As the only full-service healthcare facility for a 100-mile stretch of California’s Central Coast, Big Sur Health Center has to be prepared for the expected, the unexpected and everything in between. For all its natural splendor, Big Sur is also a land of danger, with wildfires, torrential rains, and constant threat of earthquakes.

In 2008, the Basin Complex Fire burned over 130,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of most of the community. We quickly put all our medical and financial records into boxes ready to move to a safe location. Later, when we were debriefing, we asked ourselves: What would have worked better? What is our number one priority in upgrading our emergency preparedness plan? We concluded an Electronic Medical Record System was the answer.

The internet can seem endless. From exactly one website in 1991, it has grown to an estimated 1.67 billion websites, according to Netcraft’s October 2018 Web Server Survey.

Although only about 15% of those sites are active, it’s still virtually impossible for most internet users to quickly find the information of most value to them. Fortunately, search engines scour the internet to find, organize and present relevant information. According to Internet Live Stats, Google processes over 3.5 billion searches daily — 1.2 trillion searches annually worldwide.

What does it take for a large and rapidly expanding network of neurological practices to treat more than 1,000 patients a day across nearly 50 locations? For starters, it requires the right healthcare IT partner, one capable of integrating thousands of patient records into a seamless workflow. That partner would not only offer industry-leading design and function but would also be on the leading edge of the interoperability solutions that are critical in today’s interconnected world of medicine.

Technology continues to advance in healthcare, but an epidemic of physician burnout continues to threaten the quality of both the doctor’s and the patient’s experience. Between 2011 and 2014, burnout increased from 45.5% to 54.4%, according to the American Journal of Medicine. That had a negative impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and provider and patient satisfaction. While some EHR companies’ solutions may actually make the burnout problem worse by forcing providers to spend even more time on their computers, eClinicalWorks is providing tools that help providers actually reduce the risks of burnout.

For today’s busy physicians, finding ways to speed workflows without sacrificing accurate, quality care is critical to meeting the needs of their patients. According to a July 2018 study of U.S. physicians conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, 55 percent reported symptoms of burnout. The study found that physician burnout is as important a factor in medical errors as unsafe medical workplace conditions — if not more so.

Telemedicine is transforming healthcare by making optimal use of healthcare resources. By providing an in-office experience remotely, healow TeleVisits lets providers deliver the same high-quality medicine while letting patients experience the comfort and convenience of being at home or on the road. Not every medical encounter requires a physical office visit, and TeleVisits are ideal for pre-op consultations, quick post-op checkups, and many routine encounters. Secure and fully integrated into the eClinicalWorks EHR, TeleVisits are making care easier and more efficient.

The opioid epidemic is a problem of significant proportions and only getting worse by the day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 11.5 million Americans, aged 12 or older, reported misusing prescription opioids in 2016. Implementing clinical decision support systems can improve patient safety by strengthening guidelines for the prescription of opioids, thereby detecting and preventing the misuse and abuse of these powerful medications.

Before prescribing prescription drugs to their patients, physicians in many states are required to check their state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) database as a safeguard against the diversion and abuse of prescription medications. The rules vary from state to state, as well as which medications are covered by such programs, but most include a broad range of narcotics, tranquilizers, and stimulants.

Are you looking to take a deeper dive into MACRA and MIPS and learn how to succeed under the new rules? We want to share how eClinicalWorks is here to help.

Providers are currently getting accustomed to processes, adjusting to the new rules, meeting the reporting requirements, and have turned now their attention to finding ways to improve their performance. This is where eClinicalWorks comes in. 

Established in 2004, Rainbow Pediatric Center (RPC) has seven providers serving patients in Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra, Florida. We work thoroughly at bridging the gaps in healthcare and providing quality healthcare to our patients. Regarding ADHD patients, we knew that close follow-up with patients yielded better outcomes. We noticed that some parents were having difficulty getting children to appointments. Parents did not want to pull their children out of school for frequent check-ups and we were unable to meet the demands of requested after-school visits. This was a big barrier to care.

V11, the latest version of our core EHR, is transforming healthcare by providing physicians and medical staff with tools for comprehensive documentation, in-depth understanding, greater value, and higher satisfaction — for users and patients.

We’re back from Nashville, where we held our 11th annual National Conference, and now we are jumping right into National Health IT Week, which focuses on catalyzing change in the U.S. healthcare system through the use of information technology.

Sunday was our last day together at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, but even though the conclusion of the 2018 eClinicalWorks National Conference was in sight, it was clearly no time to let up on the learning and networking.

The thousands of eClinicalWorks customers who came to Nashville this weekend expected to hear about improvements to the core EHR, see some new products and services, renew friendships, and have some fun.

Sometimes, to know where you’re going, it’s important to take a look back. Which is why eClinicalWorks CEO and cofounder Girish Navani included a 1998 screenshot of the Google search engine and a 1994 image of the Netscape web browser during yesterday’s Keynote kicking off the 2018 National Conference.