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MEDICAL PRACTICE
STRATEGIES & ISSUES
14 San Antonio Medicine
Selecting a New
EHR By Christiane Escobar, CMRM
Doctors around the nation are looking to not only provide quality
care to their patients, but to stay up-to-date with how their practice is
running. The right EHR system helps physicians document patient
care, meet governmental reporting requirements and create a more
efficient business foundation.
It’s important to go about looking for a new EHR the right
way, identifying wants and needs. doing the hard work on the
front end will help alleviate potential burdens that would
otherwise come up if an EHR were picked with minimal
research. Tips for picking a new system include the following:
1.Understand your current EHR and its
Software Issues
Software issues can and often times do impact your bottom-
line revenue. What appear to be minor details today add up in
the long run. Identifying those details (holes) is the first step to
finding the software that works for your practice. The wrong
EHR can negatively impact everything from compliance to
patient retention; failure to amend said issues can result in
patients seeking services elsewhere. because EHRs handle an
immense amount of information (patient accounts, charting,
billing, etc.), it is important to make sure the software itself is
reliable. Using an EHR that incorporates an iCloud-based
program is critical.
2. Find Out if the EHR is Up-to-Date and
Compliant
When shopping around, ask these important questions – Is
everything integrated? does the software continuously update?
Will it keep us in compliance? There are reports constantly flying
around about falsified attestation data and non-compliant EHRs.
be aware of these claims and make sure that whatever software
system being researched is certified software; demand to see the
credentials of such. With MACRA/MIPS coming into play with
many private practices, there’s a higher risk that Medicare
reimbursement could sink to an all-time low. On average, the
• January 2020