A recent survey by Accenture reveals that the adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHR) software and Health Information System (HIE) is rising in the United States. Despite the fact that most doctors agree that implementing an EHR system does not reduce their operational costs, they are embracing the technology because it helps them make better decisions, and has led to fewer medical errors.

Another survey reveals that almost 50-60% of US physicians are using some sort of electronic medical record software to help them with their practice workflows. With such huge data available, physicians can actually put it to good use and make informed decisions. Using key patient information such as demographics, allergies, gender, age group, family history and other illnesses, a physician can help improve the quality of care and clinical performance.

Let’s discuss a few more ways through which you can make good use of available data and position yourself for upcoming value-based reimbursements.

What opportunities exist to improve quality?

You need to dig into your data and analyze how you can improve the quality of care delivered. For instance, see how many of your patients are suffering from diabetes and how often they have visited you in the last 6 months? Do they need another checkup? Can you improve their frequency of visits through the data available to you? What can you do to call them in? Maybe sending emails and/or establishing telephonic contact will help.

Which treatment protocols are most effective?

You can compare pre and post-treatment data of patients to analyze what methods have been the best for your patients. This is only possible if you engage your EHR software in a way that it helps you make inspired decisions.

How productive are your physicians?

You can also track each physician’s performance through your EHR software and see how much time is being spent on each patient by a particular physician. In case there are any grey areas, you can easily identify them by using the information available.

How and why most patients choose your practice?

You can track and see how and why each patient arrives at your practice by analyzing your marketing output with the help of your EHR software. You will then have a better idea of successful marketing channels and can spend more on those.

How can you reduce no-shows?

Your EHR patient data can also be used to gauge exactly why your patients did not show up and what are the underlying problems. You can see if they rescheduled, cancelled or simply missed the appointment. This information can then be used to improve no shows and increase patient retention.

How can you increase revenue?

You can also search for ways to increase your practice revenue. For instance, Medicare patients are eligible for a number of preventive services, including the Initial Preventive Physical exam and the annual Medicare Wellness Visit. By generating a list of your Medicare patients who have not had these visits, you can contact these patients and schedule their annual visit.

Data is a gold mine if it is interpreted properly and put to good use. By working on the ways to extract meaningful data from your EHR software, you can definitely derive more benefit for your practice.