Top 5 Keys To Physician Interface Dilemma In Electronic Medical Billing And EMR Software Systems

Billing and claims management services andinformation. The doctor simply points and clicks
systems help healthcare providers manage risingselecting appropriate choices while the system fills
costs of healthcare as well as increase overallout a complete record of selections, which makes
administrative efficiency. The wider is the scopeup the resulting encounter notes. Such a
of solution the more benefit it delivers to thestructured approach offers multiple benefits:
practice. The most important scope enhancement
in the recent years is the addition of integrated1. Consistency. Structured data ensures note
electronic medical records (EMR) solutions, which iscompleteness and avoids missing important details.
the heart of the medical practice IT value chain.It enhances the ability to generate clinically useful
The comprehensive nature of EMR consolidatesreports, such as appointment reminders or
patient's personal and administrative information,disease management.
health history, prescriptions, treatments, and2. Customization. The doctor specifies the
conditions. Its ability to perform such datatemplate layout to match precisely the workflow
aggregation at the point of care elevates itsof the practice.
benefit from plain recording of patient encounter3. Lower Error Rate. Standardization of input
to useful decision support system.precludes errors of omission or spelling.
The most critical part of any system is its4. Faster decision-making. Similar observations
interfaces to other systems, and especially, itshave similar notes, resulting in consistent decisions.
human interface. Typically, EMR allows three kinds5. Immediate Accessibility for Processing. Since
of input, namely, typing, dictation, andnotes are created within the EMR system, they
point-and-click templates. Most physicians chooseare available immediately upon completion.
dictation over typing and point-and-click templatesHowever, point-and-click data entry also has
for reasons of convenience and time efficiencies.several disadvantages, including
While preference of dictation over typing is- Complexity. It takes more effort to the notes
obvious, recent technology progress andusing point-and-click templates than just writing or
regulatory compliance pressures makedictating.
point-and-click templates superior to dictation.- Data Entry Time. It may take too long to walk
Dictation and Transcriptionthrough all the required templates in front of the
Medical transcription saves time in comparison topatient.
handwritten notes or typing. It intuitively matches- Cost. As each practice has different workflow,
the physician's working style, power of personaltemplate customization may be costly.
expression, and it is easy to dictate using aThe added complexity of point-and-click templates
phone, PDA, or Dictaphone. Human transcriber oris clearly justifiable because of guaranteed
Voice Recognition systems transcribe the dictationcompleteness, which is key to regulatory
into medical notes.compliance and the ability to survive
But transcription has multiple disadvantages:post-payment audit. The data entry time can be
- Incomplete. If notes are not capturedreduced too by allocating lion's time share on
immediately at the point of care, it is too easy tocomprehensive documentation during initial
exclude important details.examination and restricting documentation scope
- Costly Processing. Report generation usingto note updates only during subsequent visits.
unstructured data is much more time consumingStructured nature of point-and-click templates are
and expensive.naturally conducive for such time prioritization.
- Time delay for Accessibility. It typically takes 12Although some physicians prefer familiar to
to 24 hours for chart turnaround.convenient, and convenient - to better
Note incompleteness is the most importantfunctionality, transcription must be viewed as an
disadvantage of dictation and transcriptioninferior component of interface array to modern
because comprehensive medical notes are key toEMR system, complementary to click-and-point
surviving a post-payment insurance audit.templates. Modern physician office automation
Point-and-Click Templatestechnologies combine both billing and EMR features
A point-and-click template presents a selection ofand provide both kinds of interfaces adding to
data elements, a navigation mechanism, and aboth efficacy and efficiency of practice workflow.
point-and-click process for capturing patient