HOW AN EHR SYSTEM IMPROVES PATIENT ENGAGEMENT

Patient engagement is simply Care Providers and patients working together to improve health. A patient engagement in healthcare contributes to improved health outcomes, and with the series of support systems available such as EHRs, information technologies can support patient engagement. Patients want to be engaged in their healthcare decision-making process, and those who are engaged as decision-makers in their care tend to be healthier and have better outcomes.

The world has gone mobile! More than 2 billion of the world’s population uses a Smartphone and it is such that most check their Smartphone every 5 minute or less. EHR such as Clinical has taken advantage of this in that it comes with a Mobile App; this further fosters Patient engagement. For instance, allowing patients to do tasks through a Mobile App makes it easier for patients to make an appointment. Health alerts pertaining to individual patient is also provided. This results in overall health awareness, better treatment adherence and better care outcomes.

Patient online portal is an integral part of Clinical EHR. It lets patients access their medical records anytime. This patient portal provides patient workflow that not only gives patient access to their medical history, but also allows them to better manage their healthcare through:

• Making appointments
• Requesting a prescription refill
• Completing intake forms prior to a visit
• Paying bills online
• Receiving health alerts
• Messaging/emailing their care giver

Having easy access to all these tasks online, in one place, means the patient is more likely to visit the portal. Being able to message their physician instead of waiting for an appointment is an incredible benefit for patients.

In this digital age, the healthcare industry has a huge opportunity to improve patient engagement and make patients more empowered managers of their care. Adopting Clinical software will definitely help improve this. Since, health care institutions take patient engagement seriously; therefore any system that further enhances this is of utmost importance.