The Role of Health IT Solutions in Improving Patient Care

Health IT (health information technology) is continually innovating across different levels, such as the design, development, deployment, use, and maintenance of information systems explicitly targeting the healthcare industry. Automated and highly interoperable healthcare information systems will continue to dramatically improve medical care and public health, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve patient satisfaction.

Types of Healthcare IT Solutions Technology

Electronic Health Record (EHR)

Electronic health record (EHR) is all about digitalizing a patient’s paper chart to make information available comfortably and securely for relevant users. EHR comprises of crucial medical and treatment histories of patients. Noticeably, an EHR system is entirely built to transcend beyond the realms of standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and inclusive of a broader range of definition of a patient’s care.

EHRs are a vital part of health IT:

• Cohesive format providing information about patient’s medical history, medications, treatment plans, immunization records, allergies, and laboratory results.
• Access to evidence-based tools to improve decision making about a patient’s care that providers can use.
• Automate and streamline provider workflow.

Key features

• All information related to healthcare can be created and handled by authorized providers in an interactive digital format.
• Sharing information with other providers across different healthcare organizations.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

Electronic medical records (EMR) eliminate the time and errors that came with the manual charting of patient data. EMR is patient information that can be viewed within one office — so, if a patient was transferred to another clinic, their medical data might not move.

• Identify and maintain a patient record.
• Manage patient demographics and problem lists.
• Manage medication lists, as well as patient history.
• Manage clinical documents and notes.
• Present care plans, guidelines, and protocols.

Patient Portal

Patient portals allow access to vital patient information such as history, treatments taken, and medications. A patient portal provides secure access to online website that provides patients easy, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere across the globe with an Internet connection. With credentials such as a secure username and password, patients can observe health information such as:

• Doctor visits and its time
• Summaries relating to the discharge
• Medications and immunizations record
• Allergies and its treatment
• Lab results

Some patient portals also allow you to:

• Securely messaging to your doctor
• Request prescription refills and alerts
• Schedule routine appointments
• Check benefits and coverage
• Update contact information
• Make payments
• Download and complete forms
• View educational materials

Scheduling

Software scheduling lets patients log in to the portal, view records of previous treatments, receive an alert that it’s time for a checkup, and schedule it. Leveraging technology during the appointment scheduling process has become increasingly popular for both hospitals and ambulatory clinics. Most patient portals can host appointment scheduling functions. On the other hand, some healthcare organizations have adopted specific automated call center technology into their suites.

• Patient Appointment Scheduling
• Appointment Reminders
• Physician Scheduling
• Color-Coded Scheduling
• Appointment Waitlist

Medical Billing

Medical billing covers different aspects such as managing patient billing, writing up, sending, and processing payments, which requires time, especially for busy hospitals and practices.

• Patient Pre-Registration
• Patient Intake Forms
• Insurance Eligibility Checks
• Medical Benefit Checks
• Patient Payment History
• Patient Statements
• Soft Collection Letter
• Bill Generation
• Bill Recording
• Automated Billing
• Billing Rules engine
• Denial Management

e-Prescribing

This solution allows the user to send all the relevant information related to the patient’s prescription to Pharmacy.

Mobile Application for Personal Health Tracking

• To track personal health data. Emergency contact information, allergies, and medications, as well as mobile fitness tracking, sleep patterns, heart rate, and vital signs.
• Real-time communication with your doctor or healthcare provider. Seamless communication such as a phone call and telehealth apps to allow doctors to analyze physical symptoms remotely.
• Improve the quality of life for doctors and patients. Smartphone apps can enhance doctor’s efficiency by streamlining data listing, which can support decision making or improve communication between specialists.

Security and Privacy: A New Paradigm in Healthcare IT

HIPAA’s security and privacy rules have supported healthcare organizations regarding patients’ access to medical records, as well as safeguarding that information. The issues of security and privacy have assumed importance and sense of urgency given that data breaches and malware attacks have flogged the healthcare industry for decades now. In response, traditional health IT systems now offer integration with data security and cybersecurity technology. Training and education of workers is also part of the solution, as human errors can result in data breaches.

Changes to the dynamics of workforce

Healthcare organizations have grown in authority as technology continues to gain prominence. IT managers and key information officers (CIOs) in healthcare enterprises are gaining an edge with technology.

The rapid proliferation of technology is giving rise to practicing physicians and nurses who have become experts in health IT and patient data. While clinicians continue to be deeply entrenched in patient care, they are able to communicate about IT and technology options available more easily.

Health IT has affected every clinician trained on an EHR or telemedicine system, and working with technology has now become a crucial part of the core job profile.

Conclusion

Healthcare IT solutions has changed the entire ecosystem of healthcare right from features that allow patients to securely access their own medical records, as well as healthcare organizations to provide patient care.

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Albert Smith

Albert Smith, Marketing Manager at Hidden Brains, drives brand growth with innovative strategies in web, mobile app, and software development.