Did you know that 86% of medical providers utilize an EMR/EHR system? Utilizing an electronic health record system can greatly benefit your holistic practice, too! From protecting patient information to reducing the time it takes to perform daily tasks, an EHR system can streamline your overall practice management and empower you to spend more time taking care of your patients.

What is an Electronic Health Record System?

An electronic health record (EHR) is essentially a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are updated in real-time so information is available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain patients’ medical and treatment histories, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care. 

EHRs are a vital part of healthcare IT software and can:

• Contain a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, allergies, and laboratory and test results
• Allow access to evidence-based tools that providers can use to make decisions about a patient’s care
• Automate and streamline provider workflow

7 Benefits of Delivering Holistic Patient Care Through an EHR

EHR systems can drastically improve your holistic practice’s overall operations by:

Reducing Errors

Digital records allow for better tracking and more standardized documentation of patient interactions, which has a greater potential to reduce error compared to mountains of paperwork. With digital paper trails, illegible handwriting in practitioners’ notes or prescriptions is no longer a problem, plus coding for procedures or billing is easier. Integrated systems can also be set to flag indicators of potential harm. Incorporating a standardized digital record for your patients can further reduce miscommunications, too!

Improving Cost Savings

Using an electronic health record system and integrated communications methods can significantly cut administrative costs, including reducing the need for physical chart storage, redundant data entry, and insurance claims management. This, in turn, helps with facilitating care coordination and reducing the time it takes for hard-copy communications among patients, providers and insurance companies. Overall, EHR systems help your holistic practice get more out of your staff and their time.

Increasing Efficiency

With an EHR system, your staff won’t have to ask practitioners to clarify their handwriting nor will they risk important information slipping through the cracks or getting buried in mountains of paperwork, so their time is better spent handling more important matters that impact your holistic practice. By having everything - and everyone - on the same page, your holistic practice’s operations get optimized to function at peak efficiency.

Coordinating Patient Care

In a 2018 survey, 66% of people want access to other healthcare professionals to help coordinate their care. With digital records, practitioners can more easily coordinate and track patient care across practices and modalities. Your holistic practice can smoothly integrate with your patient’s other providers across specialties and disciplines. This ensures comprehensive care and communication in order to collaborate on patient outcomes as a team.

Streamlining Workflows

EHRs increase productivity and efficiency by significantly cutting down on paperwork. Patients and staff have fewer forms to fill out, leaving providers with more time to see patients. Referrals and prescriptions can be sent almost immediately, which reduces wait times for appointments and pickups. Plus, automatic reminders can tell patients when it’s time for follow-up appointments. Furthermore, with integrated patient tracking, billing and insurance claims can be filed in a timely manner.

Collecting Data Efficiently

Holistic practice providers should strive to have dynamic patient-centered records that track the care continuum over the person’s lifetime, in sickness and health, across all pertinent disciplines. Having a single, continuous record for a patient provides a holistic view of overall health for better diagnosis and lifetime treatment that considers the patient as a whole in addition to your holistic practice’s involvement.

Another element of this is that the digital nature of information ensures that healthcare providers anywhere have access to a patient’s information. A physician traveling on business or vacation, for example, can log on to an EHR system and access patient files or submit prescriptions remotely. Or, a healthcare provider in another state can view a patient’s health records to provide effective, quality care and treatment in times of emergency.

Enhanced Patient Privacy

In a recent study, 80% of those surveyed rated patient privacy as very important; implementing an electronic health record system for your holistic practice can address this! In today’s world, data security and patient privacy are incredibly important both financially and in terms of your reputation.

Improve Your Holistic Patient Care With Holistic Billing Services

Our experts here at Holistic Billing Services believe that our success is your success. Our team is dedicated to making it feel like we’re in-house, from handling medical billing and coding to offering consulting services and much more. With a focus on holistic practices, insurance background, and proven consultants, our team can effectively ensure the financial success of clients, allowing your medical practice to focus on what it does best: treat patients.

Our expertise is rooted in professional, technical, and global billing for hospital and stand-alone holistic care practices. Contact us today to learn more about how outsourced medical billing with Holistic Billing Services can empower your practice. We’ll work with you to build a customized solution that meets the specific needs of your practice and allows you to get back to treating patients.