In a report published by the American Medical Informatics Association’s (AMIA) EHR 2020 Task Force, they summarize their position on the status and future direction of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Adoption of federally certified EHR has increased and significant benefits have been achieved by clinics. Users of EHRs have seen benefits in the area of improving workflow, increasing reimbursements, increasing efficiency (no more hunting for paper charts) and patient safety (through built in medication reconciliation and allergy to drug interactions), AMIA task force looked at how EHR can further improve clinical operation by 2020. This report stated “many clinicians are voicing concerns that EHR use has had unintended clinical consequences, including reduced time for patient-clinician interaction, transferred new and burdensome data entry tasks to front-line clinicians, and lengthened workdays.”

Put simply, the EHR 2020 Task Force recommends that “future” EHRs should take the burden off health professionals while providing easy access to health data. This is an understandable and valid area of improvement for EHRs. The earlier generation of EHRs (built in 1990s or 80s) were essentially a billing system with data entry as the main goal. However, later generation EHRs, such as Patagonia Health, learned that the EHR should capture clinical data and databases should be designed to easily get data and reports out.

Most legacy EHR vendors use “add-on” modules and products (from other companies) to accommodate new industry policies and requirements. Before you know it, each user is essentially going to multiple company’s products to do their basic work. Users are hopping from one tab to another and from one screen to another. With older EHRs, it is quite common to go to 7-9 screens to do one basic function. In contrast, Patagonia Health took a much more practical approach when developing a futuristic EHR system that is easy-to-use and aligns with the Task Force’s vendor recommendations, including issues relating to burdensome workflow and documentation processes.

Ashok Mathur, CEO and co-founder of Patagonia Health, began the company with one goal in mind, “Having worked for a large and old EHR company, we realized that we can use the modern apps and cloud technology to make the EHR easier-to-use. Similar to smart phones, apps can be optimized for each user to get the task done simply by only 2-3 clicks.” Mathur further emphasized “Similar to smart phones, each user can personalize their screen and configure the apps they need to meet their workflow and ensure a clutter free screen.”

“Our design team always puts users first. We conducted extensive research on human factors and workflow studies to better understand the needs and challenges of health clinics. The goal of our design team is to make sure that each user only has to go to two, maybe three, screens to do their day-to-day job.” said Abhi Muthiyan, CTO and co-founder of Patagonia Health.

Patagonia Health apps-based EHR is simple for users to adopt. The users’ screens can be personalized so that the user only sees what they need. It is intuitive and uses familiar web prompts and patterns (similar to well-known sites such as Facebook and Amazon), so that users can learn quickly and easily. This intelligent system eliminates dual data entry by integrating auto-populate data fields and auto-learn/auto-suggest features. Reports are easy to run and custom reports can also be created quickly and easily.

The system is federally certified and ready for Stage 3 Meaningful Use interoperability. The accessibility of data dramatically improves departmental efficiencies. It has all the required forms/templates preloaded in the system, it incorporates with daily work-flow, and connects with other providers including health information exchanges, immunization registries and syndromic surveillance systems. Customizable reports can quickly and easily be sent to the Health Commissioner or Board of Health upon request.

This modern web-based technology dramatically reduces face time with the computer allowing providers to get back to the patient. Since inception, Patagonia Health has become the fastest growing EHR in the public health sector, rapidly spreading across the United States.

Please visit www.PatagoniaHealth.com to learn more.