Healthtech Security
Article | November 29, 2023
Social media has become a powerful tool to connect people with friends, relatives, family, and other loved ones. Worldwide, around 4.2 billion people are actively using the internet. Among them, 3 billion are regularly active on social media channels. Social media is not just about interpersonal conversations; at least 80 percent of users follow one business on Instagram. With all the ads on your Facebook news feed, you connect with various brands or become aware about many brands. But does social media in healthcare make any impact?
Almost all industries have started to realize the power of social media and how it can impact connecting with consumers. Various social media platforms help companies share information, increase brand awareness, and partner with industry influencers. Social media has overpowered traditional marketing strategies. Social media has become the wave of the future.
Regarding the uptake of social media, the healthcare industry has been a bit slower. However, the industry now has accepted the undeniable importance of social media in healthcare. The reluctance might have been due to the risks associated for the providers as well as patients. Privacy and confidentiality of patient information has to be maintained always. Those were the challenges of social media in healthcare. However, consumers can get information from social media faster than any other tool.
The Healthcare industry includes both the healthcare technology providers as well as the healthcare service providers. Whether you are a service provider or a technology provider, social media can impact your customers equally. This article discusses the positive effects and benefits of social media in healthcare, especially healthcare service providers.
Embraced by the Medical Community
The healthcare industry took notice of social media when government agencies and other business industries started to reap the benefits of social media. A recent survey revealed an interesting fact about the use of social media in healthcare. More than 1500 healthcare providers around the US have social media presence online. Hospitals miss key opportunities if they don’t use social media. These hospital systems have started effectively using social media to reach out to their past, current, and future patients. Social media in healthcare is an easy medium to share vital information with consumers and patients in the industry.
The survey also revealed that more than 30% of medical professionals use various social media platforms to network with their peers. Many physicians also use these social media platforms for multiple activities in open forums. Having an active online presence evokes transparency among clients and peers. Healthcare providers can join various platforms such as Twitter to become healthcare influencers. Through social media in healthcare, providers can make connections, engage the community, and explore the industry.
The Case of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, US is the best example of how social media can be used to reach out to patients, engage them online, and stay ahead of competitors. They have more than 2 million followers on Facebook, 1.9 million followers on Twitter, and around 5 lack followers on LinkedIn. They have very different and unique social media strategies. They do post about whatever happens on the campus, including doctors practicing in their respective departments and interactive sessions with doctors and HODs, etc. Also, they do provide health tips and information, general health advice, and updates on the latest medical technologies and treatments. Apart from these, the hospital also reaches out to patients for queries and feedback through social media and responds to them promptly. These effective social media strategies help them in building up a brand, reputation management, create a patient relationship and build patient loyalty.
Loved by Healthcare Consumers
To find advice and new treatments, healthcare consumers widely use social media. This creates an opportunity for providers to connect with consumers through various forms of healthcare educational content. More than 40 percent of consumers believe that social media in healthcare affects their wellness decisions and health. Among 18 to 24 years old, 90 percent of people trust the medical information they get on social media. This shows the importance of healthcare providers on social media channels.
Mobile healthcare is expanding as consumers depend more on the internet for information. Countless fitness and health apps are available online. However, many of them are not effective and do not cure diseases but can change behaviors. Having an app will help you increase your accountability, as a provider, among consumers.
Positive Impact of Social Media on Healthcare
The healthcare community is widely embracing the scope of social media in healthcare. Healthcare technology providers, hospitals, and other service providers are opening new accounts to create a consistent image among consumers. There are many ways to improve care by reaching out to patients through social media in healthcare. Some of the positive impacts of best practices for social media in healthcare are as follows:
Increasing Access Across Generations
Healthcare companies have almost stopped employing the traditional ways of advertising. Patients always need quick access to information to reduce the risk of getting flu or to find new providers, including baby boomers, every generation is online. According to Forbes, as of 2017, 9 percent of Facebook users were above 55 years of age. This present generation is very tech-savvy, they search online for local healthcare services and healthcare information. They use Facebook and YouTube. So, you need to create a marketing strategy that targets baby boomers.
Generation X also searches health-related topics online, which accounts for 1.5 billion views on YouTube each day. As they care for children and aging parents, they may search for the best long-term care facilities, how to soothe a colicky baby, and so much more. As millennials are focused on healthy living and being cost-conscious, they depend more on social media platforms for healthcare information. Ninety-three percent of millennials say that they do not rely on healthcare providers for preventive health information.
Thus, as everyone goes online for healthcare information, healthcare service providers should consider the role of social media in healthcare seriously. By providing reliable and accurate information, healthcare providers can engage with consumers and increase the patient experience through social media.
Creating Authenticity
The days that the patients trust doctors blindly have gone. Healthcare consumers have become smarter and want to have relationships with providers who care for them. Allowing your tech-savvy employees to share videos and pictures of events or office helps have a human touch. It also improves patient engagement and overall patient satisfaction.
If patients know the people in your reception or nurses of respective departments, it helps them relax, engage, and makes them share their health history more openly. This is possible as they connect with those in the office through your social media in healthcare. It increases your authenticity.
Keeping an Eye on Competitors
Administrators and marketers keep an eye on their competitors through their social media platforms. They evaluate pain points, community involvements, service lines, and marketing strategies sitting in their offices. Hospitals and other providers can quickly get feedback on technologies and marketing strategies the competitors are using. This would help them if they want to incorporate these things in their care process before investing.
You can take note of the social media platforms where your competitors are performing well. This approach to social media in healthcare would remove the possibility of failure with your social media strategy, especially when you begin with it.
Real-time Updates
During emergencies and other situations, social media in healthcare allows you to communicate quickly. Social media updates can provide life-saving information, from crisis alerts to census notifications. World Health Organization (WHO) is an excellent example; they provide real-time information to the masses regarding any health crisis, warnings, and other critical safety information during disasters, using social media, especially Twitter.
Similarly, by providing real-time information to your consumers through your social media channels, you can increase your authenticity, authority, and dependency. Real-time access to information saves lives.
Gathering Feedback
Patients often want to communicate with their doctors quickly. They may need to share something about a recent appointment or about a reaction they had to medication. Making patients provide feedback on social media helps you learn how they feel about their medicine and care.
You can get essential feedback that might help you improve your care. It also helps you recognize and reward the staff that the consumers recognize. As a provider, you can also get back to them for additional information after the feedback you get from them on social media. This possibility of social media in healthcare will work more to provide better care next time.
Social Media for the Future
Social media in healthcare is going to stay here and have advancements from time to time. Most of the modern consumers are tech-savvy and want to have everything at their fingertips. Modern patients have no patience. Therefore, social media works to engage patients and enhance the patient experience and satisfaction.
Whether you are a large service provider, a solo practitioner, or run a hospital, you need a social media presence. For engaging with your community, social media in healthcare helps a lot. It can make an impact beyond your imagination. Use these strategies to improve the quality of the healthcare you provide.
It may be a tiresome job to do it all alone. We, at Media7, provide social media services to engage your consumers. Whether you are a service provider or a technology provider, we are here to help you with our compelling social media strategies. We help healthcare companies generate leads, brand themselves, increase sales, and make them your happy customers. For more details about us, visit https://media7.com/.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media in health care?
When used cautiously, social media can provide clear benefits, such as clinical education, professional networking, and patient’s health promotion. However, there can be disadvantages too, including privacy and confidentiality of patients, resulting in formidable consequences.
How has social media influenced the marketing of health care?
For establishing public awareness and managing reputation, social media is practical means. As part of an effective marketing plan, social media has become an essential medium for healthcare professionals to interact with consumers and engage them.
What is the Importance of Social Media in the hospital?
By providing important and general information on healthcare, hospitals can make their presence more valuable to consumers. Encouraging patients to share their feedback and thoughts makes hospitals connect with them and improve the care process.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | September 8, 2023
Contents
1. Getting Started with LIMS Software
2. Benefits of Incorporating LIMS Software into Lab Management
3. LIMS Software Classification
4. Selecting the Right LIMS Software: A Comparison of Variants
5. How LIMS Software Revolutionized Laboratory Management
6. Future Scope
1. Getting Started with LIMS Software
Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) software automates laboratory operations, improves productivity, and ensures the accuracy as well as reliability of laboratory data. It can be implemented in clinical laboratories, research & development labs, and environmental testing labs and tailored to meet specific needs. LIMS software seamlessly integrates with other laboratory systems, such as electronic lab notebooks and scientific data management systems.
LIMS class software enables storing and managing all information in one place, improving day-to-day work. Yet, research reveals that still 40% of industry leaders 'had not embarked on applying digital to research and development or quality control labs'.
(Source: Accenture)
2. Benefits of Incorporating LIMS Software into Lab Management
By implementing LIMS software, laboratories can significantly reduce time spent locating samples and records, entering data, and generating reports.
LIMS software also offers additional advantages when integrated into laboratory management, such as
1. Optimizing: LIMS automates laboratory processes, allowing for a paperless environment and increased productivity. It also ensures accurate test results by preventing the use of outdated instruments.
2. Automating: LIMS facilitates the input of essential sample information, including its source, date, time, and location of the collection as well as processing data.
3. Compliant: LIMS helps labs follow FDA regulations by creating an audit trail that tracks all activities, including record creation, modification, and deletion. It also enables electronic signatures to authenticate key activities and keep data secure and traceable.
4. Collaborative: LIMS streamlines inter-laboratory collaboration through the option to share data access. This allows lab technicians from disparate laboratories to be seamlessly assigned to different projects and obtain the required information without disruption.
5. Security: LIMS systems offer various mechanisms for managing user access, such as an in-built user management system with a unique username and password, integration with LDAP or Active Directory for user authentication, and access through an Identity Server.
3. LIMS Software Classification
Laboratory Information Management System software can be classified based on several criteria, including functionality, deployment model, industry focus, and the laboratory's needs.
Here is a list of critical features that can be considered while classifying LIMS software:
1. Functionality: Different LIMS software may have varying functionality, including sample tracking, data management, instrument integration, quality control, workflow management, and reporting.
2. Deployment Model: LIMS software can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. On-premises deployment means that the software is installed and run on the laboratory's own servers, while cloud-based deployment means that the software is hosted and maintained by a third-party provider.
3. Industry Focus: LIMS software can be designed for specific industries or applications, such as pharmaceutical research, clinical laboratories, food and beverage testing, environmental testing, and more.
4. Open-Source vs. Proprietary: LIMS software can also be classified as either open-source or proprietary. Open-source software is freely available and can be modified by users, while a company owns proprietary software and requires a license to use it.
5. Scalability: The size of the laboratory and the number of users accessing the LIMS software can also be a factor in classification. Some LIMS software may be more scalable, allowing for easy expansion as the laboratory grows.
6. Integration Capabilities: LIMS software can also be classified based on its ability to integrate with other software or instruments. Some LIMS software may be more flexible and have better integration capabilities than others, allowing for seamless data exchange between different systems.
4. Selecting the Right LIMS Software: A Comparison of Variants
While selecting the most appropriate LIMS variant, the wide range of available options can pose a challenge for laboratory decision-makers. To aid in this selection process, a comprehensive comparative analysis of LIMS variants is presented below:
1. Lab managers can adopt an objective approach for evaluating and comparing different LIMS solutions by creating a grading rubric. This involves designing a table with separate columns for each LIMS vendor and rows listing the desired features as well as functionalities. To provide a more comprehensive evaluation, advanced rubrics may include rating each functionality on a particular LIMS using a scale of 1 to 5.
2. Next, it is crucial to review how LIMS solutions are structured and stored. This includes determining whether the solution is on-premise or cloud-based, either as a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or software-as-a-service (SaaS). For optimal flexibility in the laboratory's computing structure, choosing a vendor that offers LIMS as a comprehensive solution is advantageous.
3. Data access must be controlled by using unique user IDs and passwords. Furthermore, data security standards such as HIPAA compliance and SSL encryption will likely be mandatory across many laboratory industries. It is thus imperative to carefully consider and ensure the security features of any potential LIMS solution.
4. To assess the level of support that can be expected with a particular LIMS, one effective method is to directly inquire with the software vendor about outages, response time, and plans of action to address any glitches preemptively. Managing expectations around the LIMS requires asking about the frequency of LIMS updates, including how often the platform is updated, how updates are announced and deployed, and the expected duration of any update-related outages.
5. While selecting a LIMS solution, laboratories must establish a target go-live date, especially when implementing the system in response to, or preparation for, an audit. Software vendors should provide a deployment and implementation timeline, which can be used to compare with the laboratory's objectives and goals. This helps to ensure that the LIMS solution is implemented in a timely and efficient manner.
5. How LIMS Software Revolutionized Laboratory Management
LIMS software has fundamentally revolutionized the laboratory management system in several ways. Before the advent of LIMS, laboratory operations were often paper-based and highly manual, leading to inefficiencies, errors, and inconsistencies. However, with the implementation of LIMS, laboratories have become more efficient, accurate, and compliant.
LIMS has also improved laboratory productivity, allowing scientists to focus on higher-value tasks like data analysis and interpretation. It has enabled collaboration between different laboratories, facilitating communication and knowledge sharing between scientists, researchers, and analysts, and is also leading to more significant innovation and progress in the field of science and research.
6. Future Scope
The future scope of Laboratory Information Management System software is promising as it continues to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of laboratory management. Potential developments include integrating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics, cloud-based solutions for scalability and accessibility, IoT integration for automation and safety, enhanced data analytics for improved decision-making, and mobile applications for on-the-go access. Moreover, with SaaS LIMS, there are no license costs, minimal installation fees, and no need for in-house servers or databanks, resulting in reduced IT maintenance costs for hardware and software.
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
Article | September 7, 2023
A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. The implementation of a digital twin is a model that mirrors a unique physical object, process, organization, person or other abstraction. For healthcare providers, digital twins provide an abstraction of the healthcare ecosystem’s component characteristics and behaviors. These are used in combination with other real-time health system (RTHS) capabilities to provide real-time monitoring, process simulation for efficiency improvements, population health and long-term, cross-functional statistical analyses.
Digital twins have the potential to transform and accelerate decision making, reduce clinical risk, improve operational efficiencies and lower cost of care, resulting in better competitive advantage for HDOs. However, digital twins will only be as valuable as the quality of the data utilized to create them. The digital twin of a real-world entity is a method to create relevance for descriptive data about its modeled entity. How that digital twin is built and used can lead to better-informed care pathways and organizational decisions, but it can also lead clinicians and executives down a path of frustration if they get the source data wrong. The underlying systems that gather and process data are key to the success for digital twin creation. Get those systems right and digital twins can accelerate care delivery and operational efficiencies.
Twins in Healthcare Delivery
The fact is that HDOs have been using digital twins for years. Although rudimentary in function, digital representations of patients, workflow processes and hospital operations have already been applied by caregivers and administrators across the HDO. For example, a physician uses a digital medical record to develop a treatment plan for a patient. The information in the medical record (a rudimentary digital twin) along with the physician’s experience, training and education combine to provide a diagnostic or treatment plan. Any gaps in information must be compensated through additional data gathering, trial-and-error treatments, intuitive leaps informed through experience or simply guessing. The CIO’s task now is to remove as many of those gaps as possible using available technology to give the physician the greatest opportunity to return their patients to wellness in the most efficient possible manner.
Today, one way to close those gaps is to create the technology-based mechanisms to collect accurate data for the various decision contexts within the HDO. These contexts are numerous and include decisioning perspectives for every functional unit within the enterprise. The more accurate the data collected on a specific topic, the higher the value of the downstream digital twin to each decision maker (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Digital Twins Are Only as Good as Their Data Source
HDO CIOs and other leaders that base decisions on poor-quality digital twins increase organizational risk and potential patient care risk. Alternatively, high-quality digital twins will accelerate digital business and patient care effectiveness by providing decision makers the best information in the correct context, in the right moment and at the right place — hallmarks of the RTHS.
Benefits and Uses
Digital Twin Types in Healthcare Delivery
Current practices for digital twins take two basic forms: discrete digital twins and composite digital twins. Discrete digital twins are the type that most people think about when approaching the topic. These digital twins are one-dimensional, created from a single set or source of data. An MRI study of a lung, for example, is used to create a digital representation of a patient that can be used by trained analytics processes to detect the subtle image variations that indicate a cancerous tumor. The model of the patient’s lung is a discrete digital twin. There are numerous other examples of discrete digital twins across healthcare delivery, each example tied to data collection technologies for specific clinical diagnostic purposes. Some of these data sources include vitals monitors, imaging technologies for specific conditions, sensors for electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG). All these technologies deliver discrete data describing one (or very few) aspects of a patient’s condition.
Situational awareness is at the heart of HDO digital twins. They are the culmination of information gathered from IoT and other sources to create an informed, accurate digital model of the real-world healthcare organization. Situational awareness is the engine behind various “hospital of the future,” “digital hospital” and “smart patient room” initiatives. It is at the core of the RTHS.
Digital twins, when applied through the RTHS, positively impact these organizational areas (with associated technology examples — the technologies all use one or more types of digital twins to fulfill their capability):
Care delivery:
Clinical communication and collaboration
Next-generation nurse call
Alarms and notifications
Crisis/emergency management
Patient engagement:
Experiential wayfinding
Integrated patient room
Risks
Digital Twin Usability
Digital twin risk is tied directly to usability. Digital twin usability is another way of looking at the issue created by poor data quality or low data point counts used to create the twins. Decision making is a process that is reliant on inputs from relevant information sources combined with education, experience, risk assessment, defined requirements, criteria and opportunities to reach a plausible conclusion. There is a boundary or threshold that must be reached for each of these inputs before a person or system can derive a decision. When digital twins are used for one or many of these sources, the ability to cross these decision thresholds to create reasonable and actionable conclusions is tied to the accuracy of the twins (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Digital Twin Usability Thresholds
For example, the amount of information about a patient room required to decide if the space is too hot or cold is low (due to a single temperature reading from a wall-mounted thermostat). In addition, the accuracy or quality of that data can be low (that is, a few degrees off) and still be effective for deciding to raise or lower the room temperature. To decide if the chiller on the roof of that patient wing needs to be replaced, the decision maker needs much more information. That data may represent all thermostat readings in the wing over a long period of time with some level of verification on temperature accuracy. The data may also include energy load information over the same period consumed by the associated chiller.
If viewed in terms of a digital twin, the complexity level and accuracy level of the source data must pass an accuracy threshold that allows users to form accurate decisions. There are multiple thresholds for each digital twin — based on twin quality — whether that twin is a patient, a revenue cycle workflow or hospital wing. These thresholds create a limit of decision impact; the lower the twin quality the less important the available decision for the real-world entity the twin represents.
Trusting Digital Twins for HDOs
The concept of a limit of detail required to make certain decisions raises certain questions. First, “how does a decision maker know they have enough detail in their digital twin to take action based on what the model is describing about its real-world counterpart?” The answer lies in measurement and monitoring of specific aspects of a digital twin, whether it be a discrete twin, composite twin or organization twin.
Users must understand the inputs required for decisions and where twins will provide one or more of the components of that input. They need to examine the required decision criteria in order to reach the appropriate level of expected outcome from the decision itself. These feed into the measurements that users will have to monitor for each twin. These criteria will be unique to each twin. Composite twins will have unique measurements that may be independent from the underlying discrete twin measurement.
The monitoring of these key twin characteristics must be as current as the target twin’s data flow or update process. Digital twins that are updated once can have a single measurement to gauge its appropriateness for decisioning. A twin that is updated every second based on event stream data must be measured continuously.
This trap is the same for all digital twins regardless of context. The difference is in the potential impact. A facilities decision that leads to cooler-than-desired temperatures in the hallways pales in comparison to a faulty clinical diagnosis that leads to unnecessary testing or negative patient outcomes.
All it takes is a single instance of a digital twin used beyond its means with negative results for trust to disappear — erasing the significant investments in time and effort it took to create the twin. That is why it is imperative that twins be considered a technology product that requires constant process improvement. From the IoT edge where data is collected to the data ingestion and analytics processes that consume and mold the data to the digital twin creation routines, all must be under continuous pressure for improvement.
Recommendations
Include a Concise Digital Twin Vision Within the HDO Digital Transformation Strategy
Digital twins are one of the foundational constructs supporting digital transformation efforts by HDO CIOs. They are digital representations of the real-world entities targeted by organizations that benefit from the advances and efficiencies technologies bring to healthcare delivery. Those technology advances and efficiencies will only be delivered successfully if the underlying data and associated digital twins have the appropriate level of precision to sustain the transformation initiatives.
To ensure this attention to digital twin worthiness, it is imperative that HDO CIOs include a digital twin vision as part of their organization’s digital transformation strategy. Binding the two within the strategy will reinforce the important role digital twins play in achieving the desired outcomes with all participating stakeholders.
Building new capabilities — APIs, artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies enable the connections and automation that the platform provides.
Leveraging existing systems — Legacy systems that an HDO already owns can be adapted and connected to form part of its digital platform.
Applying the platform to the industry — Digital platforms must support specific use cases, and those use cases will reflect the needs of patients, employees and other consumers.
Create a Digital Twin Pilot Program
Like other advanced technology ideas, a digital twin program is best started as a simple project that can act as a starting point for maturity over time. Begin this by selecting a simple model of a patient, a department or other entity tied to a specific desired business or clinical outcome. The goal is to understand the challenges your organization will face when implementing digital twins.
The target for the digital twin should be discrete and easily managed. For example, a digital twin of a blood bank storage facility is a contained entity with a limited number of measurement points, such as temperature, humidity and door activity. The digital twin could be used to simulate the impact of door open time on temperature and humidity within the storage facility. The idea is to pick a project that allows your team to concentrate on data collection and twin creation processes rather than get tied up in specific details of the modeled object.
Begin by analyzing the underlying source data required to compose the digital twin, with the understanding that the usability of the twins is directly correlated to its data’s quality. Understand the full data pathway from the IoT devices through to where that data is stored. Think through the data collection type needed for the twin, is discrete data or real-time data required? How much data is needed to form the twin accurately? How accurate is the data generated by the IoT devices?
Create a simulation environment to exercise the digital twin through its paces against known operational variables. The twin’s value is tied to how the underlying data represents the response of the modeled entity against external input. Keep this simple to start with — concentrate on the IT mechanisms that create and execute the twin and the simulation environment.
Monitor and measure the performance of the digital twin. Use the virtuous cycle to create a constant improvement process for the sample twin. Experience gained through this simple project will create many lessons learned and best practices to follow for complex digital twins that will follow.
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Digital Healthcare, Medical Devices
Article | July 7, 2023
Delve into the EHR tools reshaping the healthcare industry for an efficient and patient-centric future. Unlock streamlined workflows and data-driven decision-making through these EHR software tools.
Adopting an EHR tool has become crucial for clinics and healthcare providers striving to revolutionize their operations and deliver a high standard of care. These innovative EHR software tools possess the potential to transform healthcare workflows, enabling clinics to optimize processes, streamline operations, and provide an exceptional level of care to patients. From facilitating seamless communication and improving operational efficiency to enhancing patient satisfaction, EHR tools unlock possibilities for improved operations, accurate claims processing, and enhanced financial management within practices.
This article explores the top 10 electronic health record tools that are reshaping the healthcare industry and paving the way for a more efficient and patient-centric future.
1. Avalon EHR
It is an EHR evaluation tool that prioritizes robust physician-patient engagement, setting it apart from complex electronic health record (EHR) systems. With an unwavering focus on reliability and security, Avalon offers a cutting-edge solution for the future of healthcare. Its key features include CureMD's clinical overview, which presents alarms, trends, and patient histories on a single screen, ensuring comprehensive insights. The platform also boasts a specialized rheumatology section with templates for typical symptoms, simplifying documentation processes. Furthermore, Avalon provides regular updates for various medical specialties following CPT and ICD codes, ensuring compliance, proper medical procedures, and diagnosis recording. Notably, it supports automated overnight transcription of dictations into templates, significantly reducing the time and billing service partners' costs associated with finding and documenting clinical findings.
2. AdvancedBiller
The AdvancedBiller Grow program offers medical billing companies a comprehensive and advantageous solution, combining industry-leading software solutions with exclusive partner benefits. This program is designed to drive optimal outcomes by providing a unified practice management workflow, excellent support, free promotional opportunities, and competitive, scalable pricing. With a focus on boosting performance and profitability, AdvancedBiller equips businesses with the necessary tools to excel in their field. The program features custom health plans that assist doctors in managing individual patient needs based on age, sex, and lab findings. Additionally, it offers customizable note-taking templates to align with specific workflows and preferences. This EHR tool also facilitates telemedicine appointments, enabling patients to communicate face-to-face with their doctors and receive important notifications. Furthermore, the program enhances data management by allowing doctors to save sensitive information and screenshots during conference calls securely. By leveraging the AdvancedBiller Grow program, medical billing companies can optimize operations, deliver superior care, and achieve notable success.
3. Halemind
EHR integration tools, such as Halemind, present a game-changing solution that enables clinics to elevate their operations and provide superior patient care. This comprehensive platform offers many features, including appointment scheduling, patient registrations, check-ins, consultations, prescriptions, billing, and reporting, all aimed at delivering a seamless customer experience. With Halemind, clinics can transform their business and scale up their operations. The platform also provides specialized functionalities for pharmacies, allowing real-time access to customer histories, order tracking, invoicing, and supplier management. In addition, hospitals can benefit from Halemind's capabilities, such as operations planning, invoicing, payment collection, patient sample tracking, and customizable data display. Medical facilities can further enhance their efficiency by utilizing its in-patient module for managing wards, rooms, and beds and generating discharge reports.
4. SIMPLEX HIMES Patient Portal
SIMPLEX HIMES software incorporates an optional yet powerful feature, the Patient Portal and Mobile Application, designed to revolutionize patient engagement and communication. This EHR tool seamlessly integrates with existing websites, providing healthcare facilities with a comprehensive EHR tool to enhance the patient experience. The Patient Portal enables efficient control of patient intake, bed availability monitoring, operating room scheduling, and centralized patient demographic management within hospitals. The software streamlines operations for pathology labs by managing information about referral laboratories, generating barcodes for sample tracing, and delivering timely test result alerts via email or text. Additionally, patients benefit from self-service portals, empowering them to conveniently schedule appointments, access medical records, locate service provider locations, and communicate with their doctors.
5. Patient Engagement
The Patient Engagement tool offers patients unparalleled access to their personal health information, visit summaries, and lab results, empowering them to take an active role in their healthcare journey. With the help of this EHR tool, patients can conveniently book appointments online using the healow Open Access feature, efficiently manage their medications, and engage in secure messaging with their healthcare providers. In addition, the eCW software utilized within the tool provides organized data capture, trend analysis, and customizable documentation options for various healthcare specialties. Clinicians can effortlessly retrieve any aspect of the patient record through the Patient Hub, ensuring complete and efficient access to vital information. Furthermore, eClinicalWorks Version 11 introduces Eva, a computer program that assists physicians in evaluating patient records, leveraging details from the Progress Note tool and data flowsheets. This advanced functionality enhances clinical decision-making and promotes efficient patient care.
6. Electronic Prescription
The Electronic Prescription tool revolutionizes prescription management in the healthcare industry, offering a seamless and efficient solution for healthcare providers. This advanced software streamlines the prescription process by eliminating traditional prescription pads, enhancing convenience and accuracy. AllegianceMD, integrated within the tool, enables patients to fill out their history and demographic information online within defined clinic limits, facilitating seamless integration of patient information. This EHR tool encompasses a range of features, including an active/inactive medicine list, e-refill requests, an allergy list, and comprehensive drug interaction checks. The software also includes a lab module for efficiently tracking test results and follow-ups. With its extended functionalities, the Electronic Prescription tool elevates prescription management, promoting patient safety and enhancing workflow efficiency for healthcare providers.
7. Telehealth
WRS Health Telehealth offers healthcare providers and patients a secure and reliable virtual care experience. With seamless integration into the electronic health record (EHR), this comprehensive telehealth platform provides a single platform for managing virtual patient encounters. Designed with ease of use in mind, both patients and providers can navigate the user-friendly interface effortlessly. This EHR comparison tool is a safe alternative to in-office visits, offering private and secure online consultations that comply with HIPAA regulations. This telehealth solution ensures a smooth and efficient workflow with its seamless integration of clinical and revenue cycle management (RCM) functionalities.
8. Practice Management for Billing Companies
The Practice Management tool offered by SequelMed is a comprehensive solution that streamlines operations and enhances efficiency in healthcare practices. This advanced tool automates various tasks, including billing, claim processing, revenue management & clinical procedures, and generates analytical reports for comprehensive insights, with the option of bundled or separate programs for electronic health records and practice management. The software provides interoperability with imaging systems and medical equipment through HL7 and DICOM interfaces, offering flexibility in deployment options with on-site or cloud hosting. In addition to its core functionalities, it enhances patient engagement with real-time communication, online patient registration, active prescription lists, immunization schedules, and a patient portal. The Practice Management Tool simplifies computerized prescription processes and promotes connectivity across healthcare systems, enabling healthcare providers to optimize their operations and deliver efficient, patient-centered care.
9. Medical Practice Management Software
The Practice Management Software offers healthcare providers a powerful solution to streamline operations, ensure accurate claims processing, and expedite reimbursement cycles. With its intuitive design and comprehensive features, this software empowers practices to take control of their operations and optimize efficiency. Users can benefit from the HIPAA-compliant claims clearinghouse provided by NueMD, allowing for the seamless processing of unlimited claims. The software makes it easier to submit paper claims by reducing it to a single click, and it also simplifies payment transactions by incorporating credit card processing. Additionally, the ONC-ATCB-certified EHR enhances clinical workflow by providing charting capabilities, e-prescribing, laboratory report monitoring, and secure fax management.
10. LiquidEHR
LiquidEHR is a cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) solution ideal for small and midsize optometry practices. It offers a range of features to manage medical records, scheduling, and billing effectively. The software includes specialized tools specific to optometry, such as historical IOP charts, drawing tools, built-in eye charts, frames data integration, and image management. Clinicians using LiquidEHR have access to electronic insurance filing tools, patient recalls, drug interactions and allergy checks, problem lists, medication recommendations, educational resources, vital signs monitoring, and more. The system also ensures data security through access controls, audit logs, and encryption features.
Future Scope
By staying informed about the top EHR tools highlighted in this article, medical practitioners can unlock streamlined workflows, improved communication, and data-driven decision-making to optimize clinical practices and deliver exceptional patient care. The future of EHR assessment tools looks promising, with emerging trends like artificial intelligence, machine learning, interoperability, and telehealth shaping the way forward. By embracing these advancements, healthcare professionals can stay ahead of the curve, maximize operational efficiency, and position themselves for success in the healthcare industry.
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