Why You Need Surgery Center EMR Software Now
Surgery center EMR software is no longer a luxury—it’s a critical tool for enhancing patient care, increasing operational efficiency, and lowering overall costs.
However, many smaller surgical facilities face challenges in adopting the right solution. A number of EMR systems are built for hospitals and come with complex features and workflows tailored to larger healthcare environments. As a result, surgery centers often struggle to find an EMR that aligns with their specific needs.
The encouraging news is that there are purpose-built options available. Solutions like 1st Providers Choice offer ambulatory surgery center EMR systems designed to support the entire continuum of care—preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative—while also helping facilities achieve the healthcare triple aim.
If your surgery center has not yet implemented an EMR solution, here are three compelling reasons to consider doing so:
1. Improve efficiency in the OR.
EMR software can significantly improve efficiency in all areas of your business, specifically the operating room. For example, instead of manually entering data into the EMR from different surgical monitors and devices, the software can be integrated so that data values are captured instantly and saved into the patient’s chart in real time. The ability to use pre-loaded templates for specific surgeries and procedures also saves time, as it eliminates the need to enter standard data.
2. Enhance patient safety and care.
Surgery Center EMR software has the potential to improve care quality and treatment outcomes by providing physicians with detailed surgery reports that can reveal insightful trends. For example, you may choose to run a report on all patients who had a specific surgery and were seen after two days for post-op and another for those who had the same surgery but were seen after five days. Comparing the results, you can determine whether it makes a difference to follow up with patients sooner after surgery.
A well-designed EMR system can also alert users of important fields that need to be completed in the patient’s chart, ensuring that all critical data is entered at the point of care. Plus, it will notify you of things that could pose harm to the patient (e.g. drug-drug or drug-allergy interactions).
More importantly, the EMR ensures that all notes are completed before you can move forward so that no important data is missed. This means that the intra-operative section cannot be opened until all pre-op notes have been entered and signed off on – and the same goes for discharge and post-op.
3. Increase staff satisfaction.
Implementing EMR software can be overwhelming for physicians and staff, as it forces new ways of doing things. Even though the new ways of working may be better, change is hard; so it is beneficial to choose software that minimizes disruptions and simplifies otherwise burdensome tasks. For example, EMR software that makes it easy for authorized users to access health records, billing, and appointment information from anywhere is a definite must. With surgeons increasingly depending on their iPhones and iPads for instant access to all kinds of medical information, mobile EMR software is an automatic win with staff.
Additionally, because Surgery Center EMR software offers different functionalities for different users, it becomes easier for staff to understand their specific roles. All you have to do once the software is implemented is make sure that each person understands his or her role and what they are responsible for inputting in the EMR.
To learn more about our EMR solution for surgery centers, call 480-782-1116 or connect with us now.