Rising Need for Urgent Care EMR

Sources say that the increasing rise in urgent care centers across the country could make primary care obsolete. Skeptical primary care physicians warn that an over-reliance on urgent care centers can actually be more detrimental to the patient’s health because of the gaps created in their medical record; however, along with keeping an accurate detailed record of the patient’s encounter, the implementation of an urgent care EMR aims to keep the primary care physician informed of any changes in their patients’ health.

Urgent care has become somewhat of a catchall healthcare specialty. Patients who turn to urgent care might not have their own primary care physician or health insurance, are in search of an appointment during evening and weekend hours, or have a minor injury and don’t want to sit for hours in the hospital’s emergency department.

EMRs in an urgent care center addresse a patient’s past, present and future in a very short amount of time. Urgent care prides itself on shorter wait times than in the ER and their EMR software solutions are built for speed. Keeping forms fast and simple, PrognoCIS’ specialized urgent care solution utilizes the Point-n-Click input method for SOAP notes, saving time that would be otherwise spent typing. Exam chart templates are also designed with an incredibly fast load time, displaying data in real time.

When patients go to an urgent care center, it is important that the primary care physician have access to the visit data. PrognoCIS urgent care EMR solution’s HL7 interface maintains the standards of health information technology interoperability, ensuring that data can easily be passed from one provider to another. With built-in referral letter templates, patients can even be directed to a non-emergency doctor that they can continue to see on a regular basis.

Sources

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/GeneralProfessionalIssues/34854

http://www.ucaoa.org/index.php

http://www.emrexperts.com/specialty/urgent-care-emr.php