subject: EMR Set to Boom [print this page] EMR Set to Boom EMR Set to Boom
Electronic Health Record (EHR) Software is currently being used in less the 5% of medical practices in the United States. With over 750,000 physicians in the United States, it is estimated that 80% of the market is looking to begin using EHR Software by the year 2012. Thanks to healthcare reform doctor's offices will be swamped with new customers. This means tons of paperwork, tests, x-rays and more. Offices are going to need massive overhauls in order to keep up with the rush.
EMR are electronic medical records or electronic health records. Multiple doctors' offices coordinate their records with hospitals, labs, pharmacies and more using computers. Programs such as HT electronic health records are specifically designed to make healthcare more efficient, safe and cost effective. In most doctor's offices and hospitals mistakes are made because of a lack of coordination of records and a lack of a warning system. EMR helps eliminate dangerous drug interactions by alerting physicians immediately when a prescription they are giving a patient could possibly harm them.
EHR software can increase revenue by more efficient coding, eliminate the expenses associated with paper charts and help reduce the risk of lost or misplaced medical records. Now that nearly everyone in the United States is going to have health insurance, insurance companies are going to start or have already begun to give preferential treatment to those practices which implement EMR. It is an understatement to say that insurance companies prefer electronic claims which have already been scrubbed using a claims scrubber program.
Physicians can learn in minutes rather than weeks whether or not a claim has been accepted or denied. When claims are sent in by mail they are sent to a clearing house of sorts where they are inspected by one office. They are denied or accepted there. If they are accepted they are then sent to insurance companies for payouts. If a claim is denied, the chances of it being accepted on the second go around are slim. EMR alerts physicians when a claim has been denied and helps them do what needs to be done to have the claim accepted within minutes.
With all of these advantages, government is taking notice. Bills are in the works to make Electronic Medical Records a requirement for healthcare practices. Financial aid was given to regional extension offices in targeted areas recently to help doctors purchase EMR. About $6000 is being provided to targeted doctors to help them purchase this much needed technology.
