Are you finding the answer to the question: Can Salesforce Health Cloud be Used as an EHR?
This question is quite common in the sector of healthcare technology. Salesforce Health Cloud has earned considerable attention in today’s digital transformation era, where other organizations are working hard to achieve smooth patient information management and care delivery.
But can Salesforce Health Cloud be used as an EHR? Don’t worry. Our detailed blog will answer this question.
In this guide, we’ll crack the potential of Salesforce Health Cloud as an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. Further, we will closely examine its benefits, estimate its compatibility with healthcare needs, and shed light on its role in shaping the future of healthcare data management. So, let’s begin!
What is Salesforce Health Cloud?
Salesforce Health Cloud, a new addition to healthcare technology, offers a cloud-based solution that assists in managing and sharing the health data of hospitals and healthcare providers. This innovative platform enables secure storage, error-free sharing, and in-depth analysis of your data from almost every corner of the world.
It helps you create a versatile data repository that you can access from any device. Also, it makes it easier to share patient data of any hospital with other hospitals and healthcare providers.
What is an EHR?
EHRs (Electronic health records) serve as broad and up-to-date storages of a patient's medical information, including contact details, emergency contacts, vital signs, medical history, allergies, current and past medications, radiology reports, immunizations, and laboratory results.
Besides, these records, under the care of healthcare providers, can be shared among all of a patient's healthcare professionals to deliver a more holistic and accurate healthcare experience.
Above all, with EHR, you can eliminate the following key challenges:
Eliminates paper records, which reduces managing problems associated with patients’ paper records.
EHRs improve clinical record-keeping by minimizing the risk of missed diagnoses or the loss of laboratory evidence.
Patient records are easily accessible for advanced research in various medical fields.
Can Salesforce Health Cloud be Used as an EHR?
Salesforce Health Cloud is not a traditional EHR system but can function as a partner or a part of EHR systems. It is primarily a CRM platform for the healthcare sector that stores patient data and helps healthcare providers manage and enhance patient relationships and healthcare operations.
However, You can integrate Salesforce Health Cloud with EHR systems to enhance patient engagement, improve communication among healthcare providers, and provide a more comprehensive view of patient data. Moreover, this integration allows for a more connected and data-driven healthcare ecosystem.
In other words, Salesforce Health Cloud can't replace an EHR system due to its primary focus on CRM. Still, it can be a valuable tool when integrated with EHRs to improve the overall healthcare experience, data management, and patient engagement.
Things to Consider While Looking for EHR Integration
When considering the integration of an EHR with Salesforce, several crucial factors come into play. Firstly, it's necessary to understand the complexity and design of how information flows between these systems.
Additionally, you should focus on the primary goal of combining Salesforce and EHR systems, such as what specific challenges you intend to address and what advantages you want to gain. Furthermore, you should consider the present and future use cases the integration must support to ensure it meets growing healthcare demands.
From a technical standpoint, there are additional considerations that you should make, like would a bidirectional, hybrid, or manual integration approach sufficiently suit these requirements?
Besides, selecting the right tools to facilitate data transfer and consumption is another critical decision, as it can seriously impact the efficacy and reliability of the integration. Lastly, you must know your IT team’s development and support capabilities.
Apart from this, if you want your Salesforce and EHR integration to work well for a long time, you must have good support and the ability to modify things to reach the advanced healthcare requirements. In simple terms, it's a complex process that necessitates a broad understanding of both healthcare and your IT system.
Benefits of Integrating Salesforce Health Cloud with EHR
Integrating EHR with Salesforce Health Cloud offers numerous benefits, including:
360 Patient Care:
Integrating Salesforce Health Cloud with EHR provides a complete view of a patient's health information, which makes it easier for healthcare providers to deliver excellent care based on the patient's medical history.
Scheduling:
It allows real-time appointment scheduling and paperwork handling, which means Salesforce Health Cloud and EHR integration simplify appointment management for both patients and healthcare providers.
Active Referral Management:
This integration of Salesforce Health Cloud and EHR helps management gain the ability to expand their network of referrals. It leads to an increase in the number of patients through more active patient engagement.
Simplify Pre-Appointment Interactions:
It reduces paperwork that simplifies administrative tasks, such as completing forms and medical history updates. It saves time for both healthcare providers and patients by making the check-in process more efficient.
Up-to-Date Patient Information:
Contact center agents can easily update and maintain basic patient details. This up-to-date information helps the healthcare organization have accurate contact information on hand.
Inquiry Handling:
With quick access to complete patient data, contact center agents can provide more informed and helpful assistance, improving the quality of patient interactions and support.
Final Thoughts
The Salesforce Health Cloud and EHR system integration assists healthcare organizations in simplifying operations, enhancing patient care, and adjusting to the developing healthcare landscape. By carefully considering the purpose of integration, technological approaches, and the capabilities of their IT teams, healthcare providers can get the full benefits from these connections.
Ultimately, this coefficient relationship between technology and healthcare not only benefits healthcare providers but, more importantly, improves the overall patient experience and contributes to better, more efficient, and patient-centered healthcare services. Remember, the journey toward smooth integration may be complex, but it's a necessary step in discovering a future where healthcare is more accessible, connected, and effective.