As electronic health records became more widely adopted, smaller health systems realized that the large, one-size-fits-all approach offered by companies such as Epic and Cerner might not be suitable for them.
Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, a 360-bed hospital, embarked on a journey to build EHR from the ground up.
“One of the main reasons we decided to build our own EHR system is that many large EHR systems are not suitable for small hospitals,” said Jessica Cox, director of product solutions for health systems and a registered nurse. “These large, out-of-the-box systems are not suitable for small operations.”
Cerner and Epic Systems are often touted as being able to simplify or eliminate paperwork, increase operational efficiency, and increase the efficiency of interaction with patients. On the contrary, many doctors and practitioners complain that the current system cannot adapt to their needs. They spend more time recording every step they take, leading to burnout.
For Cox, a core priority in the EHR upgrade process is to review how Epic or Cerner’s products are patient-centric and find greater consistency with what doctors need in the EHR, which is a serious issue in current electronic records. insufficient.
“We are fortunate enough for software developers to follow our clinicians, understand their work and develop a practical one-day workflow,” Cox said. “From there, they will come back every few weeks to see which ones work and which ones don’t.”
Holy Name Medical Center used MediComp Systems in Chantilly, Virginia as a partner to create a new EHR system. Currently, the system uses MediComp software for clinical recording and evaluation,
The CEO of MediComp responds to Cox’s criticism of the main EHR system
“Most major EHR systems are designed to improve transactions and billing. Their design is not always user-friendly,” said David Lareau. “Our system is designed to be user-friendly and is an interface in the hospital’s EHR system, so clinicians only need to click on the symptom link, and potential diagnostic results will appear.”
As more and more EHR systems migrate to the cloud, Lareau said that the future of EHR and clinical work will become more suitable for each medical system.
“We helped provide the tools for Holy Name so they can customize their workflow, while at the same time they use community-wide methods to access information on their systems,” he said.
Cox said that the entire project took about two and a half years from concept to implementation. The system has been fully active for about seven months, but the health system executive declined to disclose the cost of the project. Doctors, nurses, staff and hospital leadership are already excited about the user-friendliness of Harmony EHR (the name of EHR).
“We have seen improvements in tracking patients, KPIs, and throughput through the system. We are still monitoring billing and the time it takes to receive reimbursement,” Cox said. “We have always heard that the new system is good, tidy, clean, and easy to use. It allows our doctors more time to accompany patients and reduces the time spent typing on the computer.”
The next step is to provide EHR systems to other small hospitals, health districts, doctor clinics, etc. Cox does not have a specific timetable for when it will be launched.
Photo: invincible_bullldog, Getty Images
