August, 2024

EHR Evaluation Checklist Necessities: Choosing the Right System for Optimal Performance

When small to mid-sized medical practices first open their doors, they may be hampered by relying on generic electronic health record (EHR) software. Over time, you’ll find that an old-fashioned EHR makes your practice less efficient, ultimately affecting not only your team, but patient relations. A lack of options and inability to customize the software can keep you from growing your practice in size and scope.

If this sounds like your practice, it’s time to explore your options with an EHR evaluation checklist. It gives you a framework to verify if a particular software developer and its applications are the right solution for you. A modern EHR system will save you money and boost efficiency in patient care by eliminating the need for a paper-based system, which translates to less time on administrative costs for example, as noted by Northeastern University.

Understanding Your EHR Needs

Assess practice size and specialty

Generic EHR software may not be able to accommodate your growing practice, or handle the nuances of specialties. Instead, use a fully-functional EHR that your practice can customize.

Taking into account the size of your practice as well as your plans and projections for future growth is essential when considering which EHR is best to deploy.

Smaller practices often find themselves offering more personalized care to their patient population. They need flexibility in the EHR, such as to adjust the templates used for recording information about patients, from diagnosis to treatment to follow-up appointments. And larger practices with multiple specialties need a robust electronic health records application that works for every category of doctors and nurse practitioners under their roof.

Furthermore, when a practice is expanding geographically with multiple new offices, it makes sense to select an EHR whose data you can access securely from any location.

Identify specific features required

What type of special support do you need from the EHR? For example, if you specialize in oncology or orthopedic surgery that involves a lot of pain management (and the legal issues surrounding opiate prescriptions), make sure the EHR can handle these processes.

For example, given the serious nature of drug abuse and the potential for addiction, you should select an EHR that easily integrates with state PDMP databases to provide real-time access to a patient’s prescription history. The last thing you’d want is to overprescribe opiates to a “drug-seeking” patient. An EHR that connects to patient databases will help you identify potential abuse by patients who divert drugs for illicit purposes.

What you’re looking for is an efficient way for your team to review a patient’s EHR data when making practical decisions.

Learn how Benchmark EHR can meet your needs

EHR Evaluation Checklist

1. Functional requirements

Clinical functionality

Documentation and charting capabilities should be straightforward and easy for your staff.

Consider decision support and alerts, what’s the best course of action for the patient, given the information in his or her record? For example, if the patient reports allergies, the EHR can remind you about any restrictions for prescription medication.

Patient health management

The EHR can alert you to schedule follow-up visits according to your office’s protocols.

2. Technical requirements

Interoperability

Select an EHR that can integrate with other healthcare systems, such as laboratories, specialists you contact for referrals, and connectivity with pharmacies for transmitting digital prescriptions.

Data exchange standards met

This includes the capability for sharing information covered by HL7, and FHIR standards for mobile devices, such as a nurse using a tablet computer.

User experience

It’s essential to consider these key areas of user experience that directly impact your practice’s efficiency and accuracy:

Ease of use and navigation: A clunky user interface wastes staff time and can lead to errors in data entry.
Customization options: Your practice will operate more efficiently when your team can access specialty-specific templates, from OB/GYN to dermatology, as you’ll be sure to capture and include all relevant patient data in the right form.
Ease of integration with other systems: It’s best if your new EHR has add-ons or can effectively integrate with other systems of your choice, such connecting with practice management software, telehealth services, and the ability to communicate over fax and text messages.
Generate reports: The EHR should simplify the process of preparing reports, such as for weekly meetings, quarterly evaluations and year-over-year comparisons.

3. Vendor evaluation

Conduct your due diligence by evaluating vendors before deciding whether to use their system.

Positive reputation

When evaluating EHR systems, consider the vendor’s track record for software improvements, check customer reviews, and consult colleagues from non-competing practices about their satisfaction with their EHR systems.

Relevant specialization

Does the vendor specialize in the same healthcare issues at the heart of your practice? They need to be familiar with your pain points and requirements.

Cost considerations

Be aware of potential hidden costs, such as a site license that depends on how many employees will be using the EHR. What are the costs of switching from your old, outdated EHR to the new system? What long-term expenses are associated with using this software, such as upgrades and future training?

As you review costs, consider the savings your EHR can bring.As noted by a report from the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, implementing an EHR is associated with a boost in revenue, with practices receiving more revenue even after seeing fewer patients (over a two-year study).

Available training and support

Your staff may require assistance in learning to use the new EHR system, so see what training is available, and what level of professional support they provide.

Ease of migration and data transfer

You’ll want to smooth the transition to the new EHR. To that end, learn how easy it will be to migrate patient data into the vendor’s system.

Healthcare providers can begin by asking a series of questions to potential vendors:

How long have you been developing and supporting your EHR application?
What kind of customer support do you offer, and when is it available?
Do you offer training or advice to help my team use your software to its full potential?
Will you help us customize the software to better serve our patients?
Do you monitor the regulatory environment and keep on top of industry best practices to support upgrades to the EHR?

Gather the answers you need to make the best choice.

4. Compliance and security

Regulatory compliance

The EHR should be certified to meet federal HIPAA privacy requirements, especially as you consider Medicaid’s “meaningful use” criteria.

Make sure that the vendor also addresses specific rules in your state.

Security features

EHRs need robust data protection to maintain patient privacy, using industry-standard encryption and preventing unauthorized people from accessing records. Advanced security prevents you from being victimized by “ransomware” attacks, where criminal hackers lock patient data until you pay a ransom.

This is especially crucial for safeguarding patients during virtual visits. Your EHR should integrate with telehealth services securely, since so many busy patients want to conveniently consult with doctors via video-conferencing.

5. Future-proofing

You’re not installing EHR software just for your current needs. You want to invest in a system that helps you succeed over the long haul. Future-proofing the EHR means that the software provider must regularly update the application to address emerging security threats, taking into account new regulations and industry best practices.

Here are key factors to consider when checking if the EHR will continue to help you meet your practice’s objectives over the coming years:

Scalability

During EHR evaluation, you’ll want to know that as your patient population and team scale up, the software can handle a growing number of records, and support the population’s need to use a patient portal to communicate with your staff.

Capable of growing with your practice

Are you adding new specialties? Or perhaps you are expanding your service to address a growing senior population in your area (as evidenced by new rehab and nursing facilities built near your location.)

Adaptability to future technological advancements

As computer and communication technology advances, your EHR must adapt to new standards. Previously, your system might not have included the ability to communicate with patients by text message, while now, patients expect this option when they’re on the go.

Able to handle multiple specialties and locations

You’ve onboarded new specialists to address changing patient demographics. And as your practice succeeds, you start branching out into different cities. Your EHR must be able to seamlessly accommodate this growth.

Ready to handle different time zones

As you expand your healthcare business into different time zones, it’s essential that the EHR easily manages all patient activity. Regardless of expansion, you might get requests for telehealth visits from patients who are on vacation in a different state.

Benchmark Solutions Is Your Trusted Resource for Transitioning to a New, Full-Featured EHR

Now that you have a better sense of the evaluation criteria for selecting the ideal EHR solution, you can start gathering the necessary information for you and fellow stakeholders.

This will help guide you in asking the right questions for vendors in pursuit of comparing the range of options, so you and your team can make an informed decision. And when you’ve made your selection, you’ll be glad to know that our implementation and support teams are standing by to provide a seamless transition to Benchmark EHR, training and ongoing support, ensuring that your healthcare practice can focus on delivering exceptional patient care.

When you review the data, you’ll find that Benchmark EHR is an excellent option for small to mid-sized practices looking for a better way to store, organize and use patient information in a clinical environment. Our software addresses all the points of concern raised in this article.

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