Most healthcare providers in post-acute care facilities want Electronic Health Records (EHR) Software technology designed for their specific area. However, as revealed by a KLAS report, these organizations continue to face interoperability and care coordination difficulties.
What are Post-Acute Care facilities?
Post-acute care settings include long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled health facilities, and home health agencies. Post-acute care is an essential and growing service accounting for almost 15% of Medicare spending.
Post-acute care organizations are looking for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software vendors that meet their post-acute care requirements so they can offer high-quality care to patients.
Key Challenges faced by Post-Acute Care Organizations
Post-acute care facilities in the US have reported that they face challenges in the following areas when it comes to post-acute care,
- Interoperability standards.
- Analytics
- Value-based reimbursements.
- Care coordination between clinicians
- Data quality and standardization
- Workflow integration
- Regulatory and policy changes
No EHR Software vendor has been able to deliver solutions across all the services offered by the post-acute care settings. Usually, organizations offer facility or home-based care hence purchase decisions are made according to one type of care.
EMR Software vendors for Post-Acute Care Organizations
- MatrixCare – MatrixCare has been adopted widely in several post-acute care settings. The software technology performs reliably in home health, hospice, and long-term care hospitals.
- WellSky Software –The EHR software vendor, WellSky Home Health EMR Software offers tools and solutions for post-acute care settings however the adaptation rate is relatively low, especially in LTC/SNF.
- Epic EMR Software – Users leveraging Epic software’s post-acute care technology solutions are satisfied despite gaps in important areas such as documentation on tablets for home health. The customers using Epic Solutions are confident in the vendor’s ability to keep up with the regulatory requirements to advance their solutions.
- MEDITECH – There has been less adaption of MEDITECH’s post-acute care health IT. Users who use post-acute care solutions for hospice and home health which are not part of the Expanse platform are reasonably satisfied.
How to Address EHR Software Interoperability Challenges in Post-acute Care Settings?
To solve the interoperability difficulties that post-acute care organizations confront, a multidisciplinary approach is required. First and foremost, promote the use of standardized data formats such as FHIR and HL7 to facilitate interoperability amongst EMR systems. Encourage the creation of Health Information interchange (HIE) platforms that enable seamless data interchange across healthcare settings.
Data accuracy and workflow integration improvement can be realized by giving top priority to staff training, user-friendly Electronic Health Records Software interfaces, and data quality requirements. Encourage cooperation between all parties involved, such as vendors, regulatory agencies, and healthcare professionals. For a patient-centered approach, put in place data governance standards, reward interoperability successes, and involve patients in the procedure.
Post-acute care organizations can contribute to a more connected and effective healthcare landscape by pooling their efforts to navigate and overcome the challenges of EMR Software interoperability.
