Workflow considerations

Implementing an EMR system will not in itself create efficiencies. Your work flows have to be modified to facilitate the EMR system's capabilities. Without adjusting your workflow, your practice will not be able to take full advantage of the functionality of the EMR system.

An EMR system will impact the most common activities in your practice including:

• Scheduling and registering patients
• Pulling charts
• Documenting physician messages (internal and external)
• Ordering diagnostics
• Receipt and review of diagnostic results
• Ordering and renewing prescriptions
• Capturing patient medication and medical history
• Documenting clinical visits
• Referring patients to other physicians
• Billing and coding of patient visits
• Managing chronic diseases
• Providing patients with educational materials
• Managing your practice operations and finances

As an example, below lists all of the activities related to a prescription renewal before an EMR system and after an EMR system.

Pre-EMR system prescription renewal

• Patient calls to request a renewal
• Nurse or staff documents request
• Staff pulls patient chart
• Staff submits renewal request with chart information to physician
• Physician signs renewal
• Staff calls or faxes renewal information to pharmacy

Post-EMR system prescription renewal

• Patient calls to request a renewal
• Nurse or staff documents request in EMR system via messaging function
• Physician reviews messages and patient information via EMR system
• Physician submits prescription electronically to pharmacy via EMR system

Not only are worksteps eliminated in the post-EMR scenario, all functions are performed within the EMR system, which creates a more efficient execution and documentation of the renewal request.

Although changing a single process may not be terribly complicated, it is often the combination of many process changes and learning new software that can be stressful for everyone in the practice.