Choosing an electronic medical records system (EMR) is a critical purchasing decision for medical practices.
EMR systems replace paper patient charts with computer records; they store physicians’ notes, x-rays, prescriptions, and any other medical information, usually found in paper records, in electronic form, improving:
- searching and retrieval
- efficiency and accuracy
- remote access to information
Electronic medical records systems also provide benefits such as reduced mistakes caused by bad handwriting, drug interaction precautions, and improved billing and insurance handling. They are required by law to meet security and privacy regulations, particularly the HIPAA regulations that govern many aspects of health care information and billing.
The prospect of an electronic medical record has been a long time in the making. The complexities of bringing the many disparate measurements, metrics, prescriptions, therapies and advice into a single electronic medical record has proved too much for a single system to provide. Wisdom believes that this is an exciting era in the delivery of an electronic case note and the concept of using, what is essentially best-of-breed, systems to feed into a front end system that is designed for clinical use is now reality.
Whilst it is true that no single system or supplier can deliver every aspect of the EMR, a consortium approach with products utilising a common technology platform makes the delivery of these requirements achievable for every Trust that is at the level of project preparation to enable procurement.
BS10008 standard for legal admissibility
Our clients may wish to draw on Wisdom’s experience in dealing with legal admissibility standards. The importance of meeting the requirements of this standard for digital case notes are critical to any Trust in the instance of medico-legal complications. Diagonal works with Alan Shipman, the author of the standard and Director of Group 5 Training Ltd. so that his company will audit the processes, system and procedures of the EMR against the standard and provide any GAP analysis. We will work with the Trust to meet remedial work and ultimately obtain a letter/certificate of compliance to the standard from Group 5 Training.
A best of breed Approach
Success of EMR projects require an interface that engenders clinician take up and use. Without this the project will fail. To that end Diagonal has formed a consortium to provide the NHS with a single solution point of contact. The consortium known as Health.doc comprises:
- Wisdom Solutions. (lead partner and EDMS solution and service provider)
- Folding Space (solution interface provider with the Wisdom Single Unified View technology)
- Microformat (global provider of scanning services)