Ever since the concept of the electronic health record (EHR) program made its way into our modern healthcare system, the term “patient engagement” has grown right alongside it. It doesn’t make sense to have one without the other. 

Patient engagement involves building a system that allows a patient to manage his or her own health.

Is your medical practice targeting seniors? 

In 2015, almost 48 million people in the United States were over the age of 65. That’s just shy of 15 percent of the total population. By 2060, that number is expected to rise closer to 25 percent. 

As you age, you need more medical attention.

When you’re piecing together your office system strategies, you look for things that will make you more efficient. You want apps that cut down on replicating your work. You look for intuitive software that speeds up entry and modification. 

But health data is a little different than other forms of information.

How strong is your IT security policy? Do you have the confidence your policies could stand up to a major attack? Most organizations do … until the unthinkable happens. 

You walk in and boot up your equipment, ready for another day at the office. But as different pieces of equipment warm up, you notice something is wrong.

In the 21st Century Cures Act, interoperability is defined as the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate and exchange data with ease. Then once the data moves between various applications, it should also be used with ease without any special effort on the part of the user.

Think back for a moment about your life in the healthcare system. Over the years, you’ve visited a lot of different medical practitioners for a variety of different things. You’ve seen:

A general practitioner for general care
Specialists for specific problems along the way
An x-ray technician when you thought you broke your ankle
The lab when your doctor requested blood work
A pharmacist to pick up your medication
An ob-gyn when you started your family

In and out you’ve weaved through medical facilities and doctors offices as you worked hard to stay as healthy as possible.

IT teams have a lot of challenges on their hands today. But I don’t have to tell you that. You’re battling them all the time.

What makes it even more strenuous is the speed at which new technology is being developed. Has your organization adopted AI? Or how about the Internet of Things: Are your medical devices becoming smarter every day?

The average healthcare organization now uses more than 900 different cloud-based services throughout their practice.

What do healthcare facilities worry about right now in 2018? According to a report put out by the ECRI Institute, one of the most significant concerns involves workarounds.

Workarounds occur when a staff member needs to get something done and doesn’t have the right tools or authority in place.

In 1950, the most popular names in America were James, Michael, and Robert for males, Mary, Linda, and Patricia for females. Now lets pair those names with a popular surname such as Smith, Johnson, or Williams. Do you have a few patients with any of those names? Turns out, it’s causing a growing problem in healthcare organizations.

There’s a problem with the current EHR systems in today’s medical practices. According to an Annals of Internal Medicine study, for every hour a doctor spends with her patients, she spends double the amount of time working on paperwork. 

And that’s not where doctors’ time should be.