Physician Practices: The Next Step In EHR Evolution

Community physician practices are a large and indispensable part of the country’s healthcare system. But until recently, high costs and a lack of specific features and functionality geared toward these practices prevented many from moving forward with Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation.

The advent of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ meaningful use EHR Incentive Program combined with game-changing technology via cloud-based computing and smart mobile platforms are making the difference. As physician practices begin the inevitable switch, greater demands and responsibilities will be placed on Health Information Management (HIM) professionals, a trend highlighted in an in-depth story in the Journal of AHIMA’s November/December issue.

“HIM professionals have accumulated tremendous knowledge and best practices from implementing EHRs in the hospital setting,” said AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA. “HIM professionals can play an instrumental leadership and operational role in helping physician practices with their EHR implementation.”

The article features a study from the Mayo Clinic where physicians and clinical staff were shadowed at different stages of EHR implementation. The researchers concluded that for EHR adoption to increase, vendors can’t use a one-size-fits-all-practices formula. Some of the features and functionality should include:

• Flexible, customizable virtual workplace
• Workflows that mimic paper-based process and communication of clinicians
• Intuitive and easy interface and functionality to ease and encourage the transition
• Mobile capabilities to support an on the go work style and the ability to work on tablets, laptops and desktops
• Integrated clinical guidance and content from trusted, credible sources

As EHRs become more affordable, user-friendly and adept at sharing data, they facilitate a more holistic and collaborative model of care. Also as reporting initiatives of meaningful use expand, health systems and state/federal entities can gather and analyze data on a macro level to identify areas to improve care and reduce costs.

Also in this issue

The November/December issue of the Journal of AHIMA also includes:

A feature on the “Anatomy of a Physician Coder” details their myriad responsibilities and the need for continuously developing new skills to meet changing demands.

A practice brief explores the increasing use of scribes within the physician practice setting to capture accurate and detailed documentation of patient encounters. The brief analyzes the benefits and challenges of scribes and provides recommended best practices.

Read these articles and more in the Journal of AHIMA or online at journal.ahima.org.

About AHIMA
Representing more than 64,000 specially educated Health Information Management professionals in the United States and around the world, the American Health Information Management Association is committed to promoting and advocating for high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and to actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide. AHIMA’s enduring goal is quality healthcare through quality information. For more information, visit www.ahima.org.