Why It Is Important to Keep Up With Changes to Your EMR

Has your practice already incorporated an electronic medical records (EMR) or electronic health records (EHR) into your work flow? Keep in mind that is this not a set it and forget it type of adjustment. Read on to find out how you can stay on top of EHR guideline changes.

Because the adoption of EHR and EMR systems among medical practices, hospitals and physicians has been a gradual process, there are constantly changes being made to the requirements. You can read about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' latest adjustment to the meaningful use and EHR implementation deadlines here.

Staying up-to-date about changes to the EHR and EMR requirements within the medical field will help keep your practice within the proper guidelines and also ensure that you receive all of the financial incentives owed to your practice, while also avoiding fines and penalties.

Jim Doggett, chief security officer and chief technology risk officer for Kaiser Permanente, an integrated managed care consortium, recently addressed the need for practices to stay informed regarding how to manage their electronic records and security.

"Everything about a given organization's technology portfolio is in a near or constant state of change technologies change; member requirements change; usage changes, and the threat landscape changes," Doggett said.

"Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate the risks these changes pose, he added. Risk management can help an organization identify, prioritize and manage the issues and risks they face, addressing those that are most important to the organization."

Doggett spoke about these issues at the Privacy & Security Forum, which took place in San Diego on June 16th and 17th. The forum focused on handling the recent increase in cyberattacks, insider threats, HIPAA and HITECH regulatory requirements, as well as ways to safeguard personal health information and the penalties for failing to do so.

To find out how your practice's website can seamlessly link to an EMR or EHR patient portal, as well as communicate with current and prospective patients more securely, click here.

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