EHRs are an essential and valuable tool for healthcare providers – but they can also be an expensive investment.
According to The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), the average five-year cost of ownership for EHR is about $58,000 per provider. Huge healthcare organizations spend billions on EHRs, such as Mayo Clinic’s $1.5 billion outlay for the second phase of its transition to Epic EHR.
Despite hefty investments, however, end-user satisfaction with EHRs remains relatively low. Clinicians often complain about systems that decrease productivity, require users to perform unnecessary tasks, and interfere with the provider/patient relationship. Unfortunately, poor EHR usability is known to fuel clinician burnout: a University of New Mexico study attributed 40% of physician burnout and stress to EHR use, while 71% of physicians participating in a Stanford Medicine poll agreed that EHRs “greatly contribute” to physician burnout.
For organizations that have spent thousands, millions, or billions on an EHR, what should they do if their solution does not meet the end-users needs?
Providers that want to improve EHR usability and clinician satisfaction basically have two choices: Replace the inefficient EHR or add enhancements that make their legacy system more user-friendly and address the needs of clinicians.
Tossing out an existing system for a new EHR is not a feasible option for most organizations – especially any that have already invested substantial time, money, and resources. The good news is that healthcare leaders now have the option to add third-party technologies, including FHIR-based apps, to their existing EHRs and gain the additional functionality users want and need.
Many of these add-ons use artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies to address common gaps in EHR usability. Medicomp’s Quippe technology, for example, can be added to existing EHRs and provide functionality improvements in several key areas, including:
Increased physician productivity
Using clinically intelligent tools, Quippe enhances clinician workflows and makes it easier for clinicians to find the patient- and problem-specific information they need, when they need it. Many EHRs provide too much data – and clinicians are forced to wade through multiple screens to find relevant details.
Quippe includes intelligent filtering capabilities that automatically identify and interpret all the disorganized and complex arrays of medical information within a patient’s chart from previous encounters, lab reports, inpatient records, and other sources. Because clinicians are served pertinent information, they save time, are more productive, and are freed to focus on patients instead of their computers.
Enhanced patient care
By delivering clinicians the right information they need for effective decision-making at the point of care, patient care and outcomes are enhanced. Quippe facilitates a behind-the-scenes review of everything in the chart and intelligently filters the information in real-time to deliver clinicians pertinent details in a single view.
Because Quippe also works in the background to capture and interpret the billing and coding details from clinical documentation, clinicians are not forced to perform additional tasks that contribute to burnout. This reduced burden ultimately improves patient safety and satisfaction.
More accurate reimbursement
Quippe can also verify that clinical documentation includes appropriate and accurate information to drive correct reimbursement. This is especially important for organizations participating in Medicare Advantage and other risk-bearing reimbursement programs that require accurate documentation to support Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) coding and Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF) scores.
Instead of relying on manual, retrospective chart reviews, Quippe can help to identify possible documentation and coding gaps in real-time, at the point of care. Physicians can then immediately address any treatment, documentation, or coding gaps while patients are still in the exam room.
Reduced operational expenses
Quippe helps reduce operational expenses with tools that enhance clinician productivity and streamline documentation and coding processes. For example, because users can quickly and efficiently capture visit information at the point of care, organizations can minimize transcription costs.
Operational expenses can be cut further with the reduction of time-consuming and error-prone manual chart reviews to verify billing and coding details. Quippe can also provide access to high-quality data for queries and reporting in support of value-based care programs and population health management initiatives, which further reduces manual efforts and operational expenses.
