EHR Downtime: How a Cloud-Based ECM Fills the Gap
EHR Downtime: How a Cloud-Based ECM Fills the Gap
Every electronic health records system (EHR) has unexpected downtime. Does your organization have a cloud-based enterprise content management system (ECM) that provides access to up-to- date medical records even during downtime? You should.
An ECM ensures patient records can be accessed offline
Among the many benefits of using a cloud-based ECM is the ability to store updated patient records that can be accessed offline. For example, an acute care organization schedules the printing – or uploading – of current in-house patient records to their ECM platform. This can occur once or multiple times per day as the facility requires. Obviously, the more often the print function runs, the more current the record is if downtime occurs.
And, if the facility also schedules the printing of a patient census via the same print driver, a robust cloud-based ECM will use this to manage the availability of current records per the facility’s requirements, allowing the facility to manage the population of records in the downtime platform.
On-site vs cloud-based Content Management System backup
Compared with EHRs or on-premises ECMS, cloud-based ECMs also deliver advanced levels of:
- Security – A cloud-based ECM uses much of the information in patients’ records, such as admitting and attending physicians or the unit(s) the patient has visited, to manage security of
each available record. Access to these records can be limited to certain platform users, or available to all as the facility dictates. - Efficiency – An ECM with a strong document analysis engine can inspect records and inject unique bookmarks into the record, increasing the records’ usefulness to healthcare providers.
For example, for a cardiology patient’s longitudinal record, the system can create bookmarks for EKG and ECHO reports, or specific lab tests and pharmacy records. In many cases, providers can more efficiently use these downtime records than the original EHR records. - Accessibility – Features such as automated workflows and intelligent form technology can be used to create specific downtime solutions as your organization requires. For instance, an electronic pharmacy order form can be made available for nursing units to enter new pharmacy orders. These orders are then automatically pushed to the pharmacy via workflow for action.
Should the pharmacy perform an intervention, it can be documented against the order form. - Scalability – In a cloud environment, the ECM can access additional computing resources if your needs change. Should your organization’s print volume increase drastically, as may be the case when another hospital is brought into the organization via an acquisition, this elastic computing capability can continue to meet your needs within timeframes identical to the previously lower volume – with little lead time. This ability simply does not exist with an ECM that is not cloud-based.
Cloud technology continues to expand, and there are many other scenarios where a cloud-based ECM platform can be deployed to assist healthcare facilities in operations during EHR downtime.