With the advent of electronic health records, healthcare providers have become more accustomed to the use of technology for record keeping, managing practice and even billing. EHRs are here to stay, and innovative tech has earned its place over the past few years.
However, it’s important to realize that regular EHRs are not exactly ideal for the needs of a public health system. Providers must understand the specific challenges of public health organizations, the ever-evolving healthcare industry and the requirements associated with the federal EHR Meaningful Use program in order to make the most of their practice.
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With state, federal, county and grant funding now involved, medical practices and local health departments have to understand the requirements of both surveillance and reporting. There is a vacuum in the industry, and public health providers are still looking for EHRs that meet their compliance requirements and fits their business needs. Moreover, the prevalent economic state has forced providers into seeking EHRs that help maximize reimbursements while improving efficiencies at the same time.
The sad reality is that existing EHRs are not well-suited to comply with public health requirements. A shift is needed, and the longer providers stretch out their use of regular EHRs, the more dire the situation becomes.
Patient registration
Reporting requirements for local health departments have increased significantly, so it is absolutely important that these departments and providers register each patient into the right program. An effective public health EHR will allow a practice to slide each patient into a different scale for payment, based on variation in family members, income and other factors. Also, look out for a system that generates a declaration of income for the patient to sign electronically.
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Clinical forms
For public health reporting, your EHR must contain all of the required forms. These include Bright Futures, maternal health, WISEWOMAN, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and others.
A good public health EHR will automatically customize clinical forms for each department. Moreover, it will allow the data generated to be structured for reporting at both the state and federal levels. Make sure you end up entering the data just once, so the EHR itself flows the information through the entire system.
Billing and financial compatibility
Billing and finances are crucial when it comes to running a smooth practice. With an effective public health EHR, denials and rejections should drop significantly.
Aim for a rejection rate of no more than 0.4 percent. Not only will it increase departmental revenue, but providers will get paid faster. Go for real-time insurance eligibility checking to make it easy for patients. Above all, make sure your public health EHR meets all the billing and reporting requirements of your payers, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Reporting
Reporting to state and federal agencies has to be taken care of, with extreme caution of course. An efficient public health EHR should include a comprehensive set of reports that make it easier for providers to meet this requirement. A well-established connection with state labs is always a plus in this case.
A little extra
A little extra never hurts. Electronic prescribing, in-house lab support, an HL7 interface to external labs and immunization management are things you should keep an eye out for. With these extra features in the package, your public health EHR will outshine the rest.
Make the most of the EHR system and improve your practice in virtually every way possible.
