Healthcare Database Software Key Terms

Learn about healthcare database software and its important key terms

Healthcare database software solutions are vital in large hospitals, but also very important in the everyday operation of nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, assisted living facilities, pharmacies, and home care businesses.

The concept of healthcare databases has raised some concern about patient privacy, but can also be considered beneficial for billing and medical history storage. Learn the key terms associated with healthcare databases to understand their use and determine if they will benefit your business.

 

Electronic medical records

Electronic medical records store online information about individual patients including preexisting health conditions, administered medications, medical and personal allergies, health histories, and insurance billing information. This information is vital to help doctors and nurses provide the best treatment.
Try: e-MDs lists resources and events that explain why they are vital to patient care.

Health summary

A health summary is a portion of a patient's online chart in which family medical histories, allergies, and prescription medication information is stored. Physicians often refer to health summaries periodically during a patient's stay to review information and healthcare database software allows them to access this information without flipping through the rest of the patient chart.
Try: Acentec's glossary of medical terms defines a health summary and explains why it's important to patient care.

Patient charting

Patient charting and tracking is software that records a patient's medical details on a chart and tracks their scheduled procedures, tests or exams. Learn how healthcare database software simplifies this process.
Try: Spring Medical provides an example of what an online patient chart could look like with descriptions of the various information that is typically included in patient charting.

HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, regulates how and when a patient's personal and medical information can be transferred. This federal policy factors heavily into the controversy around healthcare database software, so learn about this important medical regulation.
Try: Here are some HIPAA consultants who can help healthcare administrators understand their rights and responsibilities under the HIPAA regulation when using healthcare database software.

ADT

ADT stands for "admissions, discharge or transfer." This code frequently appears in healthcare database software to indicate that a patient has been admitted to a hospital facility, discharged home, or transferred to a different facility for further evaluation and treatment.
Try: OmTool features an E-Forms Workflow Consulting Process and explains why its inclusion in healthcare database software is important in the insurance billing process.

Outcome management

Healthcare database software systems factor heavily into patient care, treatment and outcome management. Database software is widely thought to have improved all of these areas, so learn more about outcome management to find out how it is benefited by healthcare database software tools.
Try: This case study from Psychiatric Services explains how an outcomes management system implemented with a healthcare database helps improve psychiatric patient care.

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