Tailoring EHR Solutions to Meet Specialty-Specific Needs
Not all practices are alike; therefore, using a generalized EHR solution might not be sufficient, particularly for specialized clinics.
Whether you’re a solo practitioner specializing in pain management or a multispecialty practice, you require solutions tailored to your unique workflows and patient needs.
This is why electronic health record (EHR) customization for medical specialties is crucial.
Below, we’ll identify the most important characteristics of an effective EHR and the role specialty-specific EHR system features play in optimizing care delivery, patient engagement, and practice management.
What Are the Characteristics of an Effective EHR?
Before diving into specialty-specific applications, let’s identify the top characteristics of a robust EHR system. At its core, an effective platform should include the following features:
- Interoperability to ensure seamless data exchange across providers and facilities. · Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) to assist healthcare professionals in making evidence-based decisions.
- Compliance and regulatory features to meet industry standards and legal requirements.
- Scalability to accommodate the growth and changing demands of a practice.
For specialty practices, each of these characteristics must be adapted to meet the specific needs of their field.
Challenges Facing Specialty Practices
Many issues face specialty practices, leading to difficulties in maintaining financial stability and providing optimal patient care. For example, leaders from different radiology societies created a recent list of the most pressing challenges facing radiology today.
The top three include:
- Declining reimbursement - some of this is due to the lack of compensation for noninterpretative services such as teaching and accreditation.
- Burnout - around 78% of radiologists said they are reading at volumes exceeding their capacity.
- Workflow inefficiency - radiologists spend as little as 36% of their time on actual image interpretation.
However, specialty practices also face common challenges such as:
- Complex billing codes for specialized procedures, leading to potential errors and claim denials
- Coordinating care with other specialists for multidisciplinary approaches
- Complicated reporting and documentation needs for specialized and advanced treatments
Unfortunately, general-purpose EHR systems often lack the depth and specificity required to address the challenges of specialized medical workflows.
This is where specialty-specific EHR features can make all the difference.
Specialty-Specific EHRs: An Overview
Each medical specialty has distinctive requirements that most general EHRs cannot match. With customized features and a host of other solutions, specialty-specific EHRs can support these unique workflows. Here’s how:
- Streamlined templates and workflows mirror your specific processes, leading to better efficiency.
- Tailored dropdowns, forms, and EHR templates reduce data entry errors.
- Automating procedures based on specialty-specific standards simplifies billing and coding processes.
How can these systems improve specific practice demands? Consider this:
- An ophthalmology practice may need pre-built forms for initial evaluations and eye tests for SOAP notes.
- Dermatology practices might benefit from skin diagram templates and photo documentation.
- A gastroenterology practice may need HIPAA-complaint messaging to send educational information, such as dietary restrictions for IBS.
Top Benefits of Specialty-Specific EHR Features
Customization EHR customization for specialties is essential for creating systems that align with a practice’s workflows. Here’s what this often involves:
- Tailored EHR templates with preloaded charts and forms specific to a specialty.
- Adjustments to accommodate unique workflows, such as creating custom order sets or clinical pathways.
- Integration with specialty-specific diagnostic tools and devices.
For example, the fully integrated DrChrono EHR offers customizable features for specialty practice needs, including:
- A vast library of specialty-specific templates, or create ones customized for your practice.
- Drag-and-drop form building where providers can create extensive templates that accommodate data from multiple specialties within the same patient chart.
- The ability for multiple staff members to securely access patient charts without the risk of missing chart notes, losing claims, or security breaches.
Scalability and Interoperability in EHR Systems The scalability of EHR systems is vital for growing practices. Your platform solution should support your specialty practice as it expands, adding more providers, patients, and services without disruption.
Specialty practices also work alongside other providers, hospitals, and labs, making interoperability in EHR solutions imperative. So, what should a scalable, interoperable EHR be able to do?
- Enable seamless data exchange with external systems, such as imaging centers or labs.
- Easily integrate new functionalities as needed.
- Improve care coordination by allowing providers to access real-time updates on patient progress.
For example, DrChrono EHR meets specialty-specific scalable and interoperable needs through the following features:
- A secure API connection and integration with hospital systems so providers can safely share information to and from providers.
- As a cloud-based EHR system, DrChrono is scalable due to its ability to handle increased data storage and processing demands.
- Appointment templates and profiles allow staff to categorize and outline specific slots for each doctor or specialty.
Practice Management EHR Integration Another critical component of a strong specialty practice is practice management and EHR integration. This combination allows for:
- Streamlined scheduling, billing, and payment processes.
- Improved patient communication through integrated portals.
- Better overall management of administrative tasks.
This integration empowers practices to align their clinical and administrative operations for a more efficient and effective delivery of care.
For example, DrChrono EHR has a Payments feature that is directly embedded in the workflow. Why is this beneficial?
- Simplifies record-keeping. Creates digital invoices to send and receive online payments in one transaction.
- Streamlines workflows. Automated patient statements and payment acceptance through the platform simplify payment workflow.
- Accepts payments anytime. Interact with patients online and on their mobile devices. Providers can text a payment link to a patient’s phone to collect pre-payment, copay-deductible, or balance.
DrChrono also offers a mobile solution that integrates patient engagement, scheduling, clinical workflow, and medical billing into one app. The DrChrono EHR app includes features such as customizable medical forms, patient self-check-in kiosk mode, and an eRX w/ EPCS.
This mobility allows providers to access this practice management platform anytime, anywhere on iPad, iPhone, or Web.
Compliance, Regulation, and Decision Support
Healthcare is a highly regulated industry, and specialty practices must meet unique requirements. Compliance and regulatory features in EHR solutions should ensure:
- Adherence to HIPAA, MACRA, and other healthcare standards.
- Proper documentation of quality metrics for incentive-based payment programs.
- Built-in checks to monitor prescription practices and reduce errors.
Beyond compliance, clinical decision support systems (CDSS) enhance the quality of care. These systems can provide reminder alerts, recommend best practices, and flag potential errors, allowing providers to work more confidently and efficiently within their specialty.
Empower Your Specialty Practice with the Right EHR Solution
With advancements in healthcare technology, EHR systems are continually evolving to support increasingly specialized medical workflows. But the right EHR solution isn’t just software—it’s a partner in your clinical and administrative operations.
By identifying the characteristics and understanding the importance of specialty-specific EHR features, you can unlock the full potential of your practice.
Don’t settle for a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, contact DrChrono today to find a solution that grows with your specialty practice and transforms patient care with tailored solutions built just for you!