How do Accreditation Organizations Use Health Records?
One way accreditation organizations use the health record is to examine how well the clinic manages patient information. They may also investigate how up-to-date and complete the patient’s records are.
Additionally, accreditation organizations may review the accessibility of patient information. This includes ensuring that staff can access documents from any device.
Accreditation organizations may also review a clinic’s electronic health record system to check its functionality and compliance with standards. They will examine whether or not a clinic can use a digital signature on the health record and how users are notified of updates to rules for storing patient information.
What is a Medical Home?
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A medical home is an idea for organizing primary care so patients can access support, coordination, and improved quality of care. In essence, all of these elements work together.
Hence, patients have continuity in their care through their doctor’s office rather than visiting multiple providers who don’t communicate with each other as much as they should.
Many healthcare accreditation organizations embrace the concept of a medical home to improve the quality of care provided to patients. The hope is that this coordinated care will help to prevent problems like duplicate tests and treatments, hospitalizations, and other costly medical events.
How Does an Electronic Health Record System Support a Medical Home?
An electronic health record system supports a medical home by coordinating patient care for doctors and other providers. It can also help identify patients needing extra help managing their chronic conditions.
Electronic health records can also make it easier for doctors to share patient information. This includes test results and notes from previous doctor’s visits to ensure everyone involved in a patient’s care can access the most up-to-date information.
Having an electronic health record system also makes it easier for providers to deliver telehealth services or have video conferences with one another, which are essential parts of techniques focused on coordinating care over time.
The EHR can help provide the documentation needed so providers can review what happened during these sessions and share this information with their patients.
What kind of Benefits Could Accreditation Organizations See From Medical Homes?
Accreditation organizations may see improved quality of care, fewer preventable health problems, reduced hospitalizations, and lower costs due to medical home concepts like providing integrated care. The EHR can help accreditation organizations review whether or not a clinic’s staff is using these techniques and, if not, why that might be.
For example, suppose an organization reviews patient records and sees that the same test has been repeated several times over a short time. In that case, it may be assumed that there were communication problems between providers who did not know what other tests had already been done.
This could indicate poor care coordination and suggest better integration in the medical home model.
How do Doctors Use Online Video Sessions with Patients to Provide Healthcare Services?
An electronic health record typically includes information about when a doctor has scheduled an online video session, what it entails, and the order in which patients need to do things like downloading software or completing other steps beforehand.
This information lets clinic staff know when to expect the patient’s online visit and what they should do for their part of the session.
Telehealth sessions are scheduled in advance, with the doctor and patient making arrangements at separate times. A doctor will complete an assessment using pre-recorded questions or ones they type into their computer during the appointment with a patient.
Then, they can review test results, lab results, notes from previous doctor visits, and medication lists before starting their visit with a patient who may also participate in some parts of this process with live audio or text chat enabled.
An electronic health record system can help doctors provide telehealth services by managing patient information so that they can conduct their visits more efficiently. It also makes it easier to schedule these appointments, prepare for them, and document the sessions afterward so both patients and providers can access the same information.
This can be especially helpful if different clinics are involved in a patient’s care. Hence, everyone providing treatment has to access the most up-to-date information about their patient.
How Does an Electronic Health Record System Support Quality Improvement?
Electronic health records systems allow medical home practices to use data management capabilities, such as tracking test results and medication lists over time, to identify potential problems, prioritize research projects, and measure outcomes to improve their quality of care.
Clinics can also use these systems to submit data to accreditation organizations and receive feedback on their performance.
An electronic health record system can support quality improvement by helping clinics identify patients at risk for developing preventable health problems. The system can track how often a patient has seen a doctor, their test results, and medications.
This information can help clinic staff develop care plans that will help keep their patients healthy.