Are electronic health records damaging doctor and patient relationships? Some experts think so. According to The Huffington Post, doctors using electronic health records (EHRs) spent one-third of patient visits looking at computer screens. That does not, however, stop many healthcare professionals from praising them. What are the benefits, and how can doctors keep their eyes on their patients?
New Technology Predicts Heart Attacks Before They Happen
“Our doctors’ access to electronic health records has helped them make timely, fact-based decisions about prescribing medication and executing complicated and high-risk surgeries based on a patient’s medical history. Access to this information has improved care for patients,” The Times Union writes. Other doctors taut the cost-savings and efficiency of electronic health records. With electronic health records, hospitals and specialists rarely order duplicate tests.
More efficient patient care and cost savings are not the only benefits of digitized systems, however. New predictive technology may enable doctors to diagnose patients with dangerous health conditions — such as heart attacks and high blood pressure — well before they actually manifest. “Predictive algorithms uncovered 8,500 patients at risk of having heart failure within a year; 3,500 were ferreted out because of natural language technology,” Forbes reports. Digital systems can quickly analyze years — sometimes even lifetimes — worth of data, and use factors such as weight, medical history, lifestyle, living situations, and more to predict the worst before it happens.
Doctors and Hospitals Can Strike a Compromise
All of the potential benefits do not change the fact, however, that doctors spend too much time looking at their computer screens when using electronic health records. Third party medical billing solutions or medical billing services can be an efficient and worthwhile alternative to doctors’ filling out electronic forms and documents on their own. Third party services tackle all aspects of managing and maintaining digitized systems, including medical billing and coding training and specialized billing, such as MRI billing and radiology billing.
Don’t give up all of the benefits of EHRs needlessly. Enlist the help of third party medical billing solutions to take advantages of all the benefits of electronic health records without neglecting patient care. More research here.