Karunya Sampath, Co-founder & CEO, Payoda Technologies explains the opportunities and benefits of cloud-based EHRs for caregivers and patients
Today, healthcare organisations are in a quest for quality improvement and have become customer-oriented environments. Considering this fact, organisations store their information continuously and electronically over time. And now, EHR support is used to maintain integrated, efficient, and quality healthcare. EHR lets you access patients’ past, present, and future information. With improved access to patient history information, better care can be provided, data can be prioritised, and the likelihood of medical diagnostic errors can be reduced.
Even without contact with the location or time, authorised personnel may be granted access to this information. The ability of specialised medical centers to access Electronic Health Records (EHRs) simultaneously is a significant advantage that facilitates efficient healthcare. Let’s read more about it and know how cloud services can enable and benefit a healthcare organisation in maintaining and pinpointing any future EHR opportunities.
Opportunities and benefits of cloud-based EHRs for caregivers and patients
Cost benefit
Healthcare systems are facing financial hardships due to the increasing costs of medical supplies and equipment, as well as labor shortages. To address these problems, many organizations are adopting cloud-based EHRs. It is an excellent way for customers to reduce their costs on hardware, software, and services. This enables them to optimize their IT infrastructure, revenue cycle, and supply chain holistically, which allows them to reinvest in their institutions.
EHRs not only facilitate efficient and accurate billing and coding practices but also provide qualitative benefits. By using consistent data sets, healthcare professionals can deliver valuable insights that help them make faster, more informed decisions, ultimately reducing overall healthcare expenses.
Improved disaster recovery
As cyberattacks continue to rise and natural disasters become more frequent, recovering an IT environment after an event can be a difficult and costly task. Fortunately, a cloud-based solution for healthcare systems can mitigate these threats by allowing healthcare organisations to back up patient health data, which speeds up the recovery process and strengthens their disaster recovery strategy.
By transitioning EHRs to the cloud, the risk of crashes and downtime can be reduced – an essential measure for an industry as vital as healthcare, where patient care and safety are at stake. The digital medical record format also ensures that critical patient information remains secure and accessible, even during disasters. Scalability
Mutual performance and interoperability
Cloud services have transformed healthcare by providing easy access to standardized models without infrastructure requirements. However, interoperability remains a challenge due to the proprietary formats of medical information systems. The interoperability of EHR systems allows for efficient retrieval and processing of clinical information from different locations, enabling quick and accurate treatment while reducing the need for duplicate tests and prescriptions.
Ability to search and exploration
In today’s cloud-based electronic health record environment, you can easily search through millions of patient records using a variety of search methods. One such method is the combination of vocabulary and phrase keywords, which can help you explore data more efficiently. EHR data is usually classified into four categories: clinical data, insurance and financial data, drug-related data, and patient behavior and emotional data. You can retrieve this information separately or in combination with these categories. The defined search methods empower you to perform an accurate search.
Improved care quality and reduction of errors
For healthcare providers, having quick access to vital patient information is crucial. Cloud-based EHRs can streamline a caregiver’s workflow and eliminate the need for multiple, complicated technology systems. By providing a single access point for patient information, caregivers can more easily track medical histories, record notes, and communicate with other healthcare providers. Cloud-based EHRs can also minimise the risk of human errors, improve overall efficiency, and allow caregivers to focus on providing quality care to their patients.
Think of it like this: utilising cloud-based EHRs is like magic for your workflow, making your job super handy and efficient.
Beyond challenges: A look toward the future
Facing and overcoming challenges is essential to making progress and bringing new ideas to life. In the healthcare industry, finding new ways to care for patients that are more effective than traditional methods is crucial. Although risks are involved, the benefits of improving how we manage healthcare data are immense. We need to be able to access medical information quickly and efficiently while keeping it organised and secure. Using the cloud to manage this data is a crucial step forward in modernising the healthcare industry. The alternative is to continue using outdated methods that prevent progress and innovation. Therefore, it is essential to choose the right cloud strategy for your organisation to embrace the digital transformation of healthcare.