Clinical information systems can reduce medical errors, increase legibility, and cut unnecessary healthcare costs. They can also help with patient education and research.

A clinical information system is a computer-based system designed to collect, store, manipulate, and make available clinical information necessary for healthcare delivery. It can also interface with other hospital information systems, such as pathology and radiology.

Patient Adherence

Misunderstood or forgotten care plan recommendations can result in undesired health outcomes. Non-adherence is also associated with higher healthcare costs.

A clinical information system facilitates patient compliance by providing easy access to medical records at all points of care, improving treatment continuity. The information captured in these systems is structured and legible, minimizing human error.

Patients who feel empowered by the information they receive are more likely to follow their physician’s recommendations. Adherence-enhancing strategies include risk assessment and motivational interviewing. Providing medication calendars, pill boxes, and other unique packaging are also effective adherence aids. Additionally, incorporating a telehealth component into the CIS increases accessibility and can help maintain patient-provider relationships.

Patient Engagement

Patient engagement strategies can boost satisfaction and loyalty, strengthen the clinician-patient relationship, and reduce costs. Engaging patients is likelier to stick with preventative care, follow treatment plans, and adhere to medication regimens.

Providers can boost patient engagement by leveraging technology to deliver education, decision support, and communications tools in convenient formats that patients will use (e.g., videos and step-by-step articles). Make digital engagement an integral part of each visit. Encourage clinicians and staff to promote and explain these tools during appointments, at the front desk, through messages, and the patient portal. Patient engagement will also reduce staff workload and stress, allowing them to focus on improving the quality of patient care.

Patient Education

Patient education is vital to ensuring patients know how to self-manage their conditions. This helps them follow doctors’ instructions to avoid nonessential readmissions or emergency department trips, saving healthcare facilities time and money.

Educational materials should be tailored to the patient’s health literacy level and cultural background, using clear language and avoiding medical jargon. Communicating with the patient through multiple channels, including video, audio, and computer-based resources, is a good practice.

Physicians can also go beyond simply passing out brochures or handouts by sending targeted patient education texts via mobile devices to encourage engagement. These messages can include links to articles, videos, or other educational resources.

Patient Referrals

Patient referrals are an essential revenue stream for medical practices. When a patient hears about your practice from someone they trust, they are more likely to believe the positive experience that person had and visit your office.

However, many healthcare providers need help managing these referrals effectively. Many patients are misled about specialist appointment availability, and the process is incredibly time-consuming for both PCPs and specialists.

In addition, many practices are losing future revenue because of referral leakage. This can occur when a patient is referred to a specialist within another health system without the primary provider knowing. To combat these problems, a clinical information system can increase referral efficiency by creating matrices and databases of insurance referral rules and requirements.

Patient Safety

Patient safety is a primary focus for healthcare facilities worldwide. Implementing safety protocols reduces the likelihood of medical mistakes, which can lead to damage, infections, and other problems during treatment. This also saves money by preventing hospital stays, readmissions, and extra treatments.

Patient safety strategies require clear policies, organizational leadership capacity, data to drive safety improvements, and skilled healthcare professionals. Patients and family members play a crucial role in this effort by contributing ideas for improving safety within the clinical microsystem. The entire hospital community then acts upon these ideas. This translates to lower risk, reduced harm, and improved medical research and quality.

Patient Outcomes

Today’s healthcare system puts physician practices in a financial vise. Poor management practices that might have gone unpunished in a looser market cut into revenue and can lead to staff, payer, and patient dissatisfaction.

Digital tools can help your staff manage the many tasks required to keep your clinic running efficiently. Digital intake forms let physicians capture information before a visit, and dictation software lets providers quickly add notes during a session.

Digital tools can also make it easier to pull in data from registries, public health systems, and infectious disease databases. The more data you have, the better your practice will be able to monitor trends and improve performance.