Electronic health record vendor CareCloud has unveiled the next generation of its Web-based CareCloud Charts software to allow doctors to speed up documentation of patient visits.
Introduced on July 16, the new version of Charts is built around what the company calls “rapid charting,” which involves opening a note for a patient visit, documenting findings with just a few mouse clicks and ordering lab tests and medications. Many other EHR systems can slow down documentation by requiring multiple screens, mouse clicks and page reloads to document patient visits, according to CareCloud.
Rapid charting also features a “charting by exception” process, in which doctors simply document “abnormal” findings rather than “normal” observations.
The Charts platform enables doctors to simplify their clinical workflow by managing administrative and clinical tasks from a single screen. This screen allows doctors to work through a complete patient visit, including prescribing medications, reviewing lab test results and signing notes, CareCloud reported.
Integrated order sets stored in Charts also can save physicians time when other patients have similar diagnoses, the company said.
The unified interface reduces a need for transcription, which is an expensive way doctors try to speed up a patient encounter, according to the company.
In addition, a social template store allows doctors to create their own EHR templates. In the future, physicians will be able to share their templates with other physicians using crowd-sourcing. The template store also features prebuilt templates, which focus on medical specialties and take a doctor through a patient visit, from chief complaint to assessment and a plan for treatment.
CareCloud designed its health record application to address concerns doctors had with older EHR systems, such as the amount of time it takes to document a patient encounter. The company pointed to 2012 survey data from the American College of Physicians revealing that 37 percent of doctors are dissatisfied with an EHR system’s usability, compared with 23 percent in 2010.
The update to Charts follows CareCloud’s June 18 announcement that it had secured $20 million in Series B funding. The money will be used for continuing to “replatform” the health care industry with cloud computing, according to Albert Santalo, CareCloud’s chairman and CEO.
Close to 3,000 health care providers in 45 states use the CareCloud platform. Analytics built into the application could enable doctors to study various patient populations to spot trends, such as similar diagnoses or medications, according to the company.
The upgraded Charts application could aid doctors who need to replace their EHR platform with faster software to help them meet federal criteria on meaningful use of EHRs, Santalo said.
“It’s clear there is a growing number of providers and groups that signed up for their first EHR in haste and are now entering the market again, wiser about what they need in a clinical system,” Santalo said. “Specifically, they are looking for a more modern, pay-as-you-go, ubiquitously available, more usable and faster EHR.”
The Charts app integrates with CareCloud Central, the company’s cloud-based practice-management platform, which allows doctors to streamline billing. It also connects with CareCloud Community, a patient portal for engaging patients.