As health systems and eligible healthcare professionals transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 Meaningful Use to meet the 2014 reporting deadline, they are often faced with having to find innovative solutions to satisfy the new objectives and reporting requirements. Some of the core objectives of Stage 2 specifically address engaging patients with their medical records. For caregivers the challenge of utilizing Electronic Health Records (EHR) which is also often referred to as Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to document all of their clinical activities can be taunting enough. Adding processes that involve patient engagement to their already complex workflow activities can feel like an unattainable goal.
Stage 2 Meaningful Use Patient Access Objectives require healthcare providers to give patients the ability to view their health information online and to make records available for download and transmission to other caregivers. Today’s industry leading EHR software companies provide simple and secure patient portals to access health record information. They will work with their clients to develop patient discharge packages with detailed instructions on how patients can access their personal information. Now in a perfect world, every patient would return home and access their provider’s website, create a login and view their health records. As one can image, the percentage of patients taking the time to access their medical records is still very limited, yet some organizations are making some solid headway to improve results.
By Matt Rossini, JACO, Inc
As health systems and eligible healthcare professionals transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 Meaningful Use to meet the 2014 reporting deadline, they are often faced with having to find innovative solutions to satisfy the new objectives and reporting requirements. Some of the core objectives of Stage 2 specifically address engaging patients with their medical records. For caregivers the challenge of utilizing Electronic Health Records (EHR) which is also often referred to as Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to document all of their clinical activities can be taunting enough. Adding processes that involve patient engagement to their already complex workflow activities can feel like an unattainable goal.
Stage 2 Meaningful Use Patient Access Objectives require healthcare providers to give patients the ability to view their health information online and to make records available for download and transmission to other caregivers. Today’s industry leading EHR software companies provide simple and secure patient portals to access health record information. They will work with their clients to develop patient discharge packages with detailed instructions on how patients can access their personal information. Now in a perfect world, every patient would return home and access their provider’s website, create a login and view their health records. As one can image, the percentage of patients taking the time to access their medical records is still very limited, yet some organizations are making some solid headway to improve results.
Healthcare providers are always trying to discover new ways to engage patients to actively participate in their healthcare records and access the additional education resources that are made available to them. Numerous EHR providers have built in patient messaging capabilities in their software allowing a provider to send out automated phone calls, email and text alerts. Electronic messages typically provide links back to the provider’s patient portal and prompt users to create logins to access their records. Most healthcare organizations are now directing patients to their patient portals as their sole means of accessing information such as blood work and test results. Even with all of the automated electronic communication systems up and running, healthcare professionals are still finding patient engagement adoption results lag behind their expectations. What healthcare professionals are find is that patients will often fall into the same old patterns of assuming that if something is wrong, their provider will just contact them to address the situation, and therefore there is little motivation to access the information.
Some healthcare organizations are taking a more proactive approach to increase patient engagement with their EHR. By offering patients computer access during their appointments and hospital stays, caregivers have discovered a powerful tool for facilitating patient EHR access. In environments such as a physician’s office or medical clinical providing patient computer terminals in a waiting room or during the registration process can be rather easy to implement, where as a hospital implementation can be far more complex. For patients that are heading into the hospital to receive urgent care or to attend a stressful appointment, healthcare professionals do not necessarily have the initial time or appropriate environment to review patient EHR access until some initial care is provided. However, depending on each patient’s unique experience during their visit to the hospital there are often numerous opportunities to engage a patient. Time should be set aside by caregivers to communicate the value of their EHR patient portal and to clearly explain to patients how they can actively participate in managing their own care.
So the question comes, how does an organization provide patient computer access when a health system has so many unique departments with complex workflows, never minded the constraints of staff resources and physical floor space?
![JACO UL100 Cart]()
Rather than designing fixed computer terminals to provide patient access, Healthcare IT professionals and clinician team have started to implement tablet computers into their EHR workflow. Although for most health systems tablets have their limitations for carrying out standard clinical EMR workflows, they do seem to have a place in some specific applications. Many organizations are starting to make use of tablets for activities such as patient registration, physician rounds, telemedicine programs and many more applications. Tablet PCs offer so much flexibility for caregivers, yet they also present lots of challenges as well. In terms of how caregivers can utilize tablet computers for patience engagement, let’s take look at how organization can address the following: tablet access, device recharging and security.
In terms of accessibility, tablet computers are often assumed to be the ideal solution because of their compact and lightweight design. Even though a tablet is easy to handle, they can be far more challenging to manage when administering care. Primary EHR computer devices tend to require dedicated mobile computer carts or wall mounted solutions, so that devices can be properly managed during treatment, tablets by design do not lend themselves to being secured to a device. Tablets need the flexibility to be readily accessible and at the same time detached from their docking location, regardless of whether or not they are integrated in a tablet specific mounting solution or they are located in designated storage location.
Every healthcare organization has a unique operational environment and culture, so there is no one-size-fits-all perfect solution when deploying any new Healthcare IT solution. Tablet mounting solutions need to compliment the original attributes that make a tablet so attractive to deploy, they are lightweight, compact and designed for mobile use. Traditional mobile computer carts and wall cabinets are generally too excessive in size and physical weight to compliment a tablet PC. New designs in mobile carts that cut down on both footprint and physical weight to properly manage a tablet can help address tablet access. If designed with a compact base and slim-line profile, healthcare workers are able to easily stow a dedicated tablet mobile cart at a nursing station, position them in designed-in hallways alcoves or utilize them as in-room solutions with limited intrusion to floor space.
By planning dedicated tablet mobile carts used for patient engagement, clinical workflow experts can start to implement new processes to introduce patient’s to their health record at both the appropriate time and place in the care delivery process. Tablet computer cradles that securely hold a tablet to a mobile cart can provide the fast and easy access caregivers need. Nurses can easily remove the tablet from its dock, so they can access their medical records during their appointments or hospital stays. With some EHR patient portals available on smartphones, healthcare professionals are also able to demonstrate access on a tablet while patient use their smartphones to access their personal records and view information such as lab results, view upcoming appointments, schedule new appointments, refill prescriptions and message securely with providers. By educating patients on all of the powerful tools that are available to them, healthcare organization will not only comply with their meaningful use objectives; it will also help rein in costs associated with managing a patient’s information and scheduling.
As a logical alternative to dedicated tablet mobile carts, healthcare IT professionals and nurses may want to deploy tablet wall mount enclosures. Given the compact profile of a tablet, wall mounted holders can fit virtually anywhere in a healthcare setting. Tablet wall mounts can be placed at nursing station, in a patient’s room or strategically placed in a hallway to improve workflow efficiency. By making the tablets easy to access clinicians and their support staff are able to integrate the patient health record engagement into their routine patient activities.
Today’s tablets are built with long-lasting energy efficient batteries that provide great runtimes, but just like any PC device that’s not plugged in, tablets requires routine charging. By providing dedicated recharge locations for a tablet mobile cart, clinical workflow engineers are able to plan for routine device charging. In the case of a wall mount station, tablets can be returned to the secure wall mount and docked for recharging.
One of the biggest challenges with deploying tablets is addressing security concerns. Tablets are an easy target for theft. Tablet mobile carts and wall mounts need to be designed with secure locking features that not only hold the tablet to the mounting device, yet also prevent any part of the mounting device from being tampered with. Combination locking systems and tamper proof designs are an essential part when evaluating different solutions for implementing tablets.
![JACO Logo]()
Utilizing tablet computers to engage patients with managing their own care is only one way in which healthcare providers will see tremendous value in tablet EHR adoption. There is no question that tablet computers will continue to be rapidly adopted in everyday EHR workflow activities. As the industry leaders in EHR software continue to develop their platforms for tablet use, nurses and physicians will start to use tablets in specific aspects of clinical charting, monitoring patient health, sending for medication and other clinical workflow needs. For more information on how you can utilize tablet computers to improve your patient engagement objectives, please contact JACO, Inc. for more information online at www.jacoinc.com or by phone at 800-649-2278. JACO is a proud partner of CDW, More Direct, PC Connection, EPlus, Flexible Business Systems, Insight, PDS, SHI and many other Healthcare IT solution providers.
Rather than designing fixed computer terminals to provide patient access, Healthcare IT professionals and clinician team have started to implement tablet computers into their EHR workflow. Although for most health systems tablets have their limitations for carrying out standard clinical EMR workflows, they do seem to have a place in some specific applications. Many organizations are starting to make use of tablets for activities such as patient registration, physician rounds, telemedicine programs and many more applications. Tablet PCs offer so much flexibility for caregivers, yet they also present lots of challenges as well. In terms of how caregivers can utilize tablet computers for patience engagement, let’s take look at how organization can address the following: tablet access, device recharging and security.
