Technology must enhance the ability of clinicians to provide quality care, not act as a barrier. Thus, it is essential that healthcare leaders provide tools that liberate clinicians from the drudgery of data entry and allow them to focus on patients. To improve patient care, leaders must implement tools that enable clinicians to serve patients and not act as data entry clerks. Technologies that automatically capture billing and coding details from a clinician’s documentation allow clinicians to provide better care.

2. Increasing physician productivity
User-friendly EHR workflows can have a huge impact on physician productivity and satisfaction. If clinicians can easily access information when they need it, they can spend more time on patient care and they can see more patients because they’ve eliminated the time wasted finding and entering EHR data.

Workflows that support the automatic identification and interpretation of patient medical information from previous visits, lab reports, inpatient records and other sources can quickly provide clinicians with relevant information, saving them time and avoiding unnecessary frustration. And a more productive physician results in increased patient satisfaction, happier staff, greater efficiencies and ultimately, an improvement in the bottom line.

3. Managing operational expenses
Streamlined clinical and documentation workflows mean greater efficiency, which provides opportunities for healthcare organizations to reduce operating expenses. The need for transcriptions, for example, can be reduced if clinicians have the documentation tools necessary to quickly capture information about a patient visit at the point of care. The more that documentation requirements can fit into the natural clinical workflow – without creating additional burden, the less work for clinical and administrative staff who can then focus on patient care and more revenue generating activities.

Automating manual processes can save time and eliminate human error, resulting in more accurate and complete clinical documentation, coding, and billing records. Organizations can also benefit from technologies that support value-based care programs by offering access to high-quality data for queries and reporting.

4. Ensuring accurate reimbursement
Providers can’t get paid what they’re supposed to if they don’t submit accurate information to health insurers. Providers primarily have relied on retrospective, manual chart reviews to uncover possible documentation and coding gaps. If a gap is identified, patients may be asked to make a follow-up visit.

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