EHR System Development: All You Need to Know

Digitization has helped the healthcare sector with new technologies simplify the consultation process, support doctors to manage healthcare data and elevate the patient-physician interactions to a whole new level. As part of this, electronic health records or EHRs have emerged as the unique mechanism to reduce manual efforts, optimize productivity and manage revenues. It helps create a comprehensive health portfolio of the individual accessible by both them and the healthcare provider. This serves as a rich data source towards a wholesome healthcare experience while helping those who plan healthcare accessibility, policies, development, and financial coverage.

Here is what you can expect from this article;

• Difference Between EHR and EMR Software
• Benefits of EHR development
• Must-have Modules of EHR Software
• Key Considerations in EHR System Development
• Calculating the Cost of EHR Software Development

Though EMR (Electronic Medical Record) and EHR (Electronic Health Record) are very close in their rationales, they differ in their basic structure and connectivity. While an EMR could be an electronic form of a patient’s paper-based medical records created by one doctor for a particular practice, the EHR is a complete health record of the patient for all the symptoms with many other aspects.

To better understand the difference between EMR and EHR, check out their main purpose, key capabilities and use cases below:

EHR software has emerged as a preferred alternative for medical practices and healthcare organization if they want to improve collaboration between teams, increase integration and enhance their quality of care.

According to international health IT figures, the demand for productivity-enhancing electronic health records is rising exponentially. It is expected to reach $33.4 billion by 2025. Let’s take a look at how the implementation of EHR software would augment the healthcare ecosystem.

EHR system development includes the digitalization of clinical data, and it offers many benefits to both physicians and patients. Rishabh Software works in tandem with healthcare organizations & practitioners to enhance care quality, improve operational efficiency with accurate documentation & intelligent data capture. As a custom EHR development partner, we work with organizations throughout the implementation process and provide end-to-end support.

It enables them to make the most of the following benefits:

• Store and track personal medical information
• Receive accurate diagnosis & prompt medical attention remotely
• Cope with health problems in a time-efficient & cost-effective manner
• Receive personalized notifications for appointments & follow-up visits
• Easy access to a user-friendly patient portal for faster decision making

• Enhanced quality of clinical services like e-prescriptions
• Up-to-date digital medical records with reduced errors
• A unified dashboard for seamless interoperability across other medical facilities, pathology labs, insurance providers, drug stores, and the like
• Capability to provide consultations & monitor patients remotely
• Ability to manage to bill and handle administrative tasks
• Capability to collect and assess clinical data for timely treatment & improved service

Suppose you’re still on the fence about tossing out your old reporting and record-keeping tools for new technology. In that case, these 2 success stories will undoubtedly push you over the edge!

EHR Insights Help a Healthcare University Reduce Blood Transfusions & Save a Million

Blood transfusions have life-saving potential. But when they’re not used appropriately, they can harm patients over and above, increasing costs and wasting limited resources. Equipped with studies claiming that 40% of transfusions in the U.S. are unnecessary, a Missouri provider saw the opportunity to deploy an EHR solution.

It supported their RBC transfusion clinical decisions and helped them enhance patient safety & cut costs. After integrating the EHR system, Health Care reduced its average RBC transfusion rate by 20%. This saved them more than $1 million in acquisition costs while avoiding indirect expenses for blood tests, transfusion administration and overheads.

A Non-profit Health System Dramatically Improved Treatment Outcomes Using EHR Data

A US-based healthcare organization wanted to move from its paper-based patient reports and medical records to an EHR system across 40 urgent care centers. The organization wanted to use this technology for improving treatment outcomes and delivering value-based care. The new system enabled their medical staff to virtually deliver prompt and professional care while reducing medical waste and saving the cost incurred on blood transfusions during hip and knee replacements. Later the organization was also recognized with a prestigious award for empowering its people to improve the quality of care using an EHR system.

Rishabh Software can help you develop a custom healthcare software solution that saves time, ensures compliance, improves treatment outcomes and optimizes medical workflows quickly and efficiently.

Capturing the patient information in a digital format ensures that physicians can manage clinical processes and model health patterns for improved treatment outcomes. Take a look at the essential EHR software features that make up the fundamental structure of a successful solution:

1. Digitized Document Management
   Eliminates paperwork, saves the time spent on routine admin tasks and improves work efficiency with real-time monitoring capabilities.
2. Task Management
   Reduces the burden on medical staff in terms of prioritizing tasks and performing them time-efficiently.
3. Seamless Collaboration
   Facilitates quick and easy communication with other medical specialties, referring doctors, radiology centers, path labs and pharmacies.
4. Patient Portal
   Easy access to resources for patients and reinforces their engagement which translates to decreased readmission and increased health awareness.
5. E-prescriptions
   Enables physicians to prescribe medications online and refill prescriptions that can be sent straight to the pharmacy.
6. Centralized Access
   Facilitates role-based access for enhanced security of medical records. It cultivates privacy awareness and enables dynamic interactions within the daily workflow.
7. Integration with Test Labs
   The capability to exchange data instantly ensures seamless collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. EHR software provides timely patient treatment upon processing and sharing the lab results.
8. Secured Chat
   Improves communication between patients and physicians without compromising on information security. Some health-related issues can be addressed remotely, along with pictures of visual symptoms.
9. A Unified Clinical Dashboard
   Assists physicians in better understanding their patients with all their medical records in one place. The treatment approach and outcomes are displayed through diagrams that provide doctors with valuable insights based on precise statistical data.
10. Patient Charting
    Access patient-specific details like insurance details, medical charts, and eligibility in case of claims & reconcile accounting and billing in real-time across any device.
11. Calendar Scheduling
    Ensures easy management of medical appointments and follow-up visits across the system with relevant time entries.
12. Report Generation
    This is one of the most crucial EHR software features. It enables healthcare practitioners to create custom reports that best fit their practice’s unique needs and share them instantly.
13. Regulatory Mapping
    ONC-ATCB & CCHIT certifications and an HL-7 interface are vital to ensure adherence to necessary functionality and security measures.
14. Technical Support
    Prompt support facilitates for high level user satisfaction. This functionality is essential to the optimal functioning of EHR software and streamlines healthcare services provision.

Before getting started to develop this system and leverage the benefits, here are some points to consider before successful implementation.

The critical factors that you need to consider when developing an EHR software are:

1. GDPR & HIPAA compliance
   GDPR protects patient rights about all kinds of personal and demographic information. Healthcare providers must also ensure compliance with HIPAA guidelines. Therefore, a verified EHR system must be tailored to meet the defined procedures governing administrative and technical safeguards of integrity, confidentiality, and patient data security.
2. EHR System Certification for “Meaningful Use”
   “The Meaningful use” program presented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services promotes EHR software implementation for safe and speedy exchange of patient data. But it is essential to ensure that EHR software is certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Exchange and meets the standards for data security and functionality.This program has demarcated a criterion of clearly defined rules for certified EHR technology. This process deals with requirements for capturing and structuring clinical data, sharing patient data, rules governing care coordination and patient engagement rules.So, suppose you’ve decided to build your EHR system. In that case, it is best to choose a reputed, reliable and top-rated EHR software development company.
3. UI/UX
   EHR systems aim to implement user interfaces that are intuitive and engaging. Not putting in enough thought before arriving at an optimal interface design might lead to data mismanagement. This can eventually invite technical challenges for your medical staff. So, it is essential to emphasize key elements that create clarity in medical terms and promote seamless user navigation.
4. Blockchain
   Leveraging blockchain technology to create a decentralized ledger of data, devices and financial transactions can efficiently solve all interoperability, authenticity & security issues. This technology can bring unification and security to storing and sharing records across multiple health providers. It can resolve every issue that arises as a challenge in the EHR & EMR development process.
5. HIE
   Developing EHR software is fulfilled only when all the stakeholders within the ecosystem can improve the system. This is where you need to set standards while developing a custom solution.

Continuity of Care Documents & Continuity of Care Record:

The certifications enable EHRs to link the health information exchange in their respective regions to offer a bird’s eye view of every patient record. The HIE then becomes a comprehensive repository of patient information pooled in from different centers in that area and easily accessible through regulated channels that are completely secure.

We use a high-end tech-stack to build a scalable and secure EHR system. It enables you to shift to a mobile-friendly healthcare system & facilitate remote consultations from just about anywhere! You also have the scope for integrating advanced technologies like AI and ML.

• Languages: Java, Python, Swift, Kotlin, JavaScript, PHP, CSS3, JS, HTML5
• Frameworks and libraries: Angular, jQuery, Django, Node.js, Bootstrap, VueJS, React
• Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis
• Hosting: AWS, VULTR
• Analytics: Amazon EMR, Google Analytics, Optimizely
• Web server: Apache HTTP Server, nginx
• Utilities: Cloudflare, Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3
• Payment gateway: Braintree, PayPal, Stripe

Suppose you want to develop a compliant system that runs efficiently on leading platforms. In that case, it is vital that you also know its development cost and timeline.

The final cost to build a Custom EHR system depends on several factors. Our team can help you analyze your healthcare project, understand its challenges and predict the outcomes from the key features you choose. Clarity on the following aspects will also help you estimate the development cost of custom EHR software:

• The modules or features of an EHR system
• Unique patient needs
• The platforms, tools & frameworks
• The purpose of developing the system
• The expected outcomes

Rishabh Software leverages two decades of industry experience to help medical practices of every size & scope with EHR development to automate their workflows and elevate their quality of patient care to the next level.