Paper Pushing: Effects Of Delaying Electronic Medical Record Implementation

By Author: ndxmart
Total Articles: 426
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Many physician offices have the mindset if it's not broke, don't fix it. Paper has an enormous impact on the way practices operate, and on quality of care given to patients. With so many physicians delivering care based on paper documentation, it is difficult for them to realize the disadvantages they're facing by not using an Electronic medical record. Through the use of Electronic Medical Records, physician can improve efficiency in all aspects of their daily workflow - allowing more time to deliver quality patient care.

Currently, when a physician responds to a call from a patient, the physician must first review key chart information before the call, and then document the conversation after the call. By operating in a paper based practice, the physician would need to manually document this information or wait until they get into the office. At this point, the doctor would need to do double data entry - resulting in time that could be spent elsewhere.

On the other hand, consider the simplified workflow through the use of web-based Electronic Medical Records software. ...
... Patient calls are received, transferred to the physician, and within a few seconds the physician can pull up the patient chart. The physician can document the information from the patient call within the chart and tend to other matters when they reach the office.

By applying the impact of Electronic Medical Record software in this example, and extending the example to many of the other routine and redundant workflow procedures repeated throughout the practice daily, it is obvious that the disadvantages of pen and paper are overwhelming—especially in large, multi-office group practices. Delaying the implementation of Electronic Medical Record software will only exacerbate this growing and continued problem within paper-based medical offices.

Although many physicians do not want to be guinea pigs during the push to become a paper-less office, it is worse to be some of the last. Waiting on other physicians will only increase the time dealing with inefficiency within the practice - not to mention getting a late start on demonstrating Meaningful Use. Slow adoption of Electronic Medical Records software among physicians will result in missed profits, longer hours spent on redundant task, and the opportunity to improve patient care.

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