What is an Ophthalmology EHR?
The term EHR stands for electronic health records and has a lot to do with the medical records for your patients at a medical practice but it is not limited to merely this function. These days EHR softwares are incredibly advanced and have thus become an integral part of many medical practices. These softwares are able to ■■■■■■■ complex tasks like billing and scheduling patient appointments among other things. Similarly, an ophthalmology EHR is an EHR specifically designed in a way that it optimizes the functions of an ophthalmology practice. In this piece, we will walk you through the various features you should look out for when looking for an ophthalmology EHR. Our data comes from experts as well as from ophthalmology EHR reviews online that provide a rich source of opinions from ophthalmologists themselves into what features a software needs in order to be useful and help maximize efficiency within their medical practices.
So what are some features in an ophthalmology EHR which you should always make sure are included in the EHR you are considering? What do ophthalmology EHR reviews say only about features that are useless and cause issues? We answer all of your questions in this extensive piece.
Ophthalmology EHR Features you Should Not Compromise On
Intelligent Charting for Efficiency
Having a charting feature which helps with you out in terms of making everything as simple as possible is incredibly important. The thing you should keep in mind when looking at EHRs for your ophthalmology practice and what ophthalmology EHR reviews repeatedly reiterate as well is that the software should have several templates for you to be able to choose from. The templates should be suitable for an ophthalmology practice so that things are made simpler for you since entering patient information in a chart specifically designed for your speciality will save you a lot of time. Other than that, make sure the software is user friendly and has speech to text capabilities or even the capability to recognize handwriting so that your current input preference for notes is easily integrated into whatever EHR you get! Other than that a lot of ophthalmology EHR reviews talk about the help that coding gives; make sure that the software is pre-built with all relevant codes to your area of specialty so that you can save a lot of time and not have to scramble to find correct codes all the time.
E-prescription tools for Everyone’s Convenience
Getting e-prescription features is a game changer for most physicians. This feature allows for you to make prescriptions virtually and send them to a pharmacy most convenient for your patient to visit. This is very helpful for your patient as well as they no longer have to come to your practice to collect their prescription note. Other than that, the software should ideally also check for potential drug interactions which could be dangerous for the patient and give you a warning. A lot of ophthalmology EHR reviews talk about how this feature alone is worth the ophthalmology EHR cost since it saves you a lot of grief at potentially endangering patients.
Patient Portal to take Care of Administrative Duties
Another feature which is repeatedly mentioned in ophthalmology EHR reviews by ophthalmologists is the patient portal feature which essentially takes off half the administrative duty burden you might have had. With this feature patients can schedule their own appointments and keep track of their follow up appointments. They can also upload documents and tests that doctors request as well as fill out their own medical information before their appointment; which both saves time and work on your end! Other than this, a patient portal lets your patients communicate with you as well and keeps a log of the communication for later reference. All in all, a patient portal feature is definitely worth the ophthalmology EHR pricing.
Error Free Simple Medical Billing Solutions
Several physicians talk about how inundating medical billing seems to them and a lot of ophthalmology EHR reviews talk about how this aspect of their medical practice is possibly the toughest for them. However, with the right ophthalmology EHR you will be able to relax and let the software handle your billing. From making the bills accurately to helping you get paid quicker by pre-populating the bills with correct codes; these software do it all. Make sure you get an EHR which has billing capabilities, especially one that verifies eligibility at point of care so you do not have to face non-payment issues later on.
Claims Management and Approvals
Claims management is a tough part of the job and a lot of medical practices and physicians lament about the fact that so many claims might get rejected on mere technicalities. This however can be avoided with a claims management feature in your EHR software. This feature will monitor the status of your claims in real time and help you get reimbursed. If you happen to get denied the feature will usually also analyse why this happened so that it can be avoided next time. A lot of ophthalmology EHR reviews praise this as the best feature because of how simple it makes everything.
Things to Avoid in an Ophthalmology EHR
While an Ophthalmology EHR can be a great investment for you there are certain things you should ensure the EHR does not have so you can avoid inconvenience at all costs. We advise that you thoroughly read through ophthalmology EHR reviews to see what EHRs have these features and hence be able to avoid them.
Not User Friendly
Make sure you read ophthalmology EHR reviews to see what users have to say about the user interface of a software since this is a very important feature. The reviews for an EHR which talk about how difficult that software is to navigate through and how tough it makes simple functions. Or even those that talk about software that lag should be completely avoided at all costs.
Bad Customer Support Staff
Another thing which is not directly a feature of an EHR but definitely comes up time and again in ophthalmology EHR reviews as an inconvenience is having bad customer support. If you have a software which does not have adequate customer support staff available to you round the clock to help you out with issues you are having the EHR software might not be worth it at all!
Which Ophthalmology EHR you Should Opt for
At the end of the day, all we can do is advise you on which features you should definitely keep in mind when looking for an ophthalmology EHR so that you can make the right decision for yourself. Make sure to look at ophthalmology EHR reviews for an EHR carefully before you choose one. And of course, ask for an ophthalmology EHR demo from the vendor if possible so you can know firsthand what that software will look like!