How to Navigate the Relationship Between Telehealth and EHR Documentation

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare industry was unprecedented in many ways. One of the most significant was the increase in telehealth as patients and doctors dealt with the necessity of remote appointments.

At the peak of the pandemic, telehealth accounted for up to 80% of patient visits in the hardest-hit areas. Providing contactless care to reduce viral spread was key to getting through the pandemic but also allowed for shorter and more frequent visits that led to better preventative care.

While telehealth has benefits for patient care, it is not without challenges, especially when it comes to managing EHR solutions. How difficult is it to take notes during telehealth visits? How much can telehealth notetaking built into the EHR system help ease burnout for physicians and staff?

The Current Challenges Surrounding Telehealth and EHR Solutions

Prior to the pandemic, coverage, payments, licensure, privacy and regulatory requirements were often roadblocks to implementing telehealth solutions. But, over the last year, many of the stakeholders have found solutions to those legal and technological issues, opening the door for telehealth to become a regular feature of the healthcare industry.

Adjusting to the future of telehealth visits means optimizing the workflow to reduce redundancy and taking advantage of the efficiencies that come with remote visits. However, using an EHR system that isn’t designed for telehealth can make record keeping less efficient, as physicians may need to switch between multiple solutions, from taking notes by hand to dictation and working on separate screens.

Many physicians scrambled during the pandemic to find solutions to the sudden change in how care was provided. This often meant using different computers or devices for video conferencing, notetaking and health records.

Juggling these technological solutions made patient care even more difficult, as these ad-hoc systems rarely worked well together and increased the time spent on record keeping and note taking.

These challenges have physicians reconsidering their current systems and seeking new solutions that will streamline the workflow and reduce the time spent organizing and managing health records. If telehealth and EHR are happening across multiple systems, an integrated HER solution EHR will significantly reduce the burden.

The Benefits of a Future-Proof, Integrated EHR Solution

Taking notes is essential during a telehealth visit and, with those notes integrated directly into the same software as the call, patient records are kept together. Leading EHR solutions make this kind of integration possible.

For example, taking notes during visits is made even easier by CharLogic’s built-in voice recognition software. This not only allows physicians to dictate notes, but enables voice navigation of the notes for easy editing and organizing. This transcription technology is integrated with the other patient records and greatly reduces a provider’s time at the keyboard.

Physicians can also edit patient charts during the call without switching to a different device or system. Having all the information on the same screen as the call allows physicians to focus on patients, not be distracted by struggling with keeping various systems in line.

Physicians shouldn’t need multiple screens to do their jobs effectively. An integrated solution brings all the patient information together in one place so providers aren’t clicking through multiple systems, copying and pasting, and dealing with a lack of interoperability. Integrating a HIPAA-compliant videoconferencing tool into the record keeping software brings efficiencies to EHR by providing everything a physician needs on one screen, whether it’s prescriptions, lab tests or asynchronous communication with patients.

An integrated EHR solution also brings benefits to telehealth visits, making them more productive. With built-in patient tracking, wait times can be reduced, and visits are more efficient, as physicians have all the data they need to discuss and share with patients right on the same screen as the videoconference. This ensures that, during visits, physicians have the most complete and up-to-date information possible. Further, when these solutions are combined with a patient portal, the whole process becomes seamless and works with providers, not against them.

ChartLogic’s telehealth and EHR solutions can be deployed in a practice of any size or budget. Whether it is a single physician in a rural area or a large urban hospital network, integrating telehealth and EHR reduces the obstacles to quality patient care.

ChartLogic’s EHR is a fully integrated solution that enables physicians to spend their time where it matters most – with patients.

To learn more, contact us today.