Medical Computer Systems

32381226 medical technology concept doctor hand working with modern smar. Medical Computer Systems. electronic help

There has been a significant shift in how we provide medical assistance in recent years. Unquestionably, the widespread adoption of cutting-edge innovations and medical devices is to blame.

The conventional approaches to providing medical care are being phased out in favor of more modern ones primarily based on technological advancements. One of the most significant advancements that have taken place in this day and age is the utilization of medical computer systems.

Simply put, medical computer systems have expedited operations and enhanced data management. Consequently, administrative tasks are being met with an increased level of efficiency and precision with these digital records. This transition benefits patients and healthcare providers by allowing everyone to offer treatment more timely, cost-effective, and convenient.

What Are Medical Systems?

However, in their most basic form, these computer-based medical systems may be seen as technological devices that enable healthcare workers to offer excellent care to their patients. EMR and EHR play a significant part in efficiently running any healthcare facility. These systems are crucial because they are responsible for storing and maintaining patient data, patient scheduling, and enabling communication between staff members in some cases.

In addition to boosting the performance of the medical facility as a whole, other medical computer systems may also offer a variety of significant features for medical practitioners and their patients. For instance, some systems are equipped with patient monitoring functions, making it possible to monitor patients being treated for chronic ailments or assess how well the therapies work.

Medical computer systems aim to optimize the quality of services more practically and conveniently for all parties involved.

The Differences Between EMR and EHR Systems

EMR and EHR are electronic medical records, but there is a big difference between the two.

The terms “electronic health records” (EHR) and “electronic medical records” (EMR) are often used interchangeably. Although they are used for storing and managing patient records, there are several significant distinctions.

A single doctor or clinic primarily utilizes electronic medical records (EMR). A patient’s pertinent clinical information, including medical history, demographics, test results, and more, is stored in the system. It’s a digital alternative to the traditional paper medical chart. The system can also monitor vital signs or a patient’s general health condition over time and identify patterns or shifts is a significant perk of electronic medical record systems.

An electronic health record system (EHR) is superior to an electronic medical record (EMR) system in that it contains a patient’s whole medical history instead of only the data of a single provider or clinic. An electronic healthcare records (EHR) system stores information on individuals, including clinical data, demographic information, patient notes or prescriptions, allergies, vaccines, and more. This data is kept in a centralized repository, from which authorized healthcare professionals in various hospital settings can get it.

An electronic health record (EHR) system’s primary advantage is that it provides medical professionals with a complete overview of the health of their patients. This may be useful when a patient gets treatment from various physicians or experts. They can quickly access a patient’s medical history and make well-informed choices regarding their treatment.

Other Hospital Systems Being Used Today

There are a wide variety of systems or medical software that are used nowadays. Before settling on one that will best serve the needs of any medical facility, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each system.

In addition to electronic medical records and electronic health records, the following are some of the most common software options that are used in hospital settings today:

Clinical Decision Support Systems

Medical professionals rely on these systems because they can analyze data from various clinical and administrative databases. With this information, doctors can be ready to make diagnoses and plan for potentially dangerous medical situations, like drug interactions. The filtered data these systems offer improve the quality of care they deliver to their patients.

Financial Record Software or Accounting Software

Keeping accurate financial records is crucial in the healthcare industry. Software designed specifically for financial records facilitates this procedure by serving as a centralized database for all such documents. These include medical insurance claims, hospital costs, and patient billing systems.

With everything in one location, keeping tabs on payments and ensuring the invoices are paid on time is much less hassle. The hospital may also save money long-term due to the financial record software’s ability to detect and report errors and anomalies.

Practice Management Systems or Practice Management Software

An efficient PMS may automate daily administrative tasks, coordinate patient scheduling and data, and keep everything running smoothly in a medical office. When staff spends less time on these non-clinical activities, they have more time to devote to the patients.

Errors are minimized, and communication is facilitated across a healthcare institution when a PMS is implemented. Therefore, a robust Practice Management System may play a critical part in guaranteeing top-notch treatment for patients.

Patient Engagement Software

Now more than ever, healthcare providers expect patients to take an active role in their healthcare instead of merely receiving treatment. Thus, healthcare facilities increasingly rely on Patient Engagement Software (PES) to cater to patients’ needs.

PES has several advantages for both patients and doctors. Patients may benefit from PES in several ways, including receiving individualized treatment plans, medication reminders, and appointment scheduling. Providers may use PES to better connect with their patients, monitor their engagement, and simplify their operations. Patient Engagement Software may also reduce costs by lowering the frequency of unneeded testing and doctor’s visits.

Dental Software

Dental software is a dental office management software that helps with patient data, scheduling, billing, and other back-office operations. Though most dental offices still rely on paper records, there are several benefits to switching to dental software.

These include increased productivity, better data quality, and simpler adherence to regulations. Additionally, dental software has key features that may facilitate communication with other healthcare professionals, such as general practitioners and specialist referral networks. Therefore, dental software has the potential to contribute to the enhancement of care provided to patients significantly.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is medical treatment delivery across long distances using electronic methods, such as the Internet, telephones, and videoconferencing. Patients in rural and underserved regions, in particular, benefit from the increased availability of this service.

By eliminating the need for patients to travel to see their doctors, telemedicine has the potential to cut down on healthcare expenditures significantly. Additionally, telemedicine has shown to improve patient outcomes by expeditiously connecting patients with specialists. Although telemedicine has the potential to improve healthcare delivery in many ways, it is important to view it as distinct from face-to-face interactions. Instead, we must see it as a supplementary resource for improving patient access and outcomes.

E-Prescribe Tools

Medical practitioners and other types of healthcare professionals actively use e-prescribe tools to digitally transmit prescription orders to pharmacies. Writing out or phoning prescriptions is often a slower and less efficient procedure, and this method may help decrease the number of mistakes in the process.

E-prescribe tools often consist of a software program downloaded onto the provider’s computer. Then, a link to the systems used by the pharmacy. Patients may also gain electronic access to their medications through their health records or portals. E-prescribing may contribute to improved communication between healthcare practitioners and pharmacies, which may enhance patient treatment quality.

The Outlook for Medical Systems

The continued rise in the population’s average age will likely keep driving up the demand for medical services. Together with changes in medical technology, this will lead to a need for more advanced medical systems.

That’s why the healthcare industry has been investing in innovative business intelligence tools to boost clinical performance. This includes cloud-based services and custom software solutions. Artificial intelligence or AI will also have a role in the future of medicine. Particularly in the diagnostic and therapeutic decisions made by clinicians. In light of this, the medical software market has a bright future.

However, it’s essential to remember that the market is quite competitive. Various companies provide software options, services, and goods that are functionally identical. Because of this, primary care physicians or healthcare practitioners should seek trusted and experienced service providers who can provide valuable help. It is critical to research, get feedback, and only engage with a reputable IT support provider.

Contact Us Today and Check Out Our Blog!

The Right Communication Solutions to Improve Your Business

business communications

Employees require the proper technology and communication tools in order to be productive and efficient in the workplace. By understanding the trends of the technology industry, you can incorporate the right communication tools for you and your team to be successful, resulting in an organization that is productive and efficient. Salesforce released a study that surveyed many industry leaders and consumers about how users utilized communication solutions and their expectations over a period of time. 

People Want Online and In-Person Technology Solutions 

The study issued by Salesforce found that consumers want technology tools for both in-person and online work environments. The survey showed that 51 percent of people prefer doing their business tasks online while 40 percent stated they physically went to their communication provider’s store. 64 percent of respondents utilized their provider’s website in the last month and 35 percent have done business online and in stores. In other words, when using technology solutions, employees seek assistance from both online (through a help desk) and in-person. Therefore, it is important to have various resources available for your team to assist them with whatever they may need to be efficient and productive. As a result, the organization will grow and develop as well. 

Customer Experience is Important

About 90 percent of leaders in communication services believe they have great internal operations to offer excellent customer service to their clients. Unfortunately, about 40 percent of customers report they are not satisfied with how their current communication service providers handle their technology issues. It is obvious that managers and their teams want service providers who will address their concerns and listen to feedback more than those providers that do not. 

Digital Transformation is Crucial

The majority of clients prefer to utilize the online services provided by their communication service provider. Therefore, it is imperative that you take into account digital transformation for your own technological needs. Employees want to use various collaboration tools, particularly in a remote or hybrid setting, to allow for communication amongst the entire team. Therefore, it may be a good idea to offer these tools in a cloud-based environment. This will offer great benefits for your team, as well as your organization.

We Can Help Improve Communications

WheelHouse IT can assist you and your organization in incorporating a successful communications infrastructure as we understand what your business needs and can provide that for your team. We can offer various technological tools, such as Voice over Internet Protocol, intranet solutions, instant messaging applications, virtual private networks (VPNs), video conferencing, and much more. Our understanding of the technology and communications industry can assist you in getting your money’s worth for your communication solutions.

To learn more about what we can offer you and your organization, please contact us at 954.474.2204.

Contact Us Today and Check Out Our Blog!

5 Advantages of Azure Virtual Desktop

virtual desktop

The current remote work trend has led to a spike in technology-driven innovations to ease work experience. More and more emphasis is being placed on the importance of cloud computing in modern-day reality. Azure Virtual Desktop is one of the cloud-computing technologies to make remote IT support easier.

Companies are embracing Virtual Desktop technology to promote the efficiency of their employees working remotely. To understand the advantages to business performance, it is pertinent to know what a Virtual Desktop is.

What is a Virtual Desktop?

A Virtual Desktop is a cloud computing software that allows the delivery of virtual desktops to users anywhere using the internet. Service providers manage this service for businesses that have a user subscription. The package usually covers updates, maintenance, data storage, and backup management, typically including maintenance, backup, updates, and data storage.

What are the advantages of a Virtual Desktop?

Compared to the regular desktop model, a Virtual Desktop has a lot of advantages for businesses and users. Below are five benefits of a Virtual Desktop to businesses.

Deployment is faster

Getting the functionalities of a Virtual Desktop across to end users doesn’t take as much time as setting up the traditional desktop. This is because the configuration is already complete and ready. All that needs to be done is establish a connection on a new device.

Reduced cost

Considering businesses that do not require extensive staffing, a Virtual Desktop is cheaper as it is only set up for the number of employees available at a time. It also does not require as much computing power as a regular desktop device, making it cheaper.

Less IT support Downtime.

Because Virtual Dekstop support is delivered remotely, Downtime is very minimal. The support team could quickly get across to employees’ systems over the internet.

Better security

Data in a Virtual Desktop is stored in a data center. Therefore, if a device is stolen, there is less likelihood of any data being accessed. This reduces security risk and data breaches. It is also easier to install security software and updates remotely on a Virtual Desktop.

More flexibility

Data can be accessed from any device, employees can work on their devices from the office and remotely, and businesses do not have to worry about supporting all the instruments, as this is now the duty of the remote cloud service provider.

Azure Virtual Desktop significantly saves businesses time and stress supporting remote workers and ensuring that everything is working fine. The service providers might not entirely scrap the need for an in-house IT support team, but they could reduce the overhead and money spent on data center maintenance.

Take your remote working experience to a whole new level by contacting the WheelHouse IT team on (877) 771-2384 or by visiting www.wheelhouseit.com to install Azure Virtual Desktop cloud services.

We are dedicated to ensuring premium cybersecurity, higher productivity, and excellent data maintenance for all customers.

3 Reasons Why Open-Source Software Can Be Problematic

programmer working lady using computer laptop working on unlock lock with coding symbol.

Every business uses some form of software, whether it’s for word processing or detecting malware. When you add up the costs for programs to open and edit PDFs, perform basic accounting, and create images, it’s tempting to see what’s available through open-source channels.

Although finding open-source software will inevitably cut down on your business’s costs, it is intrinsically problematic, and we’ll show you three reasons why you should avoid it when you can.

What is Open-Source Software?

Open-source software (OSS) is a type of software that is provided to the general public along with its source code. That means programmers can take that code and alter it to suit their needs or fix it up over time. This software also comes with rules about how to control its distribution. Needless to say, most big-name software companies would never do this.

How Does Open-Source Software Work?

Open-source software works by being stored in a public place, often on websites, where the product can be viewed and distributed. Anyone can download the software and use the code or offer suggested changes to it.

Furthermore, OSS comes with a license agreement that details how people can use, alter, and distribute the software. When the OSS code is changed, the alterations and methods used to make those changes have to be detailed in the documentation, and some changes in functionality may not be available to all users free of charge. They’ll become a premium service.

Problems with Open-Source Software

Although it may be tempting to completely outfit a business with OSS, that might not be a wise decision. Take a look at three problems inherent in using open-source software.

Licensing Issues

The legal uncertainty surrounding open-source licenses poses a real threat to small businesses. When using OSS, there is no way for most people to know if the software has code that was copied from another company. If your business was ever caught using legally protected code without permission, the legal consequences could be dire, to say the least. It would certainly cost more than a yearly license renewal.

Vulnerabilities Are Made Public

The year 2021 might go down in history as being one of the worst for ransomware and hacking. More people are figuring out how to exploit vulnerabilities in systems and get away with it.

You may have already figured out the problem with OSS and security: the code is available to everyone, including hackers. These vulnerabilities are made public all the time, and it only takes a savvy person to figure out how to exploit the system and become a threat.

Not Knowing Your Sources

How do you know whether to trust an OSS? The truth is that trust for an OSS comes from a majority opinion of users and developers, and it is built over time. Yet, new open-source programs are being released all the time.

Imagine that you need an accounting program, and you choose to download the first OSS version you find, but it doesn’t have a positive consensus from users and reviewers.  You’ve just put yourself and your business at risk because you do not know the source of the code.

It could be stolen code, a malware trap, or trouble of another sort.

Not all OSS is bad, but there are some bad ones out there, and you need the confidence to say you can tell the difference.

Open-source software is highly customizable but often not as well polished as software from major companies. To avoid the risks associated with OSS, it’s often better to pay for a licensing fee and get the ongoing security and trust that comes from working with an established company.

WheelHouse IT is a gold-level Microsoft partner who can help you get the most out of your software.
Learn more at our Microsoft page or contact us so we can help evaluate your needs and point you in the right direction.

When is it Time to Upgrade Your Technology?

Finger touching tablet with web technology icons and UPGRADE inscription, web technology concept

It can be difficult to know when to upgrade your technology in today’s ever-changing business technology landscape, especially when there are so many options available. How do you avoid getting caught up in the excitement of every new thing? It starts with knowing where your organization is and whether you need to change.

Where Are You Right Now?

Let’s say you want to upgrade your workstation to a newer model with more powerful components. Consider what this might entail and whether the upgrade will make an impact on your day-to-day tasks. Perhaps upgrading your graphics card will help you be a more effective graphic designer, or more RAM might mean you can multitask more often. These are great, but in specific contexts, your average sales representative, for example, doesn’t need a video editing rig.

Your Operations Are Suffering

The major telltale sign that your organization should upgrade its technology is that operations are suffering in a significant way. Let’s say that you have your entire staff accessing the same network infrastructure from an antiquated server unit. The workstations themselves are working quite well, but the server unit is outdated and runs at a sluggish pace. This impacts not just one or two employees but your entire workforce. In situations like this, you absolutely do want to upgrade when possible.

Your Operations Will Suffer in the Near Future

The other situation when you might consider upgrading your technology is if your operations will be impacted sooner rather than later. A perfect example of this is when your operating system is about to reach its end of life and will no longer be supported by patches and security updates. You want to take care of this before you experience issues related to this lack of updates rather than after the fact.

In other words, it’s all about being proactive with your upgrades but not being impulsive with them. If you have trouble with this concept, don’t worry—we’ve got your back!

If you need help when it comes time to upgrade your technology, WheelHouse IT can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (877) 771-2384.