How EHR Consulting Can Help Healthcare Organizations Succeed in the Booming Ambulatory EHR Market
Ambulatory EHR systems consist of digital patient charts that are used by medical teams to document diagnoses; prescriptions; referrals; and other aspects of doctor-patient interactions. Although some hospital admission information may be included to provide context, any hospital-related data is typically from their outpatient departments. Other facilities that could use ambulatory EHR applications include primary care physician offices; ambulatory surgical centers; and similar locales.
These solutions are typically simpler than EHRs used for inpatient situations, focusing on the specific medical practice or facility instead of the more complex hospital systems where patients may engage with multiple departments. To effectively leverage the power of ambulatory EHR systems, it’s important to fully implement and optimize the application.
Ambulatory EHR Market
The ambulatory EHR market is in a growth stage and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.13 percent from 2022 to 2027. This growth will allow increasing numbers of smaller medical practices and outpatient care facilities to input patient information and seamlessly access them in role based ways from the stored databases. Patient records are easy to read, as well, streamlining the process of patient intake—whether a scheduled appointment or an emergency situation—and much more.
Factors involved in this growth include the overall increased adoption of EHR systems in developed markets. This naturally boosts the need for “fluid movement” of patient data, which required advancements in technology such as those levaged by ambulatory EHR solutions. Another reason for this technology’s growth: government initiatives that support and aim to further the use of patient health record portals.
Most common applications for ambulatory systems include four types of management—practice, patient, referrals, and population health—along with e-prescribing.
Cloud-based systems are trending because of their user friendliness, cost effective usage, flexibilty, and scalability that provides “pay-as-you-go storage utilization.” Inefficient departmental silos are eliminated to consolidate and streamline the storage resources.
When seeking a vendor for an ambulatory EHR system, you’ll likely notice that there may be more brands to consider than in larger systems used by hospitals. That said, Epic is the leading ambulatory EHR system—just as it is in hospital systems.
Ambulatory EHR Case Study
In a case study cited by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of a “large academic internal medicine clinic,” certain factors were noted as necessary for implementation success. They included these “critical” ones: “readiness to change, solidarity in EHR use, a commitment to striving, and process improvement strategies.” The last focused on fixing clinic workflows dubbed as “suboptimal.”
Benefits observed after this successful implementation included better patient access, more efficient workflows, improved communications, decision support use, and enhanced financial performance. The hope is that this information will encourage others to optimally adopt and use these EHR systems.
Role of EHR Consulting in the Ambulatory EHR Market
Experienced EHR consulting companies—such as HealthTECH Resources—can help your healthcare organization to analyze your specific needs for an ambulatory system and determine which vendors have solutions that dovetail with your needs.
Benefits of Hiring an EHR Consultant for the Ambulatory EHR Market
Besides having a deep understanding of the technologies along with vital niche specialties, EHR consulting professionals can leverage their in-depth experiences with EHR systems on other projects, gleaning knowledge and insights that they can use for your healthcare organization. EHR consulting experts can compare various vendors; make the right recommendations for your facilities; and work alongside your in-house staff to implement and optimize the chosen system. They also can train end users, offering support during the implementation and post-live.
Overall, EHR consultants can save your organization time and money with their efficient and cost-effective work as they securely manage the technology. This can streamline usage and allow you to realize a return on investment more quickly.
Contact HealthTECH Resources
When considering EHR consulting companies, know that we’re the experienced choice as we provide outstanding staff augmentation services. Contact us online or call (602) 806-8949 today.
PRESIDENT/CEO AT HEALTHTECH RESOURCES
Larry has specialized in building strategic healthcare relationships for over 25 years, helping the nation’s top payors and providers solve some of their most pressing business challenges through an intelligent mix of staffing services, training, and consulting.