Pediatricians treat smaller patients, but the specialty is nothing like “Adult Medicine Lite,” which is why many EHRs designed for adults suit pediatricians like the wrong size shoes! Pediatricians enter their practices each day prepared to care for patients with a huge diversity of needs, from childhood illnesses to disabilities, mental health support, academic obstacles, toddler and teen medications, parenting journeys, and so much more. A pediatric-specific electronic health record (EHR) like PCC EHR is built for the real pediatric work pediatricians do, and it might be the best fit for your practice. Here are 12 reasons why you should choose a pediatric EHR.
1. Fenton Preterm & Down Syndrome Growth Charts
Having the right growth charts available in your EHR just makes sense. No more toggling between windows to check patients’ growth. Easy, simple access to the charts you need means a smoother visit. You can also track patients with Down syndrome’s growth just as easily in the same growth chart component.
2. Pediatric Benchmark and Analytics Dashboard
PCC’s Practice Vitals Dashboard is like a monthly wellness visit for your practice (with so many patients to keep track of, it’s best to check often!). At the beginning of each month, the Dashboard tool is updated with your practice’s data from the EHR. With the aid of clear visuals and a checklist of priority items, you can easily see your practice’s successes and opportunities for improvement. This is just one of several Dashboards available: you can track your practice’s financial performance with the Financial and Clinical Pulse Dashboard and track your colleagues’ work in the Productivity Dashboard, too.
3. Easy Sibling Charts
It’s a common occurrence in pediatric practice: the moment the pediatrician thinks they’re finishing up a visit, Mom or Dad have “just one question” about a sibling complaint. No need to worry, because pulling up a sibling’s chart is beyond easy. We at PCC even like to call it “super cool”.
Right in the Medical Summary screen in easy reach from anywhere in Sibling A’s chart, you can find the siblings component. Simply click “Open Chart” for Sibling B and ta-da! You’re there. Just in case you moved too quickly and weren’t finished with Sibling A, have no fear: you can toggle between sibling charts without losing data.
4. Comprehensive Scheduling Tool
When your front desk staff need to schedule a sick visit for one patient and a well visit for their sibling, or when you’re juggling pediatricians across multiple locations, you need a great scheduling tool. PCC’s Appointment Book allows front desk staff, nurses, and providers to quickly check their schedules for the day, block out times for clinics or meetings, color code according to type of visit, and even indicate telehealth appointments.
5. Secure Patient Portal
Families are increasingly demanding online access to their healthcare records and to their physicians. When exchanging important PHI, it’s crucial to have a secure patient portal. PCC’s My Kid’s Chart allows for desktop and mobile access to send manual or automated messages to parents, guardians, and adolescents (for adolescent privacy settings, see the next section). You can also set up payments through the portal and send CHADIS questionnaires directly to families without the costs of mail services.
6. Adolescent Privacy Settings
Adolescents need to know that their healthcare information is safe and confidential, and doing so can even help them arrive more consistently at the office for care. You can help engage teenage patients by explaining that adolescents have their own patient portal account to access their healthcare information, ask questions, and receive documents in PCC EHR. Since emancipation ages vary by state, PCC EHR is configurable for the age you need your patients’ information to be private.
7. Direct Messaging Service
When you need to contact many families, keep in touch with direct messages to their email and/or patient portal accounts. Direct messages with PCC’s Broadcast Messaging Tool have many uses, including announcements of flu clinic dates; warnings about local recalls of toys or baby items; a newsletter detailing new hires and healthcare awareness information. Whatever you want to communicate to patients, you can do so with PCC’s messaging tool. Did we mention you can also send text (SMS) messages?
8. AAP Redbook and Bright Futures Protocols
PCC offers Bright Futures such as chart note protocols, periodicity schedules, handouts.. Starting out with PCC EHR, new practices can find sample Bright Futures visit chart note templates that your practice can customize for your tried and tested workflows. PCC also offers access to AAP tools like the AAP Red Book, and the AAP Coding Newsletter.
9. Customizable Pediatric Templates
Charting templates that aren’t pediatric-specific sometimes need a lot of tweaking before they’re manageable for the average pediatrician. Did you know that non-pediatric-specific templates in your electronic health record can be inappropriate for patients’ ages, not mapped to the correct codes, and can even be outside of state requirements? Check out our previous post to learn more.
10. Accurate Reporting
There are many reports available in the PCC Report Library. Find out how many kids in your practices are vaccinated with HPV, who’s missing a well visit this year, or how your billing is doing this quarter with the right reports. Check them all out here.
11. Practice Management Tools & Services
Tools like the Dashboard and reports are a great step towards growing your pediatric practices. What are your plans for your practice? Whether it’s opening a second location or opening a daycare on site, it always helps to have the right information necessary to make a big decision. PCC takes support a step further – by connecting to PCC experts or with other PCC practices via our private forum, you can quickly gain the knowledge and advice you need to know to make your ideal practice a reality.
12. Unparalleled Support from Your Client Advocate
While over time many PCC clients get to know many faces at PCC, your Client Advocate is your first point of contact. They’re available to call when you have any questions or challenges that your EHR can solve. Need a custom report or want to know how to set up in-house billing? Your Client Advocate can sit down with your practice and let you know about EHR tools you might be missing out on, solutions for your biggest obstacles, and honest feedback about your goals.
Why do you need a pediatric-specific EHR? There are many reasons. Which was your favorite listed above? Let us know, or reach out to ask more about it during a one on one demo with PCC EHR. Pediatricians do more than just treat small humans: your practice deserves the right tools for the job.
