1. What is EMR?
2. What is an Interface?
3. Can DocShuttle interface with EMR or other hospital computer systems?
4. What is a front-end Interface?
5. What is a back-end Interface?
6. What is an HL7 Interface?
7. What is required to create an Interface?
8. What does an Interface cost?

1. What is EMR?

EMR stands for “Electronic Medical Records.” It is a broad name for the many different ways of storing medical records using computers instead of using filing cabinets full of paper. Most of the time, when people talk about EMR, they mean the storage on computers of electronic versions of typed documents, like keeping Word or PDF files on a file server. EMR may also refer to other ways of storing patient information on a computer, like in a database..
 

2. What is an interface?

An interface is a way to allow two different types of computer systems to communicate with each other. In most cases, one system will be sending data to another system. EMR interfaces usually deal with transferring patient reports and information from one system into another.

3. Can DocShuttle interface with EMR or other hospital computer systems?

Yes. DocShuttle generally stores transcription reports in Microsoft Word format. It also stores patient information such as patient name, medical record number, patient number, dictating physician, etc. in a header file that is stored with the transcribed report. All of this information can usually be transferred to a different computer system through an interface.
 

4. What is a front-end Interface?

A front-end interface extracts patient information from the EMR system (or hospital system) and passes it into DocShuttle. DocShuttle then passes this information on to the transcriptionists. This patient information, often referred to as ADT (admissions, discharges, transfers) information, is automatically populated in fields in the DocShuttle software for the transcriptionists. This saves the transcriptionist time from having to retype the information and it increases accuracy.

5. What is a back-end Interface?

A back-end interface is used to send completed transcribed reports into an EMR or hospital computer system from DocShuttle.

6. What is an HL7 Interface?

HL7 stands for “Health Level 7,” which is a group that defines information standards in healthcare. When people talk about HL7, they usually mean the Reference Information Model, or RIM. This is just a list of pieces of information stored and transferred by healthcare systems. When people or products say that they are HL7-compatible, they mean that they are agreeing to use this same list.
An HL7 Interface is an interface that uses this same list, allowing different computer systems to communicate with each other. Many larger computer systems will only allow communication through an HL7 interface.

Although it can be good to have a standardized interface, an HL7 interface sometimes requires a dedicated PC. The interface can also require communication through specific IP ports. Because HL7 can be used for many types of data exchange, an HL7 interface can be complex.

7. What is required to create an Interface?

In order to create an interface between DocShuttle and another computer system (such as an EMR system), it is necessary to know the specific requirements of the EMR system for accepting data. This will require communication between a Bytescribe developer and a technical representative from the EMR company. A custom interface program can usually be created based on those requirements.

8. What does an Interface cost?

Once the specifications are determined, Bytescribe can provide a quote based on the number of programming hours projected in order to complete the interface. Bytescribe usually charges a fixed rated of $75/hour to complete a custom interface.

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