With meaningful use stage 2 looming, is it time to switch chiropractic EHR?

Your chiropractic EHR should help you navigate changes in health IT.

Your chiropractic EHR should help you navigate changes in health IT.

The holiday season is approaching, but many medical practitioners may have another event their mind: the onset of meaningful use stage 2. As we've reviewed previously, the next stage of the federal incentive program will bring with it a host of new documentation requirements, and the bitter truth is that not all chiropractic EHR software may be able to handle the transition.

"If your EHR can't handle stage 2, you have a decision to make — and quickly," notes the medical news outlet Medscape. "Do you keep the current EHR [...] or do you replace it with a system that's more user-friendly and can not only meet the requirements for stage 2 [?]"

Chances are, if you are on the brink of this decision, you've already been let down by your chiropractic EHR software in some way or another — and you aren't alone. Just recently, IDC Health Insights released a new report indicating widespread frustration among ambulatory providers who asserted that the EHR systems they worked with caused a drop in productivity. Yet the issue at stake here isn't necessarily the concept of digitized documentation, but how they are presented and managed by EHR software companies.

If you are working with a system that you don't believe will help you meet the requirements for meaningful use stage 2, it's highly unlikely that you trust this software with your day-to-day operations either. In addition, the failure of your provider to create an adaptable tool in this ever-evolving field should not be overlooked. Medical EHR has the potential to dramatically improve the way you interact with clients and the degree of care you can provide, but only if you actually see it as an asset rather than a hassle.

Ultimately, the best chiropractic EHR should help you navigate the fluxes in health IT. If your current software isn't doing just that, don't sabotage your practice out for frustration or pride, and start investigating better options now.

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