EMR Can Make New Practices Profitable
May it be augmented reimbursement, improved communication with patients, or enhanced efficiency, the benefits of EMR systems in healthcare cannot be refuted. Implementation of a full-featured Electronic Medical Record system can bring about several tangible and profitable benefits to new medical practices, provided it is undertaken aptly.
However, many physicians consider EMR benefits as nothing but a hoax and consider it a source of new costs and disruptions. Although implementing an EMR system can be expensive, a majority of medical practices have found efficient ways of deriving financial gain from their EMR. Let us look at five ways EMR systems in healthcare can make new practices profitable.
1. EHR and EMR systems save staff time and energy
EHR and EMR systems in healthcare cut down the responsibilities that burden the shoulders of a practice’s administrative staff. The meager tasks that can be easily conducted via mechanized technologies – such as entering data pertaining to a patient’s hospital visit, diagnosis, treatment, and prescription manually into a computer – can be effectively handed over to EMR systems.
EMR systems save the energy and time of administrative staff, which can be invested in productive tasks such as patient support. Another EMR benefit is that it allows a practice to go paperless, which is beneficial both for the environment and the practice. It also reduces the amount of time required to sift through bundles of medical records and prescriptions.
Moreover, going paperless saves thousands of dollars per year by eliminating office supply expenses, transcription costs, and other physical file storage requirements.
2. EMR benefits doctors in making the best use of their claims
Claim reimbursement typically requires extensive documentation if you are dealing with government insurance providers. Since the documentation process comprises many stages, it is time-consuming and may sometimes prove quite frustrating.
Therefore, a majority of medical specialists only bill for the items that they have sound and written evidence for. This results in only up to 15% of legitimate reimbursements reaching the final stage. Oftentimes insurers deem certain claims to be unnecessary, unsupported, or uncalled for, because of which it is typical for doctors to have their claims downloaded to less costly procedures and equipment.
The advent of the Electronic Medical Record system has eliminated this complication by allowing medical professionals to cover and document each and every aspect of a patient’s hospital visit. This increases the amount of claim revenues a medical practice is eligible for, ultimately boosting growth.
3. EMR systems in healthcare improve efficiency
Time is money, and this is especially the case for doctors and medical health professionals. EMR systems in healthcare boost profitability by providing the most significant benefit: time saving. This allows doctors to see more patients every day, ultimately boosting growth and revenue.
HER systems possess several features that augment efficiency and help save time, such as:
Automated prescriptions that are automatically transferred to a pharmacy of your choice before the patient even leaves the doctor’s office.
Pre-filled templates that allow medical professionals to document common patient complaints and diagnosis promptly instead of writing everything from scratch, over and over again.
Even though such tools can save a small amount of time per visit, these minute time savings can add up in the long run. For instance, even if the time spent with each patient drops by 2 minutes a doctor will be able to see two more patients every day. Even if it only brings in 100 dollars more per patient, a medical practice’s revenue can increase by $50,000 per annum.
Since EMR also helps cut down the requirement of an extensive administrative staff, doctors can also save up a significant amount on salary expenses.
4. Electronic medical records consultants can aid in reducing liability premiums
Harvard Medical School brought forward a recent study that showed that malpractice claims can be reduced to about one-sixth of their previous rates after adopting an Electronic Medical Record system. The study further found that only two malpractice claims were filed after adopting an EMR system out of the total 51 filed during the observation period.
Therefore, Electronic medical records consultants aid in reducing malpractice claims and the financial and emotional hassle that comes with them. Several malpractice insurers like MMIC and Texas Medical Liability Trust are now offering discounts for physicians that adopt EMR systems because of the constructive relationship between dwindling malpractice claims and EMR adoption.
5. EMR advantages can be availed at a reduced expense because of government incentives
The government incentive program for transitioning to an EMR is fully functional and aids medical professionals in making this expensive switch. For instance, medical professionals opting into the Medicare EHR Incentive Program can be reimbursed for as much as $44,000 over a period of five years. Similarly, medical professionals opting into the equivalent Medicaid program may be compensated for as much as $64,000 over six years.