GE -Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
GE’s Healthcare technology is turning information into insight. “GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care”(Healthcare Information Technology, n.d.). “GE Healthcare’s broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier.” (Healthcare Information Technology, n.d.)
With the information technology getting more and more important to our daily life, the Healthcare industry, which is more influenced by IT, is applying the new technology – EMR. “Electronic Medical Record – An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one health care organization”(EMR experts, n.d.)
“GE Healthcare’s Centricity EMR is an established solution backed by GE’s world- class service.” (Healthcare Information Technology, n.d.). With Centricity EMR, patient information is tracked online across multiple points of contact with your organization. “GE’s centricity EMR is build with the information needs of clinicians in mind, so it can support your efforts to: Streamline patient visits, Increase the accuracy and completeness of documentation, Enhance patient care, Intelligent decision support tools bring critical information right to the point of care, Automatic reminders alert, Powerful advisor assists with coding accuracy.” (Centricity Electronic Medical Record, n.d.)
Can you imagine that your physicians still using papers to keep your information? Impractical paper medical charts and records for patients could be shortchanging the business! But now with EMR, we can easily store information, maintain physician’s notes, prescription data, medical charts, and diagnosis. With stored information in a central location, it facilitates searching and finding specific information.
“Because you are using software rather than hand-writing notes and charting, your practice will immediately benefit from improved legibility, easier appointment scheduling and more accurate insurance billing. Improvements in coding quality and reduced claim-denial rates can also be directly related to implementing EMR software.”(EMR experts n.d.)
“When you are using EMR software, you naturally capture more patient information and facilitate communications among your staff. It doesn’t take as long to get information into a patient’s chart because physicians tend to enter data immediately after or during the patient visit. Nurses also report they spend much less time looking for patient information. Lost charts and illegible records are a thing of the past.”( EMR experts n.d.)
“Other practices report that by implementing direct lab interfaces, they’ve reduced data entry and filing time. There is also a reduced wait time between patient visits and posted lab results, resulting in faster patient notification and increased patient satisfaction.”(EMR experts n.d.)
EMR offers several ways to improve patient safety and satisfaction. Lost charts are eliminated, plus nurses and administrators have instant access to patient charts, allowing them to answer questions quickly and efficiently.
“When there are drug recalls and time is of the essence, an EMR system allows physicians to quickly locate at-risk patients and notify them of any actions they need to take. Another important safety feature of EMR software is that clinicians easily have access to a patient’s ongoing healthcare requirements each time a patient’s chart is displayed.” (EMR experts n.d.)
“EMR software also offers the reporting capabilities and documentation requirements to meet HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements and any quality initiatives a practice implements.”(EMR experts n.d.) With EMR software, it is also much easier to allow different levels of access to different employees in the practice. Lost charts and misfiled records quickly become a thing of the past.
We never want to wait so long both in and out of the exam room. The patient’s entire experience can be obviously improved. Practices can improve the way they schedule patient visits, make referrals and handle episodic illnesses. “A physician on call, for example, may speak with a patient; schedule an appointment with a colleague, send referral information and schedule a reminder for follow-up appointments, all before hanging up.”(EMR experts n.d.) This type of convenience and flexibility gives physicians practices a strategic advantage over others while greatly improving their patient’s experience.
Business should be efficient. How about considering the cost? There are several variables that lead to a positive return on investment with regard to EMR software. To most accurately measure cost savings, practitioners should first determine what their expenditures are before implementation. To evaluate costs for supplies, storage space, time spent filing and time spent looking for lost charts is very necessary. And after considering all these, the costs of maintaining storage space for charts can be significant. Most of practices found out that they could save lot by keeping charts and form electronically.
“Many practices also have found they have eliminated transcription costs entirely. Related miscellaneous expenses that can also be eliminated include courier fees and copying.”(EMR experts n.d.)Medicare and other insurance requests may more accurately represent the level of care provided because documentation is done at the time of service or shortly thereafter.
References
Healthcare Information Technology(n.d.). Retrieved June 6,2009. From GE website:
http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/hit/products/centricity_practice/emr_index.html
Centricity Electronic Medical Record, (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2009. From GE Healthcare Website:
http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/hit/products/centricity_practice/docs/CentricityEMR.pdf
EMR experts, (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2009 from EMR website:
http://www.emrexperts.com/emr-system/index.php