Even if your practice is not participating in Meaningful Use, there are many reasons to implement EHR software and\u00a0start using a patient portal\u00a0to connect with your patients \u2013 the biggest reason being the positive impact these technologies can have on patient care.<\/p>\n
Whether or not you are concerned with some of the other purported EHR benefits, namely increased productivity and reduced costs, you should consider adopting electronic charting software for the sake of your patients.<\/p>\n
Here are three reasons why many patients are starting to support the adoption of EHRs:<\/strong><\/p>\n Though your patients might not know much about EHR software (in fact, many of them may not even know what it is), those who do have likely heard the same benefits repeated time and time again: EHRs can reduce care costs, increase productivity, and improve overall patient care. They probably don\u2019t know the details about how each of these things can result from EHR use, and maybe they don\u2019t even care. For patients, better care is reason enough to support the adoption of this technology. If your practice doesn\u2019t join the healthcare IT movement, you run the risk of appearing behind the times \u2013 not to mention looking like you don\u2019t care about your patients\u2019 health.<\/p>\n Mobile health applications, medical websites and social media are making it easier for patients to become more active participants in their health. In fact, patients are slowly starting to get more involved in the decisions their doctors take regarding treatment plans, disease management and preventive care \u2013 and EHRs help make this possible. If a patient wants to review their doctor\u2019s visit notes from a recent appointment, for example, they can easily request to have them printed out or emailed. EHR-integrated patient portals make accessing this type of data even easier, and many practices are starting to implement this software, both for their own productivity and\u00a0to engage their patients.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re in primary care, chances are you aren\u2019t the only doctor your patients see. Many patients also have a cardiologist, dermatologist, gynecologist or other specialty doctors \u2013 and in many cases, care can overlap. If you refer a patient with a heart problem to a cardiologist, for example, that doctor is going to want a medical history for that patient. The patient can provide that information themselves, of course, based on what they remember, but the information may or may not be accurate. With EHRs, health records can be shared much more easily than with paper charts, reducing medical errors and duplicate or unnecessary tests.<\/p>\n Amanda Guerrero is a writer and blogger specializing in health IT, healthcare marketing and meaningful use. You can read her work on the\u00a0MWE blog<\/a>\u00a0and follow her on Twitter at @meanusenetwork<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even if your practice is not participating in Meaningful Use, there are many reasons to implement EHR software and\u00a0start using a patient portal\u00a0to connect with your patients \u2013 the biggest reason being the positive impact these technologies can have on patient care. Whether or not you are concerned with some of the other purported EHR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patients","category-show"],"yoast_head":"\n1.\u00a0They\u2019ve\u00a0heard all about how EHRs can lead to better care<\/h3>\n
2. EHRs allow them to be more involved in their care<\/h3>\n
3. EHR technology makes it easier for patients to share their health records with other doctors<\/h3>\n