Integrating Telemedicine in Custom EHR to Improve Care Quality

Let me tell you an interesting statistic. According to a study by McKinsey almost 55% of the patients believe that they have received quality care through telehealth compared to in-office visits. Interesting, isn’t it?

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The popularity of telehealth has bridged the gaps in healthcare services between urban and rural areas. A survey of Rock Health suggests that almost 74% of the people in rural areas are using telehealth services and would be happy to continue receiving care through telehealth platforms.

These above stats might give you an idea of what telemedicine has to do with the healthcare ecosystem. However, this rise in virtual care deliveries started with the rise in custom healthcare software development.

Having said that, let me ask you a logical question, if you are also looking to start virtual healthcare practices with telemedicine.

So, what do you need to deliver quality care to your patients virtually?

A quick consultation with the patient and a sneak peek into their health history, right?

Well, telehealth bridges the gaps and allows you to have virtual consultation, but what about a patient’s health history? This is where EHR integration comes into the picture and together they have the potential to literally change the face of your healthcare practice.

In this blog, let’s see how telehealth can enhance patient care activities and help you in better patient care activities while building your own EHR.

Understanding Telemedicine and EHR

First things first, let’s start by understanding what exactly telemedicine and electronic health records are. To sum up, telemedicine is nothing but the use of telecommunication technologies to deliver clinical care remotely or virtually. The use of telecommunication technologies allows healthcare providers to connect and communicate with patients via multiple channels like video conferencing, phone consultation, or secure text messaging.

On the other hand, EHR, also known as Electronic Health Records, is a digital version of a patient’s medical history. The digital document includes patient demographics, doctor’s notes, treatment plans, clinical observations, current medication, past medication, allergies, current or past medical conditions, lab test results, radiology reports, vaccination records, etc. In short, everything you want to know about a patient’s health as a healthcare provider, all you need to do is access the patient’s EHR.

Now, redirecting you to the question asked earlier, by combining telemedicine and EHR you can actually start providing virtual consultation to your patients. The telemedicine would connect you with your patient in real-time and would also add the factor of convenience to care delivery.

Improving Access to Care

Looking at the stats mentioned in the introduction, you must have got the idea that telemedicine improved the access to healthcare services, especially for people in rural and underserved areas. The implementation of telemedicine in custom EHR software, would allow patients to directly book appointments and consult with providers from the comfort of their homes.

Moreover, it also eliminates the need to travel to the hospital or clinic and along with that, the prolonged wait times that they usually encounter in an in-person visit is also eliminated. All these factors contribute to better patient care activities by bringing the attention back to patient care and the role of the connecting link is done by EHR.

In this way, telemedicine and EHR together enhances patient care activities and better care practices, ultimately resulting in better patient care activities. Along with that, by going a step further than this, with the integration of Remote Patient Monitoring devices, you can also continuously monitor patient health and provide better preventive care.

All these activities improves the access to healthcare services and also boosts the morale of patients allowing them to proactively participate in their healthcare activities. This will improve care practice with timely care and improve the overall patient satisfaction rate for your healthcare practice.

Enhancing Patient Engagement

As discussed earlier, telemedicine improves access to healthcare services and that combined with electronic health records empowers patients to be proactively involved in their healthcare journey. But how does it work?

Well, this is where the feature of ‘Patient Portal’ in custom EHR software comes into the picture. A patient portal is basically a comprehensive dashboard that allows the patient to manage their health in a much better and sophisticated way. From the portal, the patients can easily schedule their appointments, view their EHR, connect with providers, manage medication refills, etc.

Along with that, by enabling remote monitoring you create a complete virtual care delivery ecosystem. It will not only empower patients to measure and track their health vitals in an easy and better way but also increase their adherence to care and treatment plans. This can be extremely useful if there is a higher number of chronic patients.

Furthermore, by bridging the communication gap between healthcare providers and patients by providing them with the means to stay in touch constantly, you can cater to their needs in a much better way. This will lead to the curation of personalized care plans by taking all the needs and requirements of the patient into account. For instance, if the provider feels that their current care plan is not having a major impact on patient health, then they can instantly connect with each other via telehealth platforms and, on the basis of data in EHR, curate a plan that can be more beneficial for the patient.

Improving Care Coordination

If you’re still reading this, then by now you must have got a brief idea that telemedicine and EHR was the missing link for the transition of traditional healthcare practices to digital healthcare practice. And its impact can be seen in the whole care team if not the whole healthcare clinic.

For instance, telemedicine and EHR can facilitate real-time communication between patients and providers. To simplify, during consultation, the patient can collect their health vitals via RPM devices which will reflect the results in the EHR system in real-time. This can be accessed by the provider and can be the evidence to take the consultation forward.

Furthermore, with custom EHR software development, you directly or indirectly create centralized patient records, which will help you bring everyone on the care team on the same page and work towards the same goal to improve patient health outcomes.

And the automation feature in custom EHR software streamlines the workflow, both clinical, non-clinical, and administrative; the chances of medical errors are reduced if not eliminated. This improves information sharing and contributes to better care quality, directly impacting the rest of the chain, ultimately resulting in better patient health outcomes.

Future Trends and Challenges

Custom EHR software and telemedicine integration have slowly become the strong pillars of the digital healthcare landscape. However, with the technological landscape continuously changing with the introduction of new technologies every other day, they will most likely dictate the future of healthcare practices. While they will define the roadmap for the future, they will come bearing their own challenges. Here are some of the future trends and challenges that you must know and consider during the custom EHR software development:

1. AI and Machine Learning: These technologies make headlines every now and then; their integration into telemedicine and EHR can literally change the face of the virtual healthcare landscape. AI in EHR software can help providers make informed decisions and provide better preventive care with predictive analytics. Furthermore, you can further enhance the care delivery provided and personalized care practices by implementing machine learning algorithms to identify patterns in patient health vitals to enhance their care journey further.

2. Data Security and Privacy: Riding the waves of digital transformation and ensuring data security and patient data privacy are some of the major concerns that you must address. Implement robust security measures with APIs, encryption, and role-based access control. One of the best tricks for implementing robust security measures is adhering to the rules and regulations put forth by regulatory bodies such as HIPAA, GDPR, HITECH Act, etc.

3. Regulatory Hurdles: Adhering to the regulatory bodies is easier said than done. That is the reason why these regulatory compliances have affected the widespread adoption of telemedicine and EHR. Partner with a custom EHR software development company that provides HIPAA-compliant EHR software; it can save you a lot of time and trouble.