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Shortcuts, workarounds, and other techniques can help practices become more efficient with their use of EHR and spend more time working with their patients.
For many practices, EHR use requires a significant amount of providers’ time and can lengthen the workday. Speeding up EHR use without shortchanging patients or violating health IT regulations is possible with some creativity and flexibility.
If you are looking for ways to use your chiropractic software more efficiently and save yourself some time at work, try these tips at your practice.
1. Use documentation templates
Templates, when used properly, can help you save time as you record documentation for each patient. By helping you to follow the same documentation standards with every patient, templates can help you keep your records consistent and quickly record the information needed for each patient encounter. If you are not already using templates, you may want to see if chiropractic templates are available for your EHR already. If not, you may be able to create your own templates based on the needs of your practice.¹
2. Reach out to colleagues
Many EHR systems have online forums where you can share tips and tricks for EHR use with other doctors or learn from other EHR users about workarounds for your system. The more you know about how to quickly and easily use your EHR, the more comfortable you will probably become with your software. If you have knowledge to share, passing this information along to other doctors can help others in the profession become more effective EHR users.¹ ²
3. Make your own alerts
If your EHR has this capability, create customized EHR alerts that fit your chiropractic software use and help you keep your documentation on track. Rather than allow too many system alerts to interfere with your daily work, try customizing the alerts that occur so you can focus and only get the alerts you actually need.¹
4. Look at existing software features
Your EHR system may already have time-saving features and tools that can help you quickly record and use patient information. Spending some time looking at tutorials, experimenting with practice records and looking around inside your EHR for hidden features may help you save time later. You may be able to learn interesting new tricks and ideas along the way.¹ ²
5. Delegate to others
If possible, delegate as much of the EHR data entry as you can to staff members. Doctors who are able to delegate more to their staff may be able to see more patients and spend more time in patient encounters and less time at the computer.³
6. Finish documentation every day
By the end of the day, if possible, you should have all your documentation finished for each patient encounter. Striving for this goal can help you stay efficient, document exactly what you need to and record more accurate documentation. To accomplish this, you may want to try delegating as much of the documentation as you can to your CA or office assistant.³
Alongside these tips, working to educate yourself about your EHR system can help you become more efficient with your EHR and identify workarounds. Since EHR is such an important part of your practice, you should strive to learn as much as you reasonably can about how it works.
If you have questions about how you can work more effectively with your EHR, you may want to ask your vendor for advice and resources. Many vendors offer classes, workbooks, and online tutorials. In-person training, depending on your budget and training needs, may also be an option for your clinic.
If your EHR is using too much of your time, you may need to reassess how you use your software and find out if a combination of workarounds, training and collaboration can help.
References
¹Schueth, T. “Working Smarter, Not Harder: Helping Clinicians Optimize Use of EHRs.” HealthTECH. http://www.healthtechzone.com/topics/healthcare/articles/2016/11/18/427264-working-smarter-not-harder-helping-clinicians-optimize-use.htm. Published: November 2016. Accessed: February 2017.
²Bartol, T. “EHR Workarounds: Work Smarter, Not Harder.” Medscape. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/874449. Published: January 2017. Accessed: February 2017.
³Anderson, B. “5 ways to increase your EHR efficiency.” KevinMD.com. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/10/5-ways-increase-emr-efficiency.html. Published: October 2014. Accessed: February 2017.
