We talk to hospitals and large cardiology practices throughout the United States every day. Many facilities are still printing Holter Reports and then scanning the reports so that the studies can be added to the patient’s chart in the EMR/HIS system.
Here is a quick tip to make better use of your time. Simply add a free PDF writer to your Holter computer and save the final Holter Report as a PDF file. Almost every EMR now can accept a PDF file. Philips Holter with Zymed Algorithm has a save as a PDF capability already included.
The above tip does not help you with automating Holter workflow. If you are doing more than 40 Holter studies a month, you may want to consider adding Orders In and Results Out workflow capabilities to your Holter solution. This approach utilized HL7 messaging to send an Order to the Holter studies and then send the result (Holter Report) back to the EMR.
Finally, ECG Management systems assist in managing large volumes of Holter studies being done monthly just like they assist a department managing Resting EKG’s. An ECG Management solution helps you answer questions like, “Has the doctor read that study yet?” or “Who should I assign this Holter study to?”
Philips Holter works with the Philips Tracemaster Vue upgrade Intellispace ECG to read, edit, and electronically sign Holter studies, as well as Epiphany Cardio Server’s ECG Management solution.
If your hospital or practice does not have an ECG Management solution, we can also utilize new electronic signature capabilities which are now available inside Philips Holter solution.
There are a lot of options to consider. Budget is often a deciding factor. Look for a solution that will allow you to build it over time, particularly if budget is an issue.