4 Steps to Cut the Clipboard Out of EHR Software

The Role of the Clipboard in EHR Software

Electronic health records (EHR) systems have become essential for any medical practice to organize and centralize patient records. However, the manual nature of these systems has led to challenges in efficiency as well as increasing rates of physician burnout. Lower efficiency rates and employees spread too thin could lead your facility to experience a decrease in financial performance as well as high turnover rates.

There’s good news. You can cut out these manual processes, what we’ll refer to as “cutting the clipboard.” Instead of manual checks for accuracy and readability of your EHR documentation, you can automate these processes to increase efficiency, lower burnout rates to retain your physicians, and improve financial performance.

The Last Clipboard Checklist You’ll Ever Need

These four steps will help your healthcare facility get started on implementing more efficient management over your electronic health record and cutting out manual processes for good.

1. Determine Time Wasted with Manual Processes

One of the biggest challenges of EHR documentation is the amount of time that it takes to record and edit patient information. And because physicians and medical professionals are highly paid, this wasted time can become very costly for your healthcare facility. 

Having automated processes that complete this documentation for you can allow your employees to complete their week 33% faster. At this rate, you shave off almost 20 minutes for every hour of documentation. If your healthcare providers put in a couple of hours of work strictly for clinical documentation, they’d save 40-50 minutes per day, and close to 4 hours by the end of the week. 

You can start to see how quickly this wasted time can add up. If you add in the average hourly wage of a physician, a mid-sized practice (with 10 physicians) could see approximately $6,000 in savings after just one week of cutting out that time spent on documentation. 
EHR documentation can really hurt your financial success, but there are options to avoid this pitfall that many healthcare facilities are currently facing.

2. Assess Your EHR Software Tools

The biggest way to cut out time spent on manual processes in your EHR system is through the use of medical documentation services. 

These services allow physicians to record the conversation in the exam room and have that information automatically transferred into the EHR. They are also available through mobile EHR apps, making it even more convenient for physicians and others to make recordings from anywhere and, not to mention, have more face-to-face interaction with patients.

There are several types of medical documentation services to choose from:

Speech-to-Text

With the speech-to-text method, a mobile device will capture the dictation in real-time. Once the recording is complete, the information is immediately transferred into the EHR system. This method yields the fasted chart turnaround time. With speech-to-text, providers can update patient charts in a matter of minutes and dictate on the go. 

Transcription

Transcription introduces an editing component. Like the speech-to-text method, a mobile device will capture the dictation of the exam, which is then sent to a data center for processing and is then edited for spelling, grammar etc. to make sure that the dictation accurately matches what the physician intended. After the editing process is completed, the documentation is automatically sent back to the EHR.

Virtual Scribe

Virtual Scribe service is a true digital assistant or concierge medical documentation service. With this method, the physician records the patient encounter using their preferred mobile device and the audio is sent immediately to a certified medical scribe. The scribe constructs the entire clinical note based on their understanding and interpretation of the exam.  
Virtual scribes can also insert any templates, macros, or other EHR-specific components as requested by the provider based on individual preference. Once completed, the physician does a final review and signs off on the note in the EHR.

3. Discuss with Your Medical Practice 

It is likely that some of the healthcare providers at your facility will be resistant to change. Schedule a time to discuss how their daily routine will change for the better after switching to a mobile EHR app with medical documentation services. Knowing what to expect helps them feel more comfortable with the change that will happen. When your team is on board, your chances of success will increase.

4. Trial iScribe

One of the best things you can do before purchasing a mobile EHR app is to try it out. This helps you and your team to experience the difference that it can make in medical documentation, which also helps you and your healthcare providers feel more confident in the decision.

When you try iScribe, you don’t have to switch your current EHR platform; our mobile app integrates with your existing platform. In addition, iScribe allows you to be up and running within a matter of days so you can start to optimize your EHR and realize the time savings quickly.

If you’re not quite ready to try iScribe today, download the eBook “Why Your Practice Should be Using a Mobile EHR App” to learn more about how to increase efficiency and other measures of performance within your EHR software.