NextGen Enterprise 8 (NGE 8) Upgrade Is Now Available

As the premier NextGen Healthcare consultants, we at TempDev are always excited when NextGen has a new software release. But we're positively thrilled that the upgrade to NextGen Enterprise 8 — aka NGE 8 — is now available in general release. NextGen listened to their customers and delivered an update to their flagship product with several usability enhancements. NGE 8 is a substantial update that makes a powerful product easier to use and a compelling reason for healthcare organizations to upgrade.

Here's an overview of NextGen Enterprise. 

What is NextGen Enterprise?

NextGen Enterprise is a full-featured software suite that can be tailored to the complex needs of today's healthcare organizations. Although it's sometimes called an electronic health record (EHR) system, it offers much more by integrating various modules and functions in a streamlined package.

That's not to say that NGE lacks EHR functionality. NextGen's EHR system is tightly integrated into NGE for robust patient record management. NGE features the usual EHR features like charting, clinical decision support, e-prescribing, and history tracking. Engagement features include the portal, which enables patients to access their healthcare data, schedule appointments, view lab results, and review prescription history.  

For administrative features, NGE has the best practice management tools used for schedule management, billing, claims management, and workflow functions.

For the financial side of a practice, NGE's revenue cycle management streamlines medical billing processes like tracking claims and payments. This software helps a healthcare practice comply with building regulations while improving revenue generation and overall financial performance. NGE also includes population health management features for analyzing the health outcomes of specific patient populations.

On top of all these impressive features, NGE is also highly interoperable. With NextGen's suite, healthcare providers get seamless integration and data exchange with different health IT systems, including those used by other healthcare providers. NGE is also customizable and scalable to meet the needs of a wide range of healthcare organizations while adhering to industry standards and regulations.

What's New in NGE 8

NextGen's overarching goal with NGE 8 is to provide a more intuitive and easier-to-use user experience. Key features throughout the application can now be accessed with fewer clicks. Here are a few ways they accomplished that.

Patient Information Bar

Meeting this goal required a thorough refresh of NGE's underlying framework. The most visible change is the addition of the patient information bar. This new tool makes all basic patient information readily available. In addition, the patient information bar is entirely configurable, so you only see what you want. The bar can be expanded or collapsed to provide more screen space in the EHR as needed.

Hover Icon Buttons

Continuing the trend of making more information accessible with fewer clicks, NGE 8 now offers the "hover icon buttons" feature. This displays actionable buttons simply by hovering over icons throughout the EHR. The essential information that's now available by hovering includes patient care guidelines, medications, problems, and appointments.

As with the patient information bar, what you see with the hover feature can be configured to your organization's needs according to your preference. The hover buttons can also be used to navigate in the EHR to view labs or access specific modules, such as medications or the problems list.

NGE's interoperability features are also now a hover away. The new data share icon launches the interoperability module, where you can review and retrieve data in CCDA format. You can also export data, track referrals, and access NGE 8's other sharing and interoperability functions.

Encounter History

Clinicians routinely access patient encounter history data, so it's no surprise that NGE 8 has also made this information more accessible. You can configure which data elements you want to see from past encounters and then quickly navigate to them. In addition, a new encounter summary view provides a thorough summary of pertinent patient visit details.

Category View

NGE's flexibility is on display with the new category view feature. You can now find documents based on your preferences. There are a handful of default categories, and a "My Categories" feature allows you to save the ones most important to you in a favorites list.

Should You Upgrade to NGE8?

While the new features and enhanced ease of use make NGE 8 a worthwhile upgrade, it is important to prioritize and budget for an upgrade. NextGen is a critical piece of software for your organization as you relies on it for patient interactions and daily operations. Therefore, upgrading to NextGen with its improved usability functions could be quite valuable to reducing physician burnout and improving your employees' & patients' experience.

To that end, NextGen offers a handy chart to help you decide whether to upgrade now. In short, if you have upgraded your NextGen environment within the last six months, it's probably best to hold off for a little while. However, you should review the chart and check out a brief demo video of NGE 8's new features to help you decide.

Current NextGen customers can also log in to the Success Community and visit the Path to NextGen Enterprise 8 resources to help you understand what's involved in the upgrade. And, of course, TempDev is here to help you decide and guide you through the upgrade process.

How TempDev Can Help With The Upgrade to NextGen Enterprise 8

TempDev's team of NextGen consultants, developers, and trainers support enhanced features, templates, and other accessible functionality for you, your team, and your patients. Your patients have more control over their data with improved transparency. We're also here to help you implement the Patient Portal, API, and other tools to support patient engagement better.  

Contact us here or by calling us at 888.TEMP.DEV to get the help you need upgrading to NextGen Enterprise 8.