Once this information has been satisfactorily obtained, the paper prescription is handed to the patient. It is then necessary for the provider to document the process that just took place, including the negative potential for drug interactions and allergies, as well as the drug, form, strength, quantity, and directions for the prescribed drug.    Again this takes a lot of time.

Electronic medical records (with robust clinical decision support) offer reference information regarding optimal treatment, such as treatment guidelines or “best practice” standards. An EMR with prescription writing capability performs the allergy and drug interaction checking, or at least provides a quick reference for manually checking, when the desired drug is selected. This happens automatically.

In addition, an EMR with electronic prescribing capability can send the prescription to a designated pharmacy directly, while at the same time documenting the prescribing process and updating the patient’s medication. Neat, huh?

Non-Monetary Benefits of EMRs

What non-monetary benefits can you expect from the clinical and workflow automation of an EMR?

• The most obvious is better efficiency. You can practice higher quality patient care – and demonstrate better outcomes – with integrated evidence-based ‘best practices’ guidelines, automated drug allergy and interaction checking, and included patient education hand-outs.

• You will decrease malpractice exposure with better documentation and built-in clinical decision support.

• Eliminate repetitive manual tasks, such as writing easily-lost post-it notes and charts.

• Here’s a great one: you will have fun practicing medicine again! The charting experience with Chart proves to be fun and refreshing, not a chore.

• Reduce time that’s otherwise wasted on the phone waiting for authorizations and checking eligibility (ugh… that was painful just to write.)

• Automatically generate ‘health cards’ with problem lists and current medications for your patients to carry in their wallet. ER physicians and patients alike appreciate the health summary.

• Increase patient privacy.

• Access charts immediately, anytime, anywhere.

• Create a happier, less-stressed clinical and billing staff.

• You’ll regain control of your practice, your patients, and your life.

And a bonus: Use the 12 weeks of time gained per year through office efficiencies to do with as you see fit. Avoid burnout with a mental health holiday, or use the time savings generated to see more patients and generate more net income. The choice is yours, but the time saved is very real.