Pain Management EHR: What Makes It Worth It
Technology continues to develop and emerge in healthcare, bringing new innovations to hospitals and clinics. Electronic medical records (EMR) software has automated the most routine and mundane tasks, replacing paper files and manual operations. Healthcare providers can spend their extra time caring for patients instead.
Let’s focus on a particular practice — pain management. An EMR pain management solution has a range of benefits that make it worth investing in.
Why? Consequently, they are incredibly cost-effective while optimizing hospital and practice operations.
The question is, what makes the pain management EHR worth it?
What EHR Software Can Do for You
In recent studies, 80% of patients experience pain postoperatively, and 11-20% experience severe pain. EHR pain management software can reduce documenting time and provide powerful information that will enable you to make informed decisions. A cloud-based pain management EHR software requires no server hardware to buy, maintain, upgrade, or manage, and it is more mobile. So, look for intuitive user interfaces when evaluating pain management EHRs so you can spend more time with patients and lesser time on documentation.
Meanwhile, not all EHRs are the same. The right EHR should increase patient satisfaction, patient quality of life, and office efficiency for pain management practices.
If you want the best pain management EHR, make sure it has these features:
- EHR That Provides Access to Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs)
Pain management EHRs nowadays provide access to prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). Access to PDMPs is especially vital for physicians who prescribe opioids, causing severe family disruptions.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released provisional data in November 2021, suggesting 75,673 opioid overdose deaths in the United States in the 12 months ending April 2021. Deaths due to drug overdoses have increased by 28% since pre-pandemic levels.
PDMP databases should be accessible through your EHR pain platform. You must quickly identify potential drug interactions between patients and controlled substances by searching a patient’s name and demographics. With such data, you can reach out to them, monitor their opioid use, and adjust treatment accordingly.
Furthermore, the price-transparency feature can show you whether patients qualify for coverage, the extent of their benefits, and their out-of-pocket costs. You can refill or issue prescriptions electronically when the time comes.
- EHR With Innovative Patient Portal
Every EHR must have patient portals, but only a few provide the best tools to keep patients engaged. You can provide them with digital intake forms, allowing them to complete the check-in process from the comfort of their own home. Patients will never miss a check-up with scheduling capabilities and reminders that work for them. In addition, a communication hub allows your patients to ask questions whenever they want.
- Integrated Lab Ordering System
With an integrated diagnostic/lab ordering system, you can make better clinical decisions to improve patient outcomes. The right pain management EHR allows providers to order lab tests while charting quickly, and lab results go directly into patient charts without wasting time.
Pain Management EHR systems with integrated lab ordering capabilities can:
- Inform providers of abnormal lab results.
- Make sure your organization can handle incoming lab results.
- Allow your organization’s providers to identify patients with unusual lab results and target them for follow-up.
- Help your organization order fewer tests since lab results are readily available.
- Make lab tests available electronically, improving care quality.
- EHR adopters say their EHR system has notified them of critical lab conditions in the last 30 days, and 74% can improve patient care with an EHR. With EHRs, you can promote health care quality and properly process and analyze incoming lab results to benefit your patients.
- Meets Meaningful Use requirements by transferring lab orders electronically.
- Specific Templates
Pain management clinics require specific documentation of patient encounters. Thus, an EHR must include pain management-specific templates.
These tools allow pain management specialists to customize their documenting processes for specific workflows or patients. It is also necessary for annotating pain, procedures, and injection sites. If the template isn’t flexible enough, it can compromise patient data integrity. As a result, treating physicians must be able to chart and record every detail to preserve data integrity and facilitate future decision-making.
- Mobile-Friendly
Cloud-based technologies facilitate provider mobility while still maintaining patient safety in Pain Management EHRs. With mobile capabilities, your data is more secure and accurate. As the patient’s chart is accessible, providers can make changes during the encounter, resulting in more accurate notes.
Using your Pain Management EHR’s mobile features will also enable your team to communicate with each other in a secure, HIPAA-compliant manner and prescribe to patients as needed.
Do You Have These Features in Your Pain Management EHR Software?
If yes, your EHR has it all to run your practice more efficiently. The IMS Pain Management system is also an excellent choice if your existing EHR isn’t meeting your needs or if you struggle to integrate the above features.
Don’t get left behind! Now is the time to ensure your pain management EHR is worth the investment.
Choose the Top EMR/EHR Software
Over the years, we have assisted medical practices with EHR/EMR selection, implementation, and software usage. We specialize in providing customized EMR/EHR software to meet your practice’s specific needs.
Schedule a demo or contact us through the contact form for more personalized information. Let’s work together to find the best software for your practice!
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