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With technology increasing exponentially every year, healthcare providers have to keep up with trends in order to stay competitive. One of the benefits of modern technology is the fact that nearly everything can be done with the click of a button. The healthcare industry has made strides towards achieving this by introducing EHR (electronic health records) software that allows patients to track their overall health and treatment progress in real time. This has four major advantages for both practitioner and patient:

It Allows Open Discussions

One of the main advantages of EHR software for chiropractors is that is allows open discussion between chiropractors and their patients. As patients' knowledge of the software increases, they are able to interrogate the data that exists on it and raise any queries with their practitioner. If they are unable to comprehend something, they can question the chiropractor in order to gain a more thorough understanding.

Additionally, patients can consolidate previous diagnoses in order to build up a mental image of their health and how their progress is going. Overall, the use of EHR software in chiropractic clinics encourages a much more open and honest relationship between the patient and practitioner.

It Increases Appointment Efficiency

Efficiency of scheduled appointments can be improved in two ways by using EHR. Firstly, it allows patients to schedule their appointments very easily and without the need for phone calls and consultations. Patients can use the software to quickly reschedule appointments, and because the software keeps track of their meetings, there is much less risk of patients no-showing at the chiropractic clinic. This increases efficiency as it allows chiropractors to spend their time doing what they are trained to do—treating patients.

Secondly, EHR increases efficiency as it allows patients to review their records at home following a consultation. As mentioned above, patients can review their record which gives them a much deeper understanding of their health and treatment. As such, when they arrive at the clinic they are fully aware of what is being done and why particular treatments are necessary for their condition. This means that chiropractors spend less time reviewing appointment notes and can spend the entire session focusing on healing their patient's spine, increasing efficiency for the practitioner, and ensuring a return on investment for the patient.

It Increases Accessibility for Disabled Patients

One of the often overlooked benefits of EHR use in chiropractic offices is its ability to increase accessibility for patients with particular disabilities. Using EHR can massively benefit a patient with visual impairments who may not be able to read paper records given to them by their healthcare provider. However, modern technology has brought with it a number of assistive reading aids that help patients with visual impairments understand data on the screen.

Along with EHR, these aids can allow patients with visual impairments to regularly check and analyze data that is kept on record about them. Efforts are being made to open up EHR accessibility to a much wider section of the public, ensuring medical records are readily available to an otherwise secluded audience. 

It Helps Reinforce Positive Health Choices

One of the main reasons people ignore making positive health choices – such as stopping smoking or eating healthy—is because they don't fully understand the consequences of bad choices on their well-being. "Out of sight, out of mind" is a common frame of mind for many patients, and not keeping track of their health records reinforces this behavior.

With EHR however, the accessibility offered can help reinforce positive behaviors in chiropractic patients. Whether this is adopting correct posture, sleeping on a suitable mattress or regularly stretching their spinal column, patients are able to see the consequence of their choices in real time. As such, they are more likely to continue with good choices and bring a stop to bad ones.