Digital technology is playing a huge part in transforming healthcare, EHR integration is one such effort to ease the process of Healthcare app development.
The increasing need for Healthcare apps and the current trend of virtual healthcare surged out due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the social distancing trend, demands for the advancement in healthcare industry equipment, and the working process.
So while all the developers and the healthcare organizations are teaming up to create some outstanding healthcare applications, EHR is something that can help them increase the efficiency of their application by making the most crucial part of data storage and access an easier task for them.
Before we deep dive into the details of EHR integration in a Healthcare app and its benefits, let’s first know what does the term mean.
What is EHR?
Starting with the abbreviation, EHR means Electronic Health records which are nothing but a digital version of the patient’s data which is normally collected on paper in the brick and mortar process. These are the systematically collected and stored data of the patients along with their healthcare records which can be easily shared and accessed in real-time.
This system is designed to replace the paperwork and the piles of the thick paper files while also making the medical healthcare data fetching process easier and faster for the medical workers.
The system is configured in a way that can be integrated with any healthcare app that needs real-time data access, which makes it usable for a broader range of applications that requires data storage. It helps the app store the medical history of the patients, radiology images, lab test results, data about different allergies, and treatment information.
Why do you need EHR integration in Healthcare apps?
Medical and healthcare apps have different categories of data such as some data are informative like an allergy and treatment information while if we look at the patient data, it too includes different entities. As the information and the data storage format of the lab report of a patient will be different, while the electronic prescription and the medicine list would be stored in a different format.
Here, as the medical data of the same person will be generated in multiple healthcare entities, the storage of this information on a single platform like an EHR system will make it easier for any application to fetch and access the data faster in real-time.
Other than this there are many benefits of integrating such advanced and digitized data storage structures like the EHR system in your Healthcare app or software. So keep reading…
Benefits of EHR integration in your Healthcare app
● One room for all data storage
The EHR system is capable of storing data of all healthcare entities in one place. Integrating such a storage system in the healthcare application reduces the data access time of the app and gives the user a faster result to the query or the data they are searching for.
The similar process of data fetching becomes much more time consuming if the data are stored on paper.
● Easier to manage than the paper process
Storing and organizing the data manually on the paper would consume your admin team time. While if the same data is stored in the digital format, anyone who is authorized to access the information can update the recent statistics of a patient.
While the EHR system is having a specified structure for data storage adding the new data or managing the old ones becomes very easy. Moreover, it also helps the doctor to have a quick look over the patient’s past medical reports to take the treatment further.
● Rapid Updates
Here as anyone with the authority to access the data can update the records, it becomes easier for the doctors to update the latest checkup report or the health status of the patient that is under observation by many other doctors to keep everyone in the loop about the patient’s recent medication and treatment.
● Fewer chances of error
EHR system stores the data in the digitized format which uses multiple layers of security and only allows the authorized user to open and check the data stored in the database.
This high amount of security makes it safer to transfer patients’ data to any other device or mobile app. Above this, the digitally stored data don’t goof-up in terms of prescribed medicines as it occurs in the case of the manual working process of paperwork in the hospitals.
So now when we are aware of the benefits of the EHR integration, let’s move to the final part of our article and that is the things to keep in mind before you plan for EHR integration in your Healthcare app.
Basic checkpoints for EHR integration
- Know which EHR system suits right for your healthcare app or office software. Understand whether it’s easily customizable to your existing system or workflow. Pay attention to the design and check how easy it is to navigate through the data through the app.
- Choose the affordable and convenient hosting process. Whether you want cloud-based EHRs or a locally hosted one. Do your research well before you opt for any one of them.
- Find the vendor that matches your budget, there are many EHR vendors available out there, compare the prices and the features they offer, while also asking for the support team in case of any urgency while using the system.
- Finally when you are done with the integration, arrange a training session for your team or staff to slowly and steadily develop a habit to work paperlessly and understand the working of your newly adopted process.
Putting it into a nutshell
The changing scenarios in the world due to the COVID-19 effect is demanding a much-needed push in the healthcare industry. The increase in healthcare app development thus is a sign of how quickly the healthcare professionals are adopting the technology approach to give quality service to their patients.
The EHR system is a part of such innovation that can boost the efficiency of the healthcare apps if integrated and implemented properly. The above-mentioned steps and benefits are enough to get a kickstart to your idea of implementing such an EHR system in your healthcare app.
Parth Patel is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of SyS Creations – a leading managed IT services firm focused on technology-driven healthcare solutions with a customer-centric, journey-first approach. Operating the IT Infrastructure of Healthcare SMEs and startups keeps him on his toes and his passion for helping others keeps him motivated.