Key EHR features for healthcare organizations & specialized practices

February 27, 2024

EHR solutions can have various core features enabling medical professionals to securely acquire, store, and process patients’ electronic medical records, medical images, lab test results, dental charts, and other demographic and health information, as well as exchange it with healthcare providers.

Our experts can implement custom EHR/EMR solutions with feature sets tailored to the specifics of your medical practice or analyze your current solution’s capabilities and help expand them by integrating additional EHR modules.

General EHR features

The majority of EHR systems include similar basic features useful for most clinicians regardless of their medical practice specialties.

Document management

The primary function of electronic health record systems is to manage patient data. While EMR software often serves as a digital version of the paper chart, EHR doesn’t solely contain doctor’s notes but also provides customizable templates and e-forms for faster charting and more accurate record-keeping. EHRs allow clinicians to acquire, store, and share demographic details essential for public health improvement and other health-related information.

Complete patient medical history
Immunization tracker
Medical images
Determinants of health tracker
Radiology and lab results

Patient management

The majority of EHRs have patient management features that automate administrative tasks like appointment scheduling, giving medical professionals more time to focus on clinical tasks and empowering patients to proactively manage their health.

Appointment and referral scheduler
Follow-up reminders
Patient portals

Security

Depending on the country of operation, a medical organization’s EHR should align with the Meaningful Use criteria, GDPR and HIPAA regulations, and international healthcare software security guidelines for the protection of patients’ health information as well as data governance guidelines.

Multi-factor authentication
Data encryption
Different levels of distributed access control
Secure data transfer channels and protocols, and more

Analytics & reporting

Advanced EHR solutions offer medical data analytic capabilities that enable healthcare providers to make evidence-based diagnoses, personalize treatment plans, assess the organization’s productivity, and discover points for patient care improvement.

Symptomatic pattern identification
Treatment effectiveness assessment
Health condition forecasting
Department productivity evaluation

Clinical management

Some electronic health record software solutions have capabilities beyond patient record keeping and aid healthcare personnel in managing clinics’ and even pharmacies’ daily routines like task completion reporting, order entry, prescription verification and validation, and financial management.

Comprehensive dashboards with clinical data
Practice management module
Task trackers and reminders
Insurance information storage

Looking for a reliable EHR system to automate your clinical workflows?

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Specialized EHR features

EHR systems for particular medical specialties typically have distinct capabilities and gather additional patient information.

Practice- specific EHRs are useful to

Cardiologists

Oncologists

Chiropractics

Geriatricians

Nutritionists

Obstetrics/ Gynecologists (OBGYNs)

Pediatricians

Nurses

Surgery healthcare facilities

Emergency departments

Medical genetic clinics

Rehabilitation centers

Long-term care facilities

Psychiatry & behavioral health clinics

Dental clinics

Specialty documentation templates

Each healthcare provider has to make notes during a patient examination, diagnostics, treatment planning, and referrals. Filling out pre-made templates saves time and effort compared to writing notes from scratch and helps avoid typos or mistakes due to inattentiveness or oversight. Patients also request multiple forms from healthcare organizations: physical wellness assessment for schools, vaccination certificates, proof of special needs, etc. Generating such documentation automatically with data available in EHR is faster and easier than creating them anew every time.

Patient examination procedure guidelines
SOAP notes (The Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan notes)
Official documentation templates
Brief Mental Status Examination (MSE) template
ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases), ICD-9, CPT (The Current Procedural Terminology) specialty codes suggestions

Specialized charting

For more informed clinical decision-making, medical professionals must fully understand the dynamics of changes in their patients’ conditions. To do that, clinicians generate charts based on the metrics stored in the EHR and compare them to the official norms and standards.

Growth and developmental charting
Newborn screening data
Periodontal charting
Glucose levels charting

Specialized treatment plans

Patients with chronic conditions, disabilities, developmental abnormalities, or history of mental illnesses or substance abuse require treatment protocols that vary significantly from average cases. EHRs can help healthcare professionals suggest more accurate and personalized treatment while documenting every step of the process for future analysis and faster medication adjustments.

E-prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS)
Special care needs management
Drug interaction alerts
Rare condition knowledge base

EHR modules powered by advanced tech

Innovative healthcare systems allow medical professionals to elevate the quality of care and its accessibility. EHR solutions enhanced with advanced technologies automate note-taking and patient management to minimize the amount of time and effort clinicians have to spend on administrative tasks.

Voice recognition

Simplify EHR use with embedded voice recognition tools, so that authorized personnel can vocally unlock the system and give it commands.

Automatic note-taking

Enable clinicians to put patient information into the system faster with their natural speech and focus more on the patient than administrative tasks.

Chatbots & voice assistants

Provide EHR users with a digital assistant to help them find information faster, assist with appointment scheduling, or answer some standard frequently asked questions.

Integration with medical devices

Streamline, secure, and speed up medical data acquisition from remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices and personal gadgets by connecting them directly with the EHR system.

Specialized EHR systems & modules we’ve built

We have wide experience in delivering EHR systems or separate modules with special features that boost healthcare organizations’ workflows.

1,000

therapy orders created monthly

Oncology treatment platform

We created an EHR-connected platform that contains a vast collection of up-to-date medical research and aids medical professionals in diagnostics, quick treatment order creation, and generating reports on recommended therapies.

HIPAA, ONC, CEHRT, & Section 508

certified solution

Telemedicine-ready EHR system

We delivered a unique EHR system with capabilities that optimized the input of patient records and facilitated doctor-patient communication enabled by speech recognition, smartpen, clinical text analysis, NLP, and online medical conferencing tools.

3x

faster case creation

An RPM and mobile telehealth suite

Our team released a suite of a mobile app and a web-based admin portal for nurses in rural and underserved areas in the US to facilitate primary case creation for sexual assault victims. The solution improves the accuracy of the examination, streamlines data input into the EHR, and ensures the maximum comfort of patients.

Telehealth suite for psychiatric assessment

24/7

service availability

Telehealth suite for psychiatric assessment

We delivered a HIPAA-compliant comprehensive telepsychiatry solution for remote medical case processing, patient data management, communication between different hospitals, remote patient assessment, treatment recommendations, and facility placement coordination.

1,000

therapy orders created monthly

Oncology treatment platform

HIPAA, ONC, CEHRT, & Section 508

certified solution

Telemedicine-ready EHR system

3x

faster case creation

An RPM and mobile telehealth suite

24/7

service availability

Telehealth suite for psychiatric assessment

1,000

therapy orders created monthly

Oncology treatment platform

HIPAA, ONC, CEHRT, & Section 508

certified solution

Telemedicine-ready EHR system

3x

faster case creation

An RPM and mobile telehealth suite

24/7

service availability

Telehealth suite for psychiatric assessment

Comparison of open-source, proprietary & custom EHR

Different EHR software have distinct sets of capabilities and requirements. Providers need to choose a system with the key features that cover their organization’s needs and fit within their connectivity, infrastructure, and budget requirements.

Open-source EHRs

Proprietary out-of-the-box EHRs

Custom EHRs

Features

Only basic features by default Unique functionality must be added by developers

A wide range of pre-installed features The variety of add-ons depends on the particular vendor and the product itself

Feature set is tailored to a particular organization’s workflows

Interface

Very simplistic, often outdated interface

More complex interface

Custom interface

Source code modifications

It’s possible to modify the source code

The solution’s source code cannot be altered

The source code can be changed by developers per the client’s request

Cost

Free or significantly cheaper than its counterparts

Upfront costs and regular license fees vary depending on the EHR’s provider and system capabilities

Upfront costs are usually higher than for its counterparts