Three Reasons to Integrate a CTMS and EMR

A clinical trial management system (CTMS) and an electronic medical record (EMR) are specialized systems that deliver functionality to meet unique needs. While the use of both systems is essential, integration between a CTMS and EMR can provide significant benefits for supporting the health care needs of patients. Here are 3 reasons to integrate systems:

Patient Safety

If a patient is participating in a clinical trial and visits a hospital for an emergency health issue, it’s important for a physician to be informed that the patient is currently enrolled in a clinical trial. By integrating a CTMS and EMR, a CTMS can communicate information that then allows the patient to be flagged as a clinical research participant within the EMR.

Billing Compliance

With separate systems that require manual data entry, it can be difficult to communicate and correctly route charges. This can lead to errors in clinical research billing and, subsequently, lead to billing compliance issues. When systems are integrated, information (such as charge determinations) is automatically communicated from a CTMS to an EMR. This can greatly decrease an organization’s risk of noncompliance.

Data Accuracy & Operational Efficiency

Using separate systems often means that staff members have to enter information twice. This can be time consuming and lead to errors in transcription. By automating the communication of information, staff members spend less time entering information manually into each system. This ensures accuracy and consistency of data, while streamlining staff workflows.

CTMS and EMR integration can provide many benefits for both patients and staff, and increase the quality of health care as a whole. It’s important that organizations are aware of the opportunities for systems to integrate. The OnCore Enterprise Research system offers options for integrating with EMR systems. To learn more about these options, download, “Automating the Flow of Information with OnCore Integrations.”

Lisa Haddican, Forte Research.

Read the original post on the Forte Clinical Research Blog.