CENTRICITY EMR
Part 1

Product Profile (Features and Benefits)

In essence, Centricity Practice Solution could be defined as “a comprehensive Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Practice Management, Population Health, and Analytics, and Connectivity solution designed to help you enhance the clinical, operational, and financial productivity of your ambulatory practice” (GE Health, 2019). A GE Healthcare EMR System, Centricity EMR could therefore be considered an integrated EHR/EMR system that could be used by healthcare institutions and practices to further promote their productivity on the clinical front. Essentially, some of the key features of Centricity EMR include: appointment management, lab integration, patient history, scheduling, bill management, patient demographics, reporting and analytics, and e-prescription (EHR in Practice, 2019). One of the benefits of Centricity EMR is its scalability and flexibility. In this case, it should be noted that the EHR could either used in isolation or integrated with a practice’s or institution’s management solutions. Thus it could be deemed responsive to the specific needs of an organization or practice. Secondly, it should also be noted that Centricity EMR is HIPAA compliant. This effectively means that it sufficiently addresses or meets the various compliance requirements of HIPAA. Thus, the secure storage of data as well as ePHI security are factors that are well taken care of. Further, with Centricity EMR institutions and practices can benefit from e-prescribing and further track the level of care that they provide via the EMR’s Quality Care dashboard.

Description from the Product in Use

Intuitive Interface: Centricity EMR has a largely intuitive interface. The design and functionality of the said interface permits users to easily navigate and perform tasks without over-relying on the vendor’s technical team.

One-Click Entries: In this case, GE Health preloads the relevant codes with an aim of bettering functionality and ease-of-use.

Patient Summaries: It is possible to have an overview of the most relevant information of a patient when needed. The said summary could be inclusive of allergies, medications, demographics, etc.

Data Entry: users of the EMR have various data entry options to suit their specific needs. This includes quick text, templates, as well as voice.

Part 2

Reporting

Centricity Practice Solution can be utilized in a number of settings – from large hospitals/systems, to small and medium-sized healthcare institutions or practices. Thanks to Centricity EMR, healthcare organizations and practices can be able to further promote the quality of their healthcare delivery via the customization of workflows. In addition to patient visit optimization, Centricity EMR further promotes documentation completeness as well as accuracy. According to EHR in Practice (2019), with Centricity EMR, patient can through the specially designed portal be able to perform a wide range of functions. These include, but they are not limited to; viewing lab results, accessing billing statements, and scheduling appointments. It is also important to note that entities making use of Centricity EMR can be able to benchmark their practices to their counterparts at the national level as a result of the EMR software’s ability to present robust reports on outcomes in the clinical realm.

Integration

In essence, Centricity EMR is capable of integrating well with other solutions. For instance, as GE Healthcare (2019) observes, Centricity EMR has in place a connectivity solution for ease of integration with both practice management as well as revenue cycle management solutions. It is important to note that in seeking to further enhance the ability...…numerous practices as well as organizations that have in the past implemented Centricity EMR. An evaluation of the EMR in various rating sites indicates that the product has a generally positive review. For instance, according to Capterra (2019), on the basis of numerous reviews, Centricity EMR has an overall score of 4/5; ease of use score of 3.5/5; and customer service score of 3.5/5. The institutions and practices that will be cited herein in seeking to assess Centricity EMR’s performance are Kansas City Bone & Joint Clinic and Ammonoosuc Community Health Services.

a) Kansas City Bone & Joint Clinic

Kansas City Bone & Joint Clinic (KCBJ) seeks to provide orthopedic services to individuals suffering from injuries and disorders of a musculoskeletal nature. It should also be noted that “along with general orthopedic surgery and physical medicine and rehabilitation, KCBJ has orthopedic surgeons with fellowship training in total joint replacement, sports medicine, hand surgery, foot and ankle surgery, knee, shoulder, and ankle arthroscopy” (KCBJ, 2019). Various improvements at the Kansas City Bone and Joint Clinic were associated with the implementation as well as utilization of Centricity EMR. Towards this end, the said clinic made use of the customization capabilities of Centricity EMR to further enhance/increase its patient volume (KCBJ, 2019).

b) Ortho Northeast

Ortho Northeast (ONE) describes itself as the Greater Fort Wayne Indiana area’s “premier orthopedic center … with an impressive track record of state-of-the-art orthopedic care and pioneering surgical techniques” (ONE, 2019). It is important to note that ONE was able to streamline its workflows by successfully leveraging Centricity EMR. In this particular case, the entity was able to significantly bring down cycle times (ONE, 2019).