Making a choice in specialized software, such as that used to keep track of patients’ medical information, is not something you’ll want to take lightly. Implementing a new electronic health records software solution involves an investment of your money, time and staff resources, so it only makes sense that you would take your time in determining the best application and provider to go with. If you are fortunate, some of your colleagues at other, non-competing medical practices may have some good leads for you to check out. However, the way things work at your medical organization could be quite different, so your software requirements may not dovetail with those of your colleagues.

Owners and managers of bustling mental health organizations sometimes become so busy and involved in day-to-day activities that they aren’t able to budget much time to become familiar with the software systems they’ve implemented. Whether you are a newcomer to working with mental health electronic medical record applications or have had some time to integrate this type of software into your practice, there may be some features that you are still unfamiliar with. It pays, however, to learn more about your mental health EMR application so you and your team can grow proficient and better serve your patients. Here are three ways to make the most out of your mental health EMR.

The following excerpt is from our whitepaper, "Engage, Retain, & Acquire Referring Physicians: Making Yours An In-Demand Radiology Practice." For years, getting radiology reports efficiently to referring physicians had been a conundrum; none of the options were great. Yet, they were the only ones available at the time: regular or special delivery mail, courier if the recipient was local enough, perhaps leaving the report in the physician’s mailbox at the hospital, or faxing it.

The following excerpt is from an article found on EHR Intelligence. It was written by Vera Gruessner. Over the last two decades, the medical industry has changed drastically in terms of patient care and access to medical records. It was nearly impossible to obtain one’s own health record 20 years ago. Forbes reports that patients had little choice but to press legal action if they wished to access their own medical data.

The following excerpt is from an article found on Health IT Outcomes. It was written by Katie Wike. According to a survey conducted by HIMSS in honor of Nurses Week, the majority of nurses wouldn’t go back to the way records were before EHR implementation. Nurses agree, EHRs improve patient safety and most couldn’t do their job without them. HIMSS conducted a survey of more than 600 nurses in honor of National Nurses Week.

Now that you’ve determined that it would be in the best interest of your medical organization to start using electronic medical records software, you have a big task ahead of you. You’ll need to figure out which EMR software company you will wind up going with. The needs of your particular practice may differ greatly from those of the medical profession colleagues you might have considered consulting. It wouldn’t be suitable to ask friends what software they use if their preferred application isn’t relevant to your practice. Therefore, it pays to do some research to make sure you work with the most suitable EMR software company. Here are four things to look for to help guide your search.

Is your podiatry practice still getting by using some kind of paper-based system to keep track of and manage all your patient records? If so, you should know that electronic health records software will enable your staff to work much more productively, letting you process more patients faster. If you have already embraced the notion that software is beneficial to your practice but are just using general EHR software, you may not realize that a better solution exists in the form of a podiatry EHR system. As you are focusing on problems of the feet and ankles while diagnosing and treating patients, it makes sense to work with specialized EHR software for podiatry practices.

By now, it should not be a surprise for you to hear that the U.S. government has mandated that medical organizations must make the switchover from the International Classification of Disease code set 9 to the new ICD-10. After some badly needed extensions, the final deadline for completing the transition is October 1, 2015. Note that ICD codes are handled by the World Health Organization and are intended for use around the globe. Since medical groups have to get ready for the change (or they will be unable to work with providers and government programs going forward), it makes sense to wonder how you can get the most out of ICD-10 while saving on costs.

When you’re accustomed to using computers and specialized software to help you run your business, it’s hard to imagine what it was like to keep tabs on a busy medical practice before these tools were available. Companies that use the right software tools and work with them using the latest in computer technology stand to do much better in the marketplace than competitors that just try to get by with whatever is at hand, especially if it’s old or not very suitable for the task.

Patients place a great deal of trust in medical organizations, and when you are in charge of looking after the health and safety of a group of patients, you are also responsible for protecting their private and sensitive data. All the information you maintain on patients in your electronic health records software is valuable and quite appealing to criminals bent on breaking into the system. Data security is particularly important when it comes to healthcare since medical information in the wrong hands can ruin people’s careers and even destroy families. Patients are also vulnerable to identity theft and face having their bank accounts drained and credit destroyed if criminals can access their private information. With that in mind, here are four tips to help you strengthen your EHR security.