It’s hard to imagine a time when hospitals didn’t have EHRs and had to rely on paper patient charts and medical records.
Yet it wasn’t that long ago.
EHRs saw widespread adoption only in the past decade or so, when the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed in 2009.
The act was designed to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology, and with that came EHRs.
Today, more than 95% of U.S. hospitals have an EHR.
Although they have helped to drive better care, improve patient safety, and increase operational efficiency, the time spent in the EHR is taking providers away from delivering the care patients deserve.
According to a 2020 study in the journal PLoS One, that was conducted at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, physicians spend nearly 40% of their work day on the EHR.
Not only is the work required in EHRs time consuming, but many of the solutions have limitations.
Multidisciplinary care teams within a hospital, as well as the health systems they work with, such as labs, pharmacies, and SNFs, as well as payers, require information beyond the EHR.
Plus, with so many disparate sources, formats, communication methods, and destinations, and a lack of interoperability, getting the right information to the right place with the least amount of friction is challenging, if not impossible.
Optimal workflows for EHR report distribution lead to better care, mitigate risk
Hospitals who deploy the right workflows for EHR report distribution see the following benefits:
- Improved quality of care
- Seamless care coordination
- Increase in patient safety
- More referrals
- Increased efficiency and productivity
- Less staff frustration
3 Workflow basics for EHR report distribution
As hospitals continue to contend with slim operating margins and staffing shortages, and try to keep pace with ever-changing payer rules all the while prioritizing quality and the patient experience, we’ve outlined 3 basics for establishing hospital communication workflows for EHR report distribution that will be critical to staying afloat.
- Complete integration, regardless of EHR. The ability to collect critical patient data from any source, format, or method regardless of EHR vendor, and distribute it in an encrypted and HIPAA- or PHIPA-compliant format to multiple destinations inside and outside the hospital.
- User-specific preferences. Overcome the challenges of interoperability with the capability for users to automatically send and receive communications in their desired formats, which increases throughput and referrals, and improves staff satisfaction. For example, patient reports can be sent in an email, while abnormal test results can be sent via secure text.
- Flexibility. Drive efficiency and save time with the ability to design and configure new—or complement—existing communication workflows.
Beacon: EHR report distribution solution
Beacon is our vendor-agnostic platform that manages, stores, and distributes the critical patient information hospitals need, at the right time, and with their format and delivery preferences in mind.
Our platform supports EHRs like MEDITECH and Epic to automatically and securely distribute healthcare reports, tests, lab results, and any other patient information to improve patient safety, operational efficiency, and drive revenue for your organization.
To learn more or schedule a demo, contact us today.
