Dive Brief:
- eClinicalWorks is launching a cloud-based platform for acute care EHR and revenue cycle management.
- The tool creates a unified medical record for inpatient and outpatient populations, with a dashboard displaying clinical information for emergency, inpatient and operating room departments.
- Hamilton Healthcare System's 42-bed community hospital in Texas will be first to go live with the system.
Dive Insight:
Features of the Acute Care EHR include computerized physician order entry and revenue cycle management for the emergency department, pharmacy and infection control for inpatients, and scheduling, laboratory and referrals management, among others. The system also covers labor and delivery needs.
Cloud computing is hot right now as hospitals look for ways to speed EHR implementation and improve data use. The pay-as-you-go model allows providers to quickly build up and build out infrastructure without major capital outlays and leverage patient information gathered at multiple care points.
The cloud is an especially good fit for small and mid-size hospitals that don’t have existing infrastructure and IT staff to handle an in-house EHR. Last year, Meditech rolled out a cloud-based integrated EHR for critical access hospitals via a monthly subscription.
Another attraction of cloud-based EHR tools is how easily they can be scaled up. “If you’ve got an application that’s growing exponentially like EHRs tend to do, if you want to increase the scale and increase your capacity … it’s a lot easier to do in a cloud-based environment,” Bob Krohn, partner and healthcare practice lead at ISG, told Healthcare Dive recently.
Revenue cycle management is also in demand, as higher deductible health plans force more consumers to dig into their pockets to cover medical bills and providers cope with drawn out or delayed payments.
Most EHR vendors see revenue cycle management as a growth opportunity and are investing in it. Last year, Allscripts acquired McKesson’s hospital and health system IT business, which includes HealthQuest revenue cycle technology.
Epic also offers an integrated EHR and revenue cycle management system. Mayo Clinic swapped out its three EHR systems for Epic’s product several years ago, citing more flexibility for innovation and a better patient experience.