How EHRs Can Enhance the Patient Experience

Patient experience is a concrete concept that has become a core focus for hospitals across the nation.

With consumers more financially and emotionally invested in their healthcare decisions than ever before and revenue increasingly tied to patient satisfaction scores, to possess the competitive edge in today’s healthcare market, hospitals must be more intentional about their relationships with patients. Understanding the preferences of patients from the moment they enter the hospital until their discharge can help providers pinpoint the most effective way to not only deliver care, but also offer them an unsurpassed patient experience.

The EHR Effect

Electronic health records (EHRs) are an invaluable tool for providing clinicians and hospital leadership with crystal clear insights that can go miles towards strengthening patient relationships. The way hospitals use EHRs to communicate with patients and share health data is crucial to patient satisfaction, according to a recent report from Black Book Research.

Up to 89 percent of consumers surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the technology capabilities of their healthcare providers. On the flipside, 84 percent of respondents said they seek out providers who use technology to engage and communicate in meaningful ways. A whopping 92 percent of those surveyed stated that the inability to access and view their complete medical records via EHRs left them dissatisfied.

While the survey clearly revealed a consumer penchant for improved engagement and communication, it also showed that few hospital budgets made space for technologies that would meet these needs. Many still rely on clunky, fragmented systems that confuse patients and frustrate physicians. Those same disconnected systems have been cited as a top source of physician burnout. Doctors surveyed by the Physicians Foundation ranked EHRs as their biggest hassle due to their negative impact on efficiency and patient interaction.

Investing in EHR technology that enables patients to seamlessly interact with providers, as well as their own medical records, is vital for serving tech-savvy consumers with complex health needs and retail-like expectations.

Ways to use EHRs to Improve the Patient Experience:

1. Provide quick access to the most complete, accurate records. EHRs that collect clinical and financial data in an integrated system can offer a more detailed, holistic medical record. Records can then act as powerful tools for improving the patient-provider relationship with simple access to the latest lab results, medication lists, billing info and other relevant data. This also helps prevent costly oversights and errors so patients and their doctors can save time finding the exact information they need when they need it. 

2. Streamline communication between patients and care teams. Intuitive EHRs that fit into the workflow of clinicians and allow them to chart on-the-go can improve note accuracy and prompt patient engagement. Likewise, patients can also interact with their care team through EHR portals that provide secure, direct messaging for faster answers to their questions or concerns.

3. Coordinate and target care across patient populations. EHRs contain a wealth of data hospitals can use to track trends and forecast needs across different groups of high-risk patients. Clinicians can use these insights to deepen their understanding of what drives the attitudes and behaviors of patients and develop more targeted interventions or services to engage and educate them.

Designed to meet the needs of various healthcare facilities, MEDHOST’s fully integrated EHR helps keep physician and administrative workflows seamlessly buzzing along and enables providers to better manage the patient experience across the care continuum. The data-driven platform can help improve patient care by delivering accurate and timely documentation.  Added visibility into the patient journey between care settings, such as referrals and scheduling with tools like Community Bridge allows hospitals to do even more to improve the care experience. Its integrated patient and provider portals help hospitals proactively engage consumers and serve patients beyond facility walls.

The need to provide a superior experience to those seeking care is not fleeting. It has woven its way into the fabric of modern-day healthcare. An evolution in patient expectations calls for hospitals to begin investing more in smarter technologies that help them match the pace of change.

Ready to elevate the patient experience at your healthcare facility? Email us at inquiries@medhost.com or call 1.800.383.6278 to speak with one of our experts to learn how MEDHOST can implement technology-driven solutions to prioritize the patient experience at your hospital.

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