What is Electronic Health Record (EHR) Software?
Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a digital version of patients’ data collected systematically and shared among multiple facilities and agencies. It includes demographics, progress notes, medications, treatment plans, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. This software enables doctors & hospitals to monitor patient care. Electronic Health Record makes patient information accessible in a timely and secure manner to the authorized personnel.
EHR software is highly promoted by various insurance companies and medical institutes in North America. The North American government also started penalizing the doctors who are not implementing the Best EHR software as per HITECH Act. The use of the Best EHR software varies based on the users. The software enhances the medical care quality that is provided to patients. The software is helpful for doctors and nurses when it comes to finding the patient record with or without correct spelling.
What is driving the Electronic Health Record market?
The global EHR software space is highly competitive and it consists of a few top EHR vendors. Best EHR software providers are implementing strategies such as partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, product launches, etc. to sustain their market position. The global Electronic Health Record market is mainly driven by an increase in the volume of medical records which requires proper management and storage.
Advancements in Electronic Health Record technology such as Blockchain, BYOD, Artificial Intelligence, Opensource boost the growth of the market. Cloud-based EHR software provides growth opportunities. Small healthcare providers who cannot make up-front investments are opting for free and web-based services which also eliminates the need for infrastructure and maintenance. Government funding is a crucial driver of the market. Governments in various economies are funding projects to automate health record systems which induce the demand for the Best EHR software. The growth of the healthcare and life-sciences industry also reflects positively on the EHR market.
Top 10 EHR Software
- Epic Systems Corporation
- WebPT
- Cerner Corporation
- EClinicalWorks
- Medical Information Technology Inc
- Allscripts Healthcare, LLC
- Nxgn Management, LLC
- General Electric Company
- AthenaHealth Inc
- AdvancedMD
Best EHR software is implemented by various doctors in North America due to the top benefits of EHR software. The benefits of this software comprise, enhanced care, quality, welfare, and efficacy. Other benefits include enhanced care coordination, patient engagement, improved public health along with privacy and security.
Best EHR software applications in North America comprise clinical, administrative, reporting in healthcare systems, healthcare financing, and clinical research. The government of North America is helping physicians and hospitals for adopting Best EHR software which will help in exchanging data among numerous healthcare agencies. The major driving factor for high adoption of EHR software in North America includes increasing rate of chronic diseases, rising patient engagement, technologically advancing IT in healthcare sector, and increased requirement of improving healthcare record portability.
North America is mainly focusing on minimizing the costing of healthcare, and the implementation of the Best EHR software. In this, healthcare IT plays important role in achieving this. The Best EHR software vendors in North America are Epic systems corporation, Cerner Corporation, Allscripts healthcare solutions, eClinicalWorks LLC, and Medical information technology.
Best EHR software providers were analyzed, shortlisted and categorized on a quadrant under Visionary Leaders, Innovators, Dynamic Differentiators, and Emerging Companies. The competitive leadership mapping (Quadrant) showcased provides information for the best EHR software providers. Vendor evaluations are based on two broad categories: Product Maturity and Company Maturity. Each category carries various criteria, based on which vendors have been evaluated.
The evaluation criteria considered under Product Maturity include the breadth of offering, delivery (based on industries that the vendors cater to, deployment models, and subscriptions), features/functionality, delivery, product quality and reliability, and product differentiation.
Visionary leaders are the best EHR software providers in terms of new developments such as product launches, innovative technologies, and the adoption of growth strategies. These players have a broad product offering that caters to most of the regions globally under the EHR Software category. Visionary leaders primarily focus on acquiring the leading market position through their strong financial capabilities and their well-established brand equity. The top Electronic Health Record vendors categorized as visionary leaders are Epic Systems Corporation, WebPT, Cerner Corporation, Medical Information Technology Inc, eClinicalWorks, NXGN Management LLC, General Electric Company, Practice Fusion, Inc. and Advanced MD, Inc.
Dynamic Differentiators are the top Electronic Health Record vendors with very strong business strategies. However, they have a weaker product portfolio compared to the visionary leaders. They generally focus only on a specific type of technology related to the product under the EHR Software category. Best Electronic Health Record software providers categorized as a dynamic differentiator are DrChrono Inc., CentralReach LLC, Intersystems Corporation, Azalea Health, and Therapy Notes LLC.
Innovators in the quadrant are the Best EHR software providers that have demonstrated substantial product innovations as compared to their competitors. The companies have focused product portfolios. However, they do not have very strong growth strategies for their overall business, when compared with the visionary leaders. Innovators in the best EHR Software quadrant include Allscripts Healthcare LLC, Athenahealth Inc., Greenway Health, LLC, Medhost, and Cantata Health.
Emerging companies have a niche product and service offerings. Their business strategies are not as strong as that of the best EHR software providers. The emerging vendors include the new entrants in the market, emerging in terms of product portfolio and geographic reach, and require time to gain significant traction in the market. Emerging companies in the EHR Software space include CureMD Healthcare, Nextech Systems LLC, OfficeAlly Inc, BestNotes, and Welligent, Inc.
What are the types of EHR Software?
EHR software is broadly classified into General EHR’s and Specialty EHR’s.
General EHR's
General EHR’s are designed for use by universal practices. They have all the functions of EHR, such as CPOE, clinical decision support, controlled medical vocabulary, clinical data repository, ordering, and billing. Due to their multi-function, multi-specialty capabilities, these EHRs can be used in various specialties through flexible functioning and incorporated plugins.
Specialty EHR's
Specialty EHR caters to the needs of specialty therapeutic areas such as cardiology, psychology, oncology, dermatology, pain management, orthopedics, and pediatrics. Currently, more than 50–60 different types of medical and surgical specialty EHRs are available in the market. The availability of specialty clinical content can help in reducing the operating time for EHRs and creating comprehensive health records. However, despite these advantages, the adoption of specialty EHRs is lower owing to their higher cost.
What are the benefits of the Best EHR Software?
- Better accessibility and improved communication: It becomes easier and efficient to communicate for multiple departments involved in patient care as the data is digitally stored and managed. The records and details of patient care can even be accessed remotely in case a need arises to do the same.
- Data aggregation, and integration: Data of patient's medical history and present medical process aggregates at one place enabling the practitioners to have access to instant insights and treat the patient more efficiently.
- Reduced Staffing cost: Best EHR software lower staffing requirements leads to reduced health care costs, it also reduces the scope of human errors. It is because of these benefits that the global EHR market is flourishing.
What are the key features to be considered in the Best EHR software?
- Easy Patient Scheduling- A complete EHR should be capable to provide an appointment-setting feature that permits office staff to easily schedule patients, register them and select a reason for their visit. To ensure better collection and smoother functioning and avoid any issues, the EHR should be capable to send automatic appointment reminders via email or text messages.
- e-Prescriptions- e-Prescriptions is one of the important features a best EHR software should possess. e-Prescriptions ensure that there is proper co-ordination between Providers and pharmacies to correctly fill the order. e-Prescriptions enable the Providers to electronically write prescriptions and either give a legible printout to the patient or directly send to the patient’s pharmacy of choice. With e-prescriptions, Providers can easily access a protected portal for electronic prescription of controlled substances which is an extremely regulated procedure as per state and Federal requirements.
- Clinical Documentation- Charting is a vital feature of a good EHR. Charting functionality enables physicians to digitally create and store patient’s clinical records and other Different forms of charting can be done depending on the type of input sources like a tablet, Mac book, or desktop. Programmable keyboard shortcuts save charting time, same as flowsheets. Using AI and ML for charting makes it a gold standard. Machine learning helps in automatically store the information based on your records given previously. This makes charting more useful and streamlined.
- Interoperability- Integration is always a must for any software, the same is with EHR. Interoperability is a crucial feature of the best EHR software. As EHR is mostly handled by physicians and other medical staff it should be capable to link to all ancillary services offered in a medical industry including, payers, labs, pharmacies, and diagnostics centers. HIS (Hospital Information System) and billing system are common parts of integration. Billing integration enables you to streamline the billing process for your patients as well.
- Cloud hosting- A cloud-based EHR is an accessible, flexible, instinctive, and cost-effective solution for maintaining patient health files in the cloud instead of storing on internal servers located at a medical facility or practice. Data mining capabilities enable administrators to examine work processes for strengths and weaknesses and probe into patient data to identify behavior patterns, potential drug interactions, and health risk factors. EHR software runs on the cloud, hence no installation of hardware or software. With cloud-based EHR, Providers can get a faster return on investment with an implementation process much faster than traditional client-server systems. With bank-level security and advanced encryption, EHR systems can achieve HIPPA compliance through data centers.
- Meaningful Use Certification- The introduction of regulations like Medicare Access CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) enable laying out the incentives and penalties. So, the healthcare organizations or physicians must use a certified EHR system to receive positive adjustments and incentives, else face penalties from the authorities.
- Patient Workflow Management- The EHR software understands the order of operations and enables users to save time. Many of the EHR software products provide customizable workflows. For instance, the software enables us to automate reminder emails for appointments and set reminders for phone calls to patients and sending test results.
Current Trends
- EHR/EMR adoption rates are increasing than ever at around 87 percent.
- 35 percent of respondents reported a lack of user-friendliness as the largest problem with their EHR system.
- Experts think that the greatest improvements in EHR will improve user-friendliness, accessibility, regulation, and standardization.
- Big changes like AI and the entrance of tech giants into space are on the horizon for the healthcare industry.
Recent Mergers & Acquisitions in EHR Systems:
- Teche Regional Medical Center (MEDHOST) operations have been acquired by Ochsner Health System (Epic)
- AHMC Healthcare Inc., (Evident) acquired Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center (NTT Data)
- Blair Health System (Meditech) has formally acquired Cerner
- PointClickCare acquires EHR & eMAR Vendor QuickMAR
- eMDs acquires ambulatory EHR Aprima
- Allscripts acquires prescription Platform ZappRx
- CareDx acquires OTTR for $16M
- CentralReach, a provider of EHR and practice management solutions acquires applied behavior analysis therapy software Pathfinder Health Innovations
- NextGen acquired Medfusion for $43M, separates data services business to form Greenlight Health
- Healthcare IT Consulting firm AbleVets has been acquired by Cerner
Future of Best EHR Software
- Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Voice Recognition with EHR- Artificial intelligence (AI) has already shown promise for assisting doctors with making diagnoses or recognizing historical trends about a patient’s condition. However, several companies are investigating bringing AI to EHR via voice recognition capabilities. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, providers can query the tools by posing questions in natural language. For example, a physician could ask a voice-enabled EHR system for details about a patient’s last recorded iron levels from blood tests. The system would inform the doctor of those levels, plus tell them whether they’re in a healthy range. Allscripts and Northwell Health also recently signed a deal for a platform that blends AI with EHR and collects data from clinicians.
- Ready for the 5G Network- As technology is developing at a huge pace, the widespread rollout of the 5G network is set to happen in early 2020. Many residential areas are updating their infrastructure to newer technology and tests are occurring to check the performance. However, some analysts think the health care industry is not yet ready for 5G technology. Lack of compatibility between the EHR system seems to be a key reason. Hence, the stakeholders should take care and check how the technological developments impact EHR and ultimately patient care.
- Integrating the Blockchain into EHR- Many industries are now incorporating blockchains into their solutions, Medical records too, hold huge potential to integrate blockchain. In one of the cases from Brazil with insurer Metlife, a blockchain platform facilitated recording cases of gestational diabetes in pregnant patients by syncing with their EHR information. The patient data then facilitated a smart contract to trigger pay-outs associated with that illness without the need to prove a diagnosis or even file a claim. Blockchain technology for EHR is still in the early stages, but it seems to have huge potential and keeps gaining momentum throughout 2020.
Best EHR software trends in North America
Improved patient access:
In the future, more and more patients will be able to access the information which will result in growing engagement. Hence the user interface provided by the vendors is also expected to be user friendly and comprehensive.
Unified standards:
Considering the exchange of data as an important goal, it is expected that in upcoming years all the end users, developers, and vendors will establish unified standards for storing the medical information of the patients.
EHR on cloud will boom:
Since the price of software will be low when implemented on cloud along with the ease in data sharing, EHR on cloud will grow significantly.
More accurate medications and therapies will be practiced:
The Best EHR software will rely on automation with the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will be helpful in taking decisions and will enable clinicians to check the patient’s data and then consult further.
Key Takeaways
For Medical Practices:
- Invest in adequate EHR training while onboarding physicians and bring them up to speed when incremental changes are made
- Enlist physicians to help prioritize EHR development tasks and to design clinical workflows that take advantage of EHR capabilities (e.g., the Sprint team model)
- Tailor the size and makeup of physician development teams, considering the clinical resources available
- Deliver EHR development projects soon after physicians ask for them
- Establish an EHR governance process that gives the clinical organization nimbleness in responding to health emergencies and crisis scenarios
- Make analytics data available to physicians—presented in a way that is intuitive at the point of care
- Shift non-essential EHR data entry to ancillary staff. In the near term, consider increasing the number of medical assistants to act as “digital scribes” (though this option is expensive). In the long term, seek automated solutions to eliminate manual EHR documentation
For Payers:
- EHRs reflect the current fee-for-service payment paradigm. Commit to value-based care and provide adequate support to physicians under this model, including greater reimbursement for preventive care services and the use of digital health to engage patients
- Create common standards for billing and quality reporting across payers
- Streamline pre-authorization procedures
- Make claims data more accessible to physicians to enable a longitudinal view of their patients.
For Technologists:
- Clarify definitions of interoperability— in collaboration with other stakeholder groups—and adopt common technical standards to support them
- Develop systems and product updates in partnership with end-users—less than half of U.S. physicians believe EHR developers are responsive to their feedback
- Develop and market an ecosystem of third-party apps that put patients in control of their own health data
- Focus on eliminating the manual entry of data into the EHR by recruiting AI, natural language processing, and other emerging technologies.
Best EHR Software 2022
Grafimedia is a complete medical health record of registered patient details and digital medical data designed by Grafimedia, a health information technology SaaS. The software helps in updating the demographic information of the patients and organizes appointments with added notes pf the patient, including family and personal medical history and files. This user-friendly EHR software has text formatting tools to create medical forms, print logo, and updates contact information of the medical office with mass viewing options on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Harris Healthcare designs Electronic Health Record Software that allows physicians to be available even when they are not physically present. It enhances patient care with intuitiveness and ease of access. Also, this is user-friendly for all clinicians provides real-time alerts and cautions, reminders and drug knowledge systems that are embedded into clinical processes.
H-Connect EHR software offered by Krish Compusoft Services (KCS), is a secure online patient record across care settings assuring quality medical care to the patients. The primary aim of H-Connect EHR is to create a one-patient, one record model across care settings. H-Connect provides patients, a Personal Health Record (PHR), to monitor and stock their health data from different sources- laboratory, hospital, and old medical records. H-Connect EHR assures the integration of medical information for the benefit of patients and physicians.
Interactant EMR is a behavioral health EMR provided by Health Care Software (HCS). It has broad-reaching clinical functionality that supports the spectrum of behavioral health services including inpatient, outpatient, and residential programs and can be expanded in a variety of behavioral and mental health care settings. It is an extensive suite of interoperable clinical modules that permits users to choose the required functionality. Point-of-care data is captured in Interactant's EHR software.
Hellohealth EHR is a cloud-based electronic health record software providing easy to learn and operate user-interface having practice management tools, a full range of charting and documentation tools. The software is HIPPA-compliant and secure enough to manage practices effortlessly with peace of mind. The system also offers telemedicine, medical billing and revenue management techniques with the help of demos and audio-visual guidelines.
Hospiware, by Raygain technologies, is a hospital- industry-specific EHR software for healthcare service providers such as clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, and pharmacies, etc. This software allows a single user to manage all data for IPD, inventory, and accounts, physician’s prescriptions, OPDs and child care labs from a single window. The web-based software integrates multiple locations of existing hospital chains.
The iClinic comprehensive EHR is a physician-friendly digital health clinic by MDLand International Corp. MDLand product portfolio provides the patients with cloud-based integrated solutions, patient-monitoring remote, chronic care management and Go Mobile services as well. The disease management modules provided by the application enroll them in health care programs helping the physicians to provide better patient care facilities on-the-go digitally and generate revenue simultaneously.
Ideamed is a web-based electronic health record (EHR) software that facilitates healthcare business of all sizes to regulate lab and radiology operations, billing, in-patient task, appointment scheduling, and many other tasks. It works as a management tool or hospital management tool, designed for the healthcare industry to help regulate EMR, invoicing, admissions, prescriptions, and appointments. It works quickly for a user; it appropriately manages all the tasks.
iionHealth EHR (Electronic Health Record) software works virtually on any system from desktop to smartphones and is compatible with all browsers. It is designed to not only maintain records but to enable from scheduling to billing, tasks are spontaneous, and data is always at the user's fingertips. It allows the user to send an email with the full security and confidentiality that the user expects.
IMARS is an electronic health record (EHR) software designed by Imarsmed that provides a simple and easy to use email and healthcare file-sharing system optimized for maximum security and privacy. It is a 100% paperless software solution built specifically to meet the needs of ambulatory surgery centers. With this software, patients can review and complete registration work online. It provides an easy to use notification and messaging system optimized for maximum security.
Instant Health Care provides Electronic Health Record Software for practitioners in multiple specialties across the country. This software shows user-friendliness, and an intuitive workflow, showing the needs of the users. The users submit claims to the insurance companies electronically and process claims within 24 hours of receipt. This EHR provides services that include accounts receivable management, medical coding review and assistance, and physician credentialing services and online medical billing services. EHR system includes modules for Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, OB/GYN, and Pediatrics.
The Intuitive Medical Documents (IMD) provides a web-based, easy to use EHR software that been developed keeping in mind the needs of doctors. This is aimed at improving the delivery of and enhance better healthcare services. It offers a comprehensive and affordable EHR and practice management system that provides charting and documentation, scheduling, billing, reporting, and accounting.
iPatientCare is a certified ambulatory EHR (Electronic Health Record) software. This EHR software makes patient charting, e-prescribing, scheduling, and other tasks easy so that health care providers can devote more time to their patients. It is a simple, efficient and secured Ambulatory EHR software. iPatientCare ambulatory EHR software has the user-centric design and high-performance architecture that allows the staff to work efficiently, again leaving a lot of time for the patients. The patient records are securely held in the storage. iPatientCare EHR software is customizable to suit the needs, rather than changing the way of work. It is available as cloud-based EHR, which relieves the operators from maintaining expensive servers and IT staff.
iSalus offers specialty EHR solutions like Nephrology EHR, Neurosurgery EHR, OrthopAedic EHR, Otolaryngology EHR, Pain Management EHR, Urology EHR, and Choice EHR. The UroChoice EHR is a high-performing urology EHR providing users the information they need with satisfaction by enabling them to open the patient’s chart in one customizable screen with an award-winning patient timeline. It offers a true, all-in-one solution for delivering end-to-end patient care by a cloud-based system with a single login for all of the practice needs. The UroChoice EHR software offers responsive support by serving all medical specialists in Urology at affordable pricing.
Jane’s EHR (Electronic Health Record) software is a medical management software that includes claim management, inventory management, multi-office, multi-physician, patient records, patient registration and much more. Jane’s EHR software is a complete practice management solution with booking, scheduling, billing, and charting. It is the best for a Cloud-based booking platform that helps clinics with workflow management, practice management, patient record keeping, and documentation. Jane's software is straightforward and very dependable. The software enables to chart using a stylus and tablet – almost like paper and pen. It connects with clients, staff and all the files from any location on any device, even finishes up charting from users couch - all online.
Electronic Health Record Software (EHR) designed by Kareo is a cloud-based EHR that can be used across a wide variety of medical specialties, including mental health, family medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, and chiropractic. It is easy to write notes and prescriptions, code encounters, view electronic health records and manage patients fully integrated. This EHR makes independent medical practices easy and is designed to be intuitive. This automates inefficient paper-based processes with eLabs. Kareo pricing has unique features and supports all kinds of budgets and requirements.
Macpractice EHR software is suitable for use on Mac desktop and laptop. It is developed to flow the way physicians work. It allows providers to order, e-prescribe, review and quickly submit charges. Macpractice EHR makes charting simple and easy such as a patient's key clinical data and health history, demographics, vital signs, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans and much more. By using Macpractice EHR, providers can import data from previous visits to update notes instead of recreating them. Macpractice EHR is flexible enough to suit everyone.
MaximEyes EHR (Electronic Health Record) is a unified system for clinical documentation and patient management. MaximEyes EHR software has the flexibility to access the system to the need and get started right away with pre-built examination templates. This system helps patients to be more involved with their problems oriented assessment, macular degeneration, disease-specific templates for glaucoma, retinal and corneal disease, diabetes and other chronic eye diseases.
