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Urgent care providers increasingly look to technology to manage growth
04.17.2012
Exigence Immediate Care and other urgent care providers across the country are seeing much higher patient volumes and demand for their services. A new report indicates that this has prompted many providers to plan expansions and to look for electronic health record solutions.Researchers from KLAS surveyed representatives from 76 urgent care facilities across the U.S. regarding plans for future expansion and their experiences with health information technology.
The results, published in the report "Urgent Care 2012: A Host of EMR Options," indicate that rapid growth over the past few years has pushed many providers into positions where they need to expand their facilities and take steps to address growing patient volumes.
EHRs are the solution of choice for many providers. The report indicated that high numbers of urgent care facilities are considering adopting the technology.
The authors of the report also examined medical offices' experiences with different systems. The results indicated that there is no one system that best suits the needs of all immediate care providers. Many respondents reported success with a number of different technology vendors.
"There isn't a case of bad or good chocolate--just different preferences," said the report's author Erik Bermudez. "The best EMR really depends on the urgent care center. Some value clinician efficiency. Others need top vendor support because they don't have in-house IT. Each urgent care center should examine their facility's needs, and then begin vetting vendors and products."
EHRs can be an excellent way for healthcare providers to track patients' health, make sure each individual receives recommended treatments and communicate with other organizations, such as hospitals and primary care physicians. This can lead to major gains in patient safety and lower costs.
Categories: Urgent Care Services
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