Health systems are increasingly leveraging EHR systems for more than just storing patient data.
Cleveland Clinic is using its Epic EHR system to bolster patient safety and caregiver well-being. It is doing this through an integration within its EHR that features alerts when unsafe situations arise, offering guidance to caregivers on how to navigate challenging encounters.
For example, caregivers might receive alerts indicating that a patient should be paired only with male staff due to past incidents involving inappropriate comments. Alternatively, an alert could suggest that a female caregiver should not be alone with a specific patient, helping to mitigate potential risks of misconduct or harassment.
Meanwhile, San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital has implemented a "disappearing help line" feature within its EHR to address the issue of "note bloat," which refers to the excessive length of clinical notes. This software offers in-line reminders, suggestions and tips while a provider is drafting a note, which then disappears once the note is signed.
The platform has helped reduce the length of inpatient progress notes by 18.7% and admission notes by 6.4%, while also decreasing the number of coding queries — where coders seek additional information to accurately bill patients — by 14%, according to researchers at Rady Children's Hospital.