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
The Medaxion is a mobile-based EHR software. This software has two offerings – Medaxion Pulse and Medaxion Q. Pulse helps anesthesiologists maintain data entry and documentation of patient data, available on iPads and iPhones, sending monthly and daily updates to the administrative and clinical staff including vital charts, case providers and patient history. The system also facilitates sending direct reminders to the users in case of any incomplete case records, role handoff or scheduling conflicts. Medaxion Q deals with streamlined data capture for regulatory reporting.
The Fertility EHR is an intelligent medical software that is a division by Meditab software system designed especially for fertility practitioners including obstetrician-gynecologists, reproductive surgeons, endocrinologists and immunologists for their patients. It is a completely integrated software providing patient reminders, interfaces to labs and registries, health service providers’ mobile application, all integrated into one system.
MedPointe EHR (Electronic Health Record) software is a complete intuitive user-interface certified EHR provided by Health System Technology that is an easy to use tool for insurance billing and management of patients. The software demonstrates the physician workflow with patient electronic records including Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, Hypertension and other acute sinus pains. The records consist of lab orders, proper documentation of tests and reports. MedPointe is therefore designed for the smooth functioning of the whole office work systems.
Meta EHR is constructed for the user to stay up with developments, notice intersections, and surface rising trends in life science. Meta EHR puts medical specialty analysis in context; therefore, the user can advance their work or take it in new directions. With Meta EHR, pay less time searching and longer exploring the topics, findings, and connections that concern users. The Meta EHR further has the right to support various care-related activities directly or indirectly through multiple interfaces, as well as proof-based call support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.
MicroMD EHR Software by Henry Schein is a full-featured, customizable EHR software that helps practices and health centers get upgraded clinical productivity and take enhanced care of the patients. MicroMD provides straightforward and powerful EHR and applies management resolutions that ease the delivery of superior patient care, automate incentive and quality coverage actions, and contour operations. MicroMD EHR's full-featured 2014 Edition complete mobile certified software system accelerates the progress towards a paperless atmosphere and health info exchange.
MMF SYSTEM is a web-based open-source EHR software for physicians. MMF System provides its free web-based open EHR service in support of its Health Information Exchange that is used by the leading hospitals across the nation. In MMF SYSTEM EHR, providers use data from patient records to improve quality outcomes through their care management programs. It eliminates the need to track down a patient's previous paper medical records and assists in ensuring that the data is accurate. The software is more effective due to the digitalization, information being searchable and in a single file and extracting health data for the examination of possible trends and long-term changes in a patient.
ModuleMD Wise EHR and practice management system with versatile method modeling that offers clinical workflow, e-prescribing, and science laboratory reports. It is a cloud-based EHR resolution that enables medical practitioners to manage timesheets, patient registrations, appointments, and more. The flexibility of ModuleMD Wise EHR documentation integrates procedure while not sacrificing the distinctive facts that impact quality patient care or compromising the standards needed for documentation.
Momentum EHR by Momentum Healthware is the flagship software package application. Momentum EHR software is a web-based application software package that streamlines provision for presidency health authorities and large enterprise organizations. Momentum EHR consists of the tools and functionality to manage, assess, monitor, plan, and document consumer care. Presently available in each English and French, this software package further designed to support additional languages as requested. Momentum EHR is a versatile application created to satisfy the necessities of Residential Care Campuses, Home & Community Care Programs, Community Mental Health.
Mountainside EHR Software is used as an innovative approach in helping health offices create and manage a truly paperless health record. It is a fully-featured and certified system that documents all aspects of a patient’s health care. It provides patient-centric internal to-do lists. Mountainside EHR reports provide secure, direct faxing within the application and communication with the patients or their representatives. By using Mountainside EHR, patients receive electronic results.
NEXconnex is all in one integrated medical solution software offered by Nexsyis Inc designed for healthcare practices, clinics, group practice. It provides all types of specialties to manage the entire pharmacy or a hospital from end to end. NEXconnex EMR systems offer medical billing, Multi-provider practice, patient registration, and outcome assessment in one place.
Notation Matrix EHR is a fully-featured EHR software designed to serve clinics, agencies. This online Electronic Health Records (EHR) system offers Appointment Scheduling, Charting, Claims Management, Initial Assessments in one place. Notation Matrix EHR software understands what clinicians and billing companies require in the field of behavioral health treatment. Notation Matrix understands the importance of users as a clinician to spend time with clients rather than at a desk writing notes. Notation Matrix EHR software allows users to do that with less documentation than ever before.
NovoClinical is a fully integrated cloud-based system EHR (Electronic Health Record) offered by Novomedici LLC, which is perfect for any specialty or billing environment. NovoClinical allows a patient to access input and update demographics, view reports, communicate with the staff through their portal and minimize document processing at the time of service. It also offers an interface based on usual paper charts formats in all medical practices.
OmniMD EHR software is a complete workflow automation package, with a data conversion system to transfer all data from an earlier EHR system. OmniMD EHR software’s Observe Management System offers comprehensive and powerful practicality throughout the monetary lifecycle of the organization. OmniMD's artificial intelligence-equipped and machine learning-enabled electronic health records (EHR) system, represents a consecutive generation of medical records. OmniMD EHR software, a cloud-based service, provides a 24/7 health data to attention users when they want it the most, with the speed and accuracy they can depend upon.
Pal/Med EHR is fully featured electronic health care software that is designed to serve enterprises. It offers end to end solution, and this software also offers appointment scheduling, e- prescribing, charting, and self-service portal in one place. Keep e-prescriptions, lab reports, and notes in real-time charting equipped system. Pal/Med facilitates the seamless flow of health information and throughout an organization. It is easy to use and would enhance the physicians' ability to complete document a patient encounter.
Fanestra Information System provides the Radekal EHR (Electronic Health Records) software which is designed for health care professionals and physicians, and it is designed as the way practitioners were trained at medical colleges. Radekal enables users to streamline patients’ evaluation by creating prescriptions, automating diagnosis, and progressing notes at RAC auditable level via mobile or other variety of devices. Radekal is only an EHR app that increases productivity by 30%.
Phoenix Ortho Electronic Health Records (EHR) software is a quality electronic health records system aimed at orthopedic-specific practices. Phoenix Ortho EHR software can be used by practices of all sizes from solo physicians to large orthopedic centers. This EHR solution automates practice areas including documentation, image integration, patient messaging and e prescribing. Phoenix Ortho EHR focused on the needs of orthopedic physicians that inspire and drive software development, enabling physicians to efficiently manage their patient encounters. Phoenix Ortho’s top complete EHR software is customized to orthopedic specialists, showing the patient details that are relevant to each case.
Core EHR Platform by PointClickCare is primarily a cloud-based EHR software designed to assist lengthy-time period care carriers to streamline and manipulate the lifecycle of resident care. Core EHR platform includes various platforms such as the Skilled Nursing Core Platform, Senior Living Core Platform, and Home Care Core Platform. Core EHR software is compatible with fast-changing traits and policies in professional care, having a holistic view of users' entire business in one platform.
PowerMed Corporation EHR is software designed and engineered from the beginning as one platform to run health practice. PowerMed Corporation EHR software is having seamless integrated billing and scheduling. The PowerMed Corporation EHR offers excellent charting toolset supported by a professional team that's skilled at managing the diverse domain of EHR, completely understanding and respecting the individual nature and needs of Physicians. Available to all PowerMed EHR Clients is the complete range of in-house support and expertise in EHR. Specialty Modules are accessible for a wide range of practices – PowerMed EHR clients represent virtually the entire spectrum of office-based practice supported by both dedicated program sections and an extremely customizable core function charting toolset.
Practice is an EHR platform for controlling medical practice, developed to meet the needs of small to medium-sized businesses. The software can be tailored to procedures in internal medicine, chiropractors, physical therapists, family medicine, podiatrists, psychologists, and various other specialties. It offers a specialty-specific EHR with a straightforward workflow. The software facilitates completing notes with a couple of straightforward clicks and managing patient care efficiently. It's a solution-based software solely on the cloud. It's accessible via remote desktops and mobile devices.
Practo Ray Physician EMR by Practo simplifies & digitizes the ordering of lab examinations and handling of an in-residence lab. Each doctor and group of workers (lab technician, facts entry operator, receptionist, and so on) can use those capabilities to prescribe lab checks, manipulate an in-house lab and ship patients’ repute indicators. It also includes other EMR like Dental EMR Ophthalmology EMR, Pediatric EMR, Prescriptions, and Speciality Plans. It's a very powerful software for clinics. This software acts as an interface between patients and doctors.
Praxis EHR (Electronic Health Record) software provided by Infor-Med Inc is the fastest improving EHR software. It gives smart and faster suggestions to their customers and serving thousands of Physician-users across the world. Praxis EHR software focuses on clinical usability and consistency. This software helps small businesses make informed decisions about what software is right for them. Praxis EHR software is a great EHR that allows charting fast and consistently improves the quality of medicine and practice while offering better and make more personalized care to patients.
Accuro EMR by QHR Technologies meets the instant productiveness desires of today, and the growing connectivity demands of the day after day – a bendy answer that can provide user workflows, and their manner. Software is a robust and powerful platform that can be harnessed to enhance affected person care. Cloud-primarily based EMR answers with functions including digital charts, paperwork, prescriptions, and online patient appointments.