Six charting features to look for in your next EHR purchase

Patient charting by a clinician is critical to best practice, as well as demonstrating skilled care and need for medical services. When analyzing the quality of an EHR system, it is essential to review the completeness of charting and ease of use. Here are six key features to look for an EHR charting module:

1. A good UX

The EHR system should offer a charting portal that is easy for the clinicians to use. It should follow a series of documentation information that follows a sequential patient visit encounter. This way, the clinician is able to chart easily in real time, reducing likelihood of charting error and reducing time spent documenting after the patient visit.

This guide to 40 essential EHR features will help your selection team nail down your charting requirements

2. Automatic carryover of demographic data

The charting module should automatically carry over demographic information into the charting module so that clinicians don’t have to input demographic patient information.

3. Automated carryover of vital signs history

It is important for a clinician to review vital sign information to monitor overall health and wellness. The EHR system should carryover previous vital signs including height, weight, blood pressure and heart rate history. This should be easily accessible to the clinician in order to compare previous vital information and watch for trends.

4. Integration with other portals/systems

Your EHR charting module should be integrated with other systems that are frequently used by the practice. This may include other functionalities like e-prescribing and medical billing. Clinicians should be able to send any orders or results directly from the charting portal. Additionally, as they finish encounter notes, they should be able to select the appropriate billing codes and send them to billing without any extra steps.

5. Remote access

Unfortunately, not all clinician documentation is completed at the time of the patient encounter. This is typically due to strict time constraints for visits and the increasing length of documentation requirements. Therefore, it is important that clinicians have access to their charting system remotely. Additionally, they may need to enter information in a patient chart that was received after the patient left the office, making remote access an essential patient charting feature.

6. Built-in normative values and best practice guidelines

In order to ensure best practice, it is important that the charting system offers a reference guide for normative values and recommended ranges. This can include information regarding lab values, weight parameters, dosage guidelines, screening recommendations and so forth. When a piece of medical data is entered for a patient, there should be an accessible reference point. This improves patient education and assists the clinician in providing the best patient care.