9 Time-Saving Workflows and Automations Your EHR Should Support

In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, time is of the essence for healthcare professionals who are focused on providing the highest quality of care to their patients. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have revolutionized the way patient information is stored and accessed, and when equipped with the right features, this can drastically improve efficiency. Efficient clinical workflows save valuable time while enhancing patient care, and in today’s blog, we’ll discuss our favorite processes for you to digitize with your EHR. By incorporating these nine essential workflows, healthcare professionals can effectively navigate the complexities of patient care while simultaneously improving patient outcomes.

Workflows vs. Automations

A workflow refers to the sequence of steps and tasks involved in completing a specific process or activity. It outlines the series of actions that need to be taken, the people responsible for each step, and the order in which tasks should be performed. Workflows can be manual, where tasks are performed by individuals, or digital, where tasks are carried out using electronic tools or systems.

On the other hand, automations involve the use of technology to streamline and automate certain steps or tasks within a workflow. This means that instead of relying on manual input or intervention, software or tools are employed to perform these tasks automatically. Automations can range from simple actions, such as sending automated reminders or notifications, to more complex processes, such as data integration or analysis.

Top EHR Workflows and Automations for Saving Time

Effective EHR workflows are crucial for saving time and optimizing the delivery of patient care. By streamlining processes and automating tasks, healthcare practices can reduce administrative burdens, enhance care coordination, and improve patient satisfaction.

Quick Phrases

Quick Phrases allow healthcare providers to efficiently and accurately document patient encounters. With just a few clicks, providers can utilize predefined or user-defined phrases to complete clinical notes, assessments, and treatment plans. By incorporating Quick Phrases within their EHR, healthcare professionals can significantly reduce the time spent on repetitive data entry. Quick Phrases can be set at the clinical level or be adjusted to accommodate a user’s unique trigger phrases. By reducing repetitive data entry and allowing for customization, providers can improve their workflow efficiency and enhance patient care delivery.

Order Sets

Order sets can significantly expedite the process of placing orders for tests, medications, and other necessary treatments. By grouping together commonly used orders, order sets make it faster and more efficient for healthcare providers to select appropriate treatments for specific conditions. Instead of individually searching for and selecting each order, providers can simply choose from a predefined set of orders that are commonly associated with a particular condition or procedure.

This reduces the time required to place orders, allowing providers to focus more on direct patient care activities. With order sets, providers no longer need to navigate through multiple screens or search for specific orders as the most relevant choices are already curated for them.

Decision Support Alerts

EHRs can be configured to provide decision support alerts based on patient data and clinical guidelines. These alerts can help providers avoid errors, prompt necessary interventions, and offer more informed care without the need for manual searching. These alerts serve as a safeguard against errors and omissions by presenting critical information at the point of care.

For example, if a provider prescribes a medication that may interact negatively with a patient’s current medications, the EHR can generate an alert to provide a warning. This real-time guidance supports clinical decision-making by providing relevant and timely information without the need for manual searching through patient charts or external resources.

E-Prescribing

E-prescribing capabilities have revolutionized the way healthcare providers manage medication prescriptions. Instead of writing out paper prescriptions, providers can now send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies, saving valuable time and minimizing the risk of errors.

By utilizing e-prescribing technology, providers can ensure that prescriptions are legible and accurate, eliminating misunderstandings or misinterpretations that can occur with handwritten prescriptions. This helps to expedite the medication fulfillment process, ensuring that patients receive their medications in a timely manner. 

E-prescribing also offers real-time access to patient medication history, allowing providers to make informed decisions when prescribing new medications. They can easily identify potential drug interactions, allergies, or other factors that may impact medication choices, reducing the risk of adverse drug events.

Speech Recognition

By integrating speech recognition within the EHR, providers can significantly speed up the documentation process and reduce the need for typing. With speech recognition, providers can simply speak their thoughts and have their words transcribed into text. For many, it’s much quicker to think out loud and clean up notes once they’re on a page, and speak-to-text capabilities support this method of documenting case notes.

Auto-Population of Data

Auto-population of data (or autofill) is a valuable feature that saves healthcare professionals time and reduces the risk of errors. With this functionality, EHRs can automatically populate specific data fields, such as patient demographics, allergies, and medications, based on previous entries, expediting otherwise tedious data entry tasks. Autofill also ensures that patient records are accurate and up-to-date, as information is pulled from reliable sources within the EHR system itself without needing to cross-reference recent records.

Interoperability

Interoperability plays a crucial role in optimizing EHR workflows and enhancing patient care. When disparate systems across multiple healthcare entities can speak to one another, providers are able to make more informed decisions as they provide care to their patients. Interoperability allows EHRs to store and automatically import pertinent patient data, such as lab results, imaging reports, and testing data. This eliminates the need for manual data transfer and entry, saving time and reducing the risk of errors.

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Customizable Progress Notes

With a customizable progress notes template, healthcare providers can design a layout that aligns with their specific needs. This allows for easy access to essential patient information such as vital signs, allergies, medications, and previous medical conditions. By having this information readily available, providers can quickly and accurately document their observations, assessments, and treatment plans.

ICD-10 and CPT Code Recommendations

ICD-10 and CPT codes are vital tools in healthcare for describing diagnoses, procedures, and treatments in a standardized manner. These codes play a crucial role in ensuring accurate communication, billing, and reimbursement processes. EHRs can automatically suggest what codes to use based on the patient interactions a provider documents.

Benchmark EHR:

 

Supports more than 40 specialities

Has built-in time-saving features

Has a dedicated support team




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Take Back Your Time with Benchmark EHR

If you work in the healthcare industry, your time is precious — and we understand that at Benchmark Solutions. With our comprehensive suite of features and user-friendly interface, Benchmark EHR allows healthcare professionals to streamline their clinical workflows so providers can focus on patients, not data entry. Our platform is already fitted with all the time-saving features we’ve discussed above, but that’s not all we can do.

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