4 Ways a High-Quality EHR Dashboard Boosts Productivity

It’s a question practice managers and physicians ask frequently: Why do some EHRs completely drain practice productivity while others greatly enhance it? Although an intuitive user interface and sleek design are helpful, what sometimes sets one EHR apart from another is the quality of the dashboard.

“EHR dashboards should be a one-stop shop for high-level, real-time information,” says Ravi Gupta, Kareo Clinical EHR product manager. This includes information on financial performance, patient flow, open tasks and more. A good dashboard helps practice managers, coders, billers and physicians identify precisely where they should focus their efforts in the short- and long-term for maximum return on investment. A robust EHR dashboard is all about helping providers and staff work smarter—not harder, he adds.

Following are four ways of an effective EHR dashboard will boost practice productivity and efficiency:

1. With User-Specific Information

When users log into the EHR, they should see a quick glance of ‘need-to-know’ information specific to their roles, says Gupta. They shouldn’t be inundated with irrelevant data. Dashboards should surface critical information and provide immediate analytics to keep the practice running smoothly, Gupta explains.

For example, practice managers should see information about the number of patients coming in that day, eligibility data, copayment information and more. “You have an accurate real-time view of what the day will look like,” says Gupta.

Practice managers should also be able to quickly view open tasks, such as patient portal messages that require a physician response or patient demographic and insurance information that requires updates upon check-in so they can delegate tasks and follow-up accordingly. They also need real-time financial information such as billed procedures, charges, adjustments, receipts, refunds, accounts receivable (A/R) balance, days in A/R, days to bill and more.

“The goal is to help managers run the practice more efficiently so they don’t need to spend time looking at different screens to make the visits successful. If you can get all of the information in one place, it makes you much more efficient,” says Gupta.

Likewise, upon logging into the EHR, providers should see a list of patients coming in for that day (including who has checked in and is ready to be seen) along with easy access to the reason for the visit and clinical history. They should also be able to quickly see ‘open’ tasks that require completion and attention, such as clinical notes that require finalizing, prescription refill requests and lab results that require review. Finally, they should have access to real-time performance on MIPS quality measures.

Coders and billers should see critical information about denials and rejections and be able to trend financial data easily.

2. With Data Visualization

A dashboard shouldn’t only include tables and columns of data, says Gupta. “Providers and staff are becoming very tech-savvy. They want trending analysis and visual representations of the data,” he adds.

3. With Clinical and Financial Integration

Practices need a consolidated view of clinical and financial information that’s only possible with an integrated platform, says Gupta. This is where most dashboards fall short because they only include clinical information or financial information but not both in a single view, he adds. A consolidated view makes sense because it reflects the entire patient experience from the moment the patient contacts the practice all the way through to the claim payment.

4. With the Ability to Dig More Deeply into the Data

A good dashboard provides a quick glance into critical information, but it also allows users to easily and quickly generate reports or examine the data driving the analytics—all with a few clicks of the mouse, says Gupta.

Of course, a dashboard is ultimately only as useful as the data flowing into it; however, assuming data integrity is upheld, a dashboard designed with usability in mind is truly a boon to productivity, and it can help practices save time that they can reinvest into patient care, says Gupta.

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