Trend to Watch - Is EHR Adoption Critical for ASCs?

The jury is still out, but the current shift to electronic health records in the ambulatory environment is gaining momentum. As new ASCs are launched across the country, these new facilities are opening their doors with an electronic health record (EHR) system in place. Estimates suggest somewhere between 20% to 50% of existing freestanding surgery centers have made the switch today.

Outpatient Surgery Magazine reports on this shift in the November/December 2023 issue with an article that outlines the challenges with advice from those who have made the plunge.

Bill Willis, director at Vance Thompson Vision, a multi-state outpatient surgery organization based in Sioux Falls, S.D., made the EHR switch back in in 2021. Circulating RNs now spend less time documenting than they did with the paper system.

“Less cost and time spent on updating, printing, storing and scanning paper charts has been beneficial as well,” he says. Additionally, surgeon time is saved with electronic signature functionality through the EHR, which has eliminated the need for surgeons to sign paper orders, the H&P attestation and operative notes. The anesthesia team has also seen a paperwork burden reduction.

However, Mr. Willis says the decision to implement EHR is the easy part – the hard work happens prior to launch, when ASC teams must collaborate to determine what needs to be documented against what is currently being documented. “You risk making documentation more burdensome if you are not intentional in this assessment,” he says.

Standardized electronic data can improve patient care, save clinician time and help meet regulatory and accreditation requirements – all factors that ASCs should optimize, says clinical informatics expert Janice Kelly, MS, RN-BC, president of AORN Syntegrity, a perioperative solution for electronic charting. Ultimately, data stored electronically means patient information can be shared to help guide safer, more coordinated and more cost-effective care. For more click here. OSM