Physicians, the Time Has Come to Implement Electronic Medical Records.

In an age where everything has gone digital, it was only a matter of time before medical records would be saved electronically. It is now only a matter of time that this will become a requirement of physicians.

January 2011, physicians will either be rewarded for implementing EMR, or suffer penalties for going without.

If you take Medicare or Medicaid at your practice, you qualify for the government stimulus package, which granted $19 million into the medical industry to streamline the healthcare system.

Each physician who takes Medicare can receive up to $44,000, and each doctor who takes Medicaid can qualify to receive up to $64,000. For those physicians who opt not to integrate EMR into their practice, they can be penalized with a 1-5% reduction in Medicare payments.

Benefits of EMR

Increased efficiency. Medicine is driven by information. Electronically storing information speeds up processes, creating direct clinical information communication. EMR can also help you shorten billing cycles, share patient information with ease and reduce errors made when charts are illegible and disorganized.

Increased office space. Rows and rows of filing cabinets take up precious space. Open another exam room or expand your waiting area once your bulky filing cabinets have been removed.

Increased patient safety. Once one department has a patient’s file, no one else can access it. In emergency situations, this could be fatal. Further, when a patient’s important information is kept in one electronic system, conflicting prescription and allergy errors are easily identified