When it comes to purchasing practice management and EHR software for your eyecare practice, the costs can add up quickly whether it's on the software itself, new hardware, or third party add on solutions.
When looking at the ROI of the system you choose, it's easy to go straight for the numbers and look at things like an increase in revenue. While it's obvious that bigger profits are something all businesses are hoping to accomplish after a big investment, there are a lot of other factors, beyond just the numbers that should be considered part of your ROI.
ROI of EHR Software Isn't Only About the Hard Numbers
Patient Satisfaction
EHR software provides resources that make it easier for your patients to stay more involved in their healthcare. Patient portals give your patients online access to things like medical history, prescriptions, treatment instructions, test results, and educational materials that help them better understand and treat their diagnosis. Patient portals also give your patients another channel for communicating with your practice and scheduling appointments. This helps keep your schedule full and creates a more loyal relationship between your practice and your patients.
Improved Outcomes
Another aspect that leads to greater patient satisfaction is improved health outcomes. EHR software will help you better manage patient information increasing the quality of their records that will ultimately lead to better patient outcomes. Tools built into your EHR software, like clinical decision support, can help automate diagnosis, treatment, orders, special testing, and patient education based on best practices. On top of that you can quickly create referral documents to easily communicate patient information with other providers to create a more complete and comprehensive healthcare experience for your patients.
Operational Efficiency
The adjustment to new EHR software in any practice can take some time, but once your team has learned and adjusted to the new system you're going to start seeing the benefits of increased efficiency and productivity across many areas of your workflow. For example, internal messaging will help your entire team stay on the same page as patients move through your practice. You'll also be able to quickly generate various reports to help you better understand the performance of your practice. Keeping an eye on important metrics will help you make better decisions to increase profits in your practice.
Job Satisfaction
EHR software should help you and your entire team streamline processes that were previously causing you headaches. Your staff will waste less time on data entry, and less time on the phone answering patient questions that can now be answered in the patient portal or calling patients about appointment reminders that can now be automated. The less time your team has to spend on monotonous administrative tasks, the more time they will have to focus on patient care. And, the more satisfied your employees are with their job, the less turnover you'll face!
If this post inspired you to explore your EHR software options, download our shopping kit to help you make the best decision for your practice.
Originally published in August 2016