Electronic Health Records (EHR) aim to streamline operations and improve patient care, but sometimes they feel more like an obstacle than a tool. When frustrations accumulate, many organizations start looking at EHR replacement as the only solution. But here’s the reality: replacing an EHR is expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive. Staff have already invested time learning the current system, and that familiarity is a major advantage.
The good news? You don’t have to replace or overhaul your entire system to see improvements. Small, strategic tweaks can lead to big results – often at a fraction of the cost of switching to a new platform. Before you go down the path of replacement, consider optimizing your existing EHR.
Check out our Deep Dive on this topic.
Here are five quick wins you can implement this month to make your EHR work better for your team, your patients, and your bottom line.
1. Clean Up User Roles and Permissions
Over time, as staff come and go, user roles in your EHR can become a mess. Too many people with too much access creates security risks and workflow confusion. Too little access, and you have bottlenecks where staff can’t do their jobs efficiently.
Organizations often overlook role-based access controls until they run into problems – a security breach or a frustrated employee who lacks the permissions they need. A cluttered permissions structure slows down workflows, increases the risk of accidental data mishandling, and exposes your organization to compliance risks. Cleaning up user roles ensures the right people have the right access at the right time.
This is exactly the kind of issue that drives organizations to consider a new EHR. But often, the real issue isn’t the system, but rather how it’s configured. A simple permissions audit can clear up major inefficiencies without the cost or learning curve of switching platforms.
Quick Fix: Audit user roles and permissions. Ensure that each person has the access they need – no more, no less, in accordance with the principle of minimum necessary. This reduces security risks and improves workflow efficiency.
Bonus Win: Set up a schedule to review and update permissions quarterly, so access management won’t spiral out of control.
2. Streamline Your Templates and Forms
If documentation takes forever, it’s time to rethink your templates. Too many clicks, redundant fields, or unnecessary forms create frustration and waste time.
Every extra field in a form adds seconds or minutes to a provider’s workflow, and those inefficiencies add up quickly across an entire organization. Behavioral health providers often deal with complex documentation requirements, and while thorough records are essential, an overcomplicated template can lead to errors, burnout, and lost time that could be spent with patients. A well-structured form should capture necessary data without unnecessary complexity.
When staff struggle with documentation, leadership sometimes assumes the EHR itself is the problem. But often, the system just isn’t optimized for their workflows. Simplifying templates is a low-cost, high-impact way to reduce documentation burden while keeping the system everyone already knows.
Quick Fix: Identify your most-used templates and simplify them. Remove outdated fields, reduce redundancies, and ensure forms are structured logically for speed and accuracy.
Bonus Win: Get feedback from your clinical staff – what’s slowing them down? A few small changes can have a big impact on reducing documentation burden.
3. Optimize System Alerts to Reduce Alarm Fatigue
EHR alerts are meant to keep staff informed, but too many irrelevant notifications lead to ignored alerts – or worse, important warnings getting missed.
Clinicians rely on alerts to flag critical issues like medication interactions, but when a system is overloaded with low-priority notifications, staff may start ignoring them altogether. This is “alert fatigue,” and it can be dangerous. A system with too many alerts makes it harder to recognize truly urgent warnings, increasing the risk of errors.
Too many alerts are often seen as a system flaw, leading organizations to consider switching EHRs. But a new system won’t necessarily solve the problem. If alert settings aren’t managed properly, you’ll end up with the same issue. Fine-tune the alerts so they work for your team.
Quick Fix: Review and adjust your system’s alerts. Disable non-essential pop-ups and focus on high-priority notifications that truly matter for patient safety and compliance.
Bonus Win: Set up a feedback loop where clinicians can report which alerts are helpful and which are just noise.
4. Improve Reporting for Better Decision-Making
Your EHR is full of valuable data, but if you’re not pulling the right reports, you’re missing out on insights that could improve care and operations.
Leadership teams need accurate, real-time data to make informed decisions, but many organizations struggle with outdated or irrelevant reports that don’t provide actionable insights. If key performance indicators (KPIs) like patient no-show rates, treatment outcomes, or revenue trends aren’t easy to access, decision-making suffers.
Often, leadership assumes that switching to a new EHR will unlock better reporting. But in many cases, the necessary data is already in the system – it’s just not being extracted in a useful manner. Fine-tuning reports and automating key insights is a cost-effective way to get the data you need without starting over.
Quick Fix: Identify the top three reports your leadership team actually uses and ensure they’re easily accessible. Adjust report parameters so they pull relevant, real-time data.
Bonus Win: Automate key reports to be sent out at regular intervals, so leadership gets the information they need without having to dig for it.
5. Conduct a Quick Security Check
Cybersecurity threats are growing constantly, and behavioral health organizations are prime targets. A small security lapse can lead to major compliance violations and breaches.
Behavioral health data is among the most sensitive types of patient information, making it a lucrative target for cybercriminals. Many organizations assume they are secure until a breach occurs. Regular security reviews help prevent unauthorized access, ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations, and protect patient trust. A simple audit can uncover outdated passwords, inactive accounts, and other vulnerabilities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Security concerns sometimes drive organizations to consider a new EHR, assuming that newer technology will be inherently safer. Yet strong security typically depends more on proper management than on the system itself. Strengthening security protocols in your existing EHR is often more effective (and much cheaper) than migrating to a new one.
Quick Fix: Perform a mini-security audit. Check for outdated passwords, inactive user accounts, and unpatched software.
Bonus Win: If you haven’t already, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA). It’s one of the simplest, most effective ways to prevent unauthorized access and protect sensitive data – an easy step that can stop major security threats before they start.
These five quick wins will help your EHR work better this month, but long-term success requires strategy. If your team is considering a costly replacement, it may be worth taking a step back. Optimization often delivers a better return on investment while keeping the system your staff already knows.
The Cost of Inefficiency – And When It’s Time to Move On
While the non-monetary costs of a poorly optimized EHR are significant, let’s not overlook the financial impact. Inefficiencies in billing workflows can lead to claim denials, payment delays, and even lost revenue. If your system isn’t set up to capture all billable services correctly, you’re leaving money on the table.
Meanwhile, the cost of training staff on workarounds, fixing errors, and handling compliance issues quickly adds up. And if staff turnover increases due to frustration with the system, you’re spending even more on recruiting and onboarding.
Of course, in some cases, optimization isn’t enough. Sometimes, an EHR simply isn’t the right fit. When that happens, a carefully planned transition to a new system is the best path forward. Whether fine-tuning your current platform or guiding you through a replacement, Xpio Health has the expertise to ensure your EHR truly supports your agency’s needs.
Let’s talk about what’s slowing your team down. Contact Xpio Health today for a consultation.
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