Simplifying EHR documentation The tricks of trade for your practice

1. Simplifying EHR documentation The
tricks of trade for your practice
© CureMD Healthcare

2. EHR Documentation
• Here’s what you need to do to simplify and expedite
EHR documentation at your practice
• Training
– Just as a heart surgeon has been trained to perform a
coronary artery bypass, and a gynecologist a caesarian
section, your staff must be trained on how to document
information using the EHR
– Arrange training sittings, demos and information sessions
with EHR vendors and healthcare professionals to acquaint
all relevant employees (including you) with the new system

3. EHR Documentation
• Leader of the pack
– Once the relevant personnel have a basic know how of
documenting EHR, select someone to head, a physician
champion for example, to keep tabs on EHR
documentation proceedings
– This way the proceedings will work in a more systematic
way, causing the efficiency of the practice as a whole to
significantly rise

4. EHR Documentation
• Getting rid of paper
– Once these basic mechanisms are in order, the process of
digitalizing the old records must begin
– By doing so, you will become more accustomed to the EHR
templates, forms and entering clinical data such as patient
allergy information, demographics etc
– To lessen the burden, you can distribute the task to several
staff members via secure logins resultantly saving time
– Now when you have to document entries for new patients
you’ll already be experienced in documenting EHR data
– Moreover, as basic information and demographics for the
older patients will already be online, you won’t have to re-
enter information

5. EHR Documentation
• Pre-entry, scribes and voice recognition software
• Pre-entry
– You could get your receptionist, nurse or assistant to
enter the patient’s initial information including basic
information and what they’re feeling before you walk in
for the diagnosis
– This way, you’ll have all the information you need on a
screen in front of you and you can proceed to the actual
diagnosis within minutes, if not immediately
– You yourself could focus on patient notes rather than the
mundane task of patient data entry

6. EHR Documentation
• Scribes
– For physicians who feel that EHR decreases their focus on
the patients, there has been an increased usage of scribes
who document for the physicians in addition to briefing
them on patient history for recurring patients
– Moreover, a scribe could also help identify an error or a
shortcoming that you might have overlooked
– Although with the convenience scribes offer comes the
added cost of hiring them. Moreover, patient comfort
levels could fall with “another person in the room”

7. EHR Documentation
• Voice recognition software
– With benefits similar to scribes in the form of increased
patient focus and an added advantage of allowing instant
review of the case, such software can be purchased and
integrated with the HER
– Many efficient and accurate transcription devices have
been introduced in the market with an average speed of
160 words per minute and accuracy in the 98% to 99%
range

8. Read more on blog.curemd.com
• To read more on this topic, visit:
• http://blog.curemd.com/simplifying-ehr-
documentation-the-tricks-of-trade-for-your-practice/

9. CureMD Healthcare
55 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004
Ph: 212.509.6200
www.curemd.com
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