostic and therapeutic decision making
E) gathers all relevant information (lab results, etc.) in one place
F) supports for therapeutic decisions
G) enables evidence-based decisions at point of care
H) prevents adverse events
I) provides built-in safeguards against prescribing treatments that might result in adverse events
J) enhances research and monitoring for improvements in clinical quality
Certified EHRs May Help Providers Prevent Liability Actions By:
A) demonstrates adherence to the best evidence-based practices
B) produces complete, legible records readily available for the defense (reconstructing what actually happened during the point of care)
C) discloses evidence that suggests informed consent
EHRs can improve public health outcomes
EHRs can also have beneficial effects on the health of groups of patients.
Providers who have electronic health information about the entire population of patients they serve can look more meaningfully at the needs of patients who:
Suffer from a specific condition
Are eligible for specific preventive measures
Are currently taking specific medications
This EHR function helps providers identify and work with patients to manage specific risk factors or combinations of risk factors to improve patient outcomes.
For example, providers might wish to identify:
How many patients with hypertension have their blood pressure under control?
How many patients with diabetes have their blood sugar measurements in the target range and have had appropriate screening tests?
EHRs also can detect patterns of potential adverse events and enable at-risk patients to be notified quickly.
Studies Show: Better Patient Outcomes With EHRs
Using EHR Prompts & Reminders to Improve Quality of Patient Care
High Patient Satisfaction
92% were happy their doctor used e-prescribing.
90% reported rarely or only occasionally going to the pharmacy and having prescription not ready.
76% reported it made obtaining medications easier.
63% reported fewer medication errors.
High Provider Satisfaction
Reduced overall rate of after-hours clinic calls.
Improved Quality of Care Screenings
Breast Cancer
Diabetes
Chlamydia
Colorectal Cancer
Increase in Services
Blood pressure control for patients with hypertension
Breast cancer screenings
Recording of body mass index and blood testing for patients with diabetes
Using EHR Decision Support to Improve Asthma Care and Compliance
The Study
Cluster randomization of clinics
Outcomes
6% greater use of controller medications (preventive or maintenance medications to help prevent asthma symptoms from occurring)
3% greater use of spirometry (a common office test used to diagnose asthma and other conditions that affect breathing)
14% greater use of asthma care plan
Spirometry improved by 6% in suburban practices
EHRs Transforming the Clinical Process
A community hospital in Vermont recently implemented and EHR and reported:
60% decrease in near-miss medication events
20% increase in completion of daily fall assessment helping to avoid prolonged hospital stays
25% drop in the number of patient charts needing to be pulled for signing orders and dictated reports
Using EHRs to Improve Documentation and Coding 7
Based on level of medical decision-making, ~50% of visits under-coded
Rural family practice implementing EHR + Practice Management (EPM) system
Increased case mix (type or mix of patients treated by a hospital or unit) 10% over 2 years from 1.34 to 1.47
EHRdocumentation templates in multi-specialty clinic
Increased use of ICD code 99214 by 11%
Average billable gain of $26/patient
Increased revenue by >100K during the study period
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A community hospital in Vermont recently implemented and EHR and reported:
60% decrease in near-miss medication events
20% increase in completion of daily fall assessment helping to avoid prolonged hospital stays
25% drop in the number of patient charts needing to be pulled for signing orders and dictated reports
Using EHRs to Improve Documentation and Coding 7
Based on level of medical decision-making, ~50% of visits under-coded
Rural family practice implementing EHR + Practice Management (EPM) system
Increased case mix (type or mix of patients treated by a hospital or unit) 10% over 2 years from 1.34 to 1.47
EHRdocumentation templates in multi-specialty clinic
Increased use of ICD code 99214 by 11%
Average billable gain of $26/patient
Increased revenue by >100K during the study period
If you find this blog helpful, please share it with colleagues, or direct them to our website.