Electronic health records software is meant to make keeping patient records easy to use, easy to access and easy to update. Ideally Electronic health records software will include claims filing, claims printing, patient charts, patient statements and patient updates. To be really effective Electronic health records software will include patient specific date also. This data in an electronic format may include the patient progress, any problems the patient has had, and the medications the patient is on or has been on, any vital signs taken during recent visits and also historical vital signs so the physician has a track record so to speak. It should also include the following to form a complete electronic picture of the patient. It should include the patients past health history, immunizations they have had, any pertinent lab data, and any pertinent radiology data. If a physicians medical practice has a records software program that contains all of that data then it would be very easy to access it at any point from any of the practices computers and have a full picture of the patient that is in the office at the moment. Of course to get to a point where there is virtually a paperless patient record keeping takes several things to happen. First the medical practice has to go out and analyze the different health records software that is available. Then they have to make some decision as to what their budget is for this project and can they afford every part of the entire program. If they can’t then they have to find a program that can be purchased in modules or segments that is also upgradable if choose in the future to add to this software program. Before a medical practice can make this decision they also have to know the complete cost of such a program including any training, installation costs, end purchase costs, ongoing fees and any other fees that might be encountered. In addition they have to find out something about the software vendor to make sure they will be in business when the medical practice makes the decision to add to their software or make any changes to the program. They also have to make sure the software program is the right fit for the particular medical practice. This includes how any training will take place especially if the program is rather complex to learn initially. When a medical practice is thinking about adding some form of health software programs to its computer system then it also needs to evaluate its current needs and what the believe their future needs will be. There are some programs that have other components besides health records and that may include patient billing software, claims billing software, e-prescribing of prescriptions, referrals that are made or received. There are many different program components that could go a long way to getting a medical practice paperless or perhaps less paper oriented. This also reduces storage costs and results in better documentation for the medical office staff.
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