How Setting Up an EHR System Can Save You Money

According to Healthcare IT News, electronic health records (EHRs) are becoming more ingrained in American clinical practice. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT says that, as of 2015, around 83 percent of doctors across the country have adopted EHR systems.

The enormity of the challenge of successfully setting up an EHR might seem intimidating to many in this field, but if done right, the advantages are enormous — and profitable.

The Challenges of EHR Setup

A lot has been written about the challenges a practice faces when making the transition from paper-based to electronic records. And to be frank, these challenges can be immense. MedTech Boston notes three particular areas of concern:

1. High Costs

In an age of increasingly budget-conscious and economically restricted healthcare, the high startup cost is undeniably one of the major concerns that facilities have when they consider making the switch to an EHR system.

This involves not only the price of the system itself — which for large-scale, system-wide products can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars — but also fees and the costs of maintenance and upgrades, staff training, and buying products (such as hardware or software) that power the system. This can be a significant barrier to many facilities.

2. Varied Functions

There are many EHR systems on the market now, and their functionalities vary widely. Potential problems are wide-ranging, too, and can include slow processing time, programming errors, the possibility of data breaches (with subsequent worries about HIPAA violations), non-user-friendly formats, and inefficient methods of data entry.

3. Poor Interoperability

Interoperability, which refers to how well one system will communicate and interact with others, can present problems for newly fledged EHR systems. MedTech Boston notes that there are more than 1,000 EHR platforms, many of which are not compatible with one another. This can interfere with the entire purpose of an EHR, which is to increase the ease of communication between healthcare providers.

Overcoming These Challenges

A big part of conquering your EHR appears to be looking at this transition as a long-term, ongoing process — and planning accordingly.

HealthIT.gov emphasizes looking at the entire transition as a process and metaphorically preparing well before it happens. Its recommended six-step process for EHR implementation includes:

1. Setting down exactly why a facility is looking for an EHR. In other words, what needs, goals, etc., should be the new EHR fulfill or facilitate?
2. Formulating a plan of implementation.
3. Selecting an EHR program to use — and making sure it’s certified.
4. Training staff and implementing the system.
5. Successfully using the system to achieve the goals and meet the needs set out in the first step.
6. Evaluating the program’s success through ongoing reviews and staff education.

NueMD also gives several suggestions for overcoming the challenges noted above, including:

• Making sure that everyone in the facility is trained on the new EHR program. This education shouldn’t be just an introduction to how the program works, but an ongoing process to help support the whole staff during the transition.
• Prioritizing the order in which files should be transferred. In general, the most recent and presumably more used patient files should be transferred to the new system first.
• Giving one person or set of people the task of transferring the files, and establishing a protocol for how new information will be entered into the system.

No EHR system is perfect, and all of them will have kinks to work out and flaws to detect and remedy. This can make the transition stressful for clinicians, staff, and patients, and if an office or facility feels that it is too much to take on alone, they can hire a professional to help them through the process. According to AHIMA, these professionals guide facilities through the transition with minimal fuss.

Why It’s Worth It

When looking at the challenges, it might be easy for some facilities to say, “Why bother?” However, if the program is set up properly, there are many benefits:

Increased Productivity and Efficiency

USF Health Online notes that in the increasingly fast-paced world of healthcare, increasing efficiency and productivity without compromising quality is of heightened importance. And there is no question that EHRs can boost this productivity in a number of ways, including facilitating communication between healthcare providers, increasing the ease with which doctors can track their patients, and transferring data from one department to another. It can also reduce the risk of medical errors — and, by extension, practice liability. These can all be significant money-savers.

Physician’s Practice says that EHRs can increase efficiency by being programmed to become “revenue watchers,” correcting mathematical errors in claims before they are filed, and avoiding potentially costly errors related to drug interactions and other issues.

Additional Free Space

Paper files take up a lot of room in an office — and, because this space is paid for but generates no revenue, it’s quite a waste. When the transition to EHR is complete and paper files have been disposed of properly, areas previously used for storage can be turned into exam rooms that generate more income and increase the speed at which patients can be seen.

More Efficient Staffing

While few practices relish the thought of letting staff go, Physician’s Practice points out that the use of EHRs can eliminate the need for a full-time medical records clerk. This elimination can save upward of $2,000 a month.

However, Practice Fusion points out that staffing efficiency goes beyond trimming down the number of employees. It can also make the work itself more time-efficient: EHRs can let any staff member view a patient’s medical information when and where they need to.

Fewer Office Supplies

While saving money on supplies is not the main reason a practice should switch to an EHR system, it is certainly a consideration. There is no such thing as a paper-free clinic or hospital, but using less paper can have a big effect on the bottom line. For instance, a small practice seeing around 30 patients a day can save $400–$500 monthly on paper and office supplies. In order to get an idea of what saving would be for a given practice, you can generate figures using the EMR ROI calculator.

Practice Fusion says that EHRs help to overcome what it dubs the “limitations of paper”: that is, the fact that paper-based records can be illegible, easily destroyed, space-consuming, not easily shared by computer, and expensive to copy or fax.

The challenges that come with transitioning from a paper-based system are immense and not to be taken lightly. However, with a clear idea of what a practice needs from an EHR program, along with good preparation, staff education, and ongoing training and support, the benefits can have a significant and positive effect on the bottom line of any practice.