Physicians Practice - January 2008 - (Page 16)

P eARLS YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS B Y N I C K FA B R I Z I O PHYSICIANS ADVISORY BOARD David Albenberg, MD Access Healthcare, Charleston, SC Michael F. Bonazzola, MD Oregon Health & Science University Medical Group, Portland, OR Juliet Breeze, MD Richmond Bone and Joint Clinic P .A., Richmond, TX Robert C. Goldszer, MD, MBA Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA Scott Meyer, MD Greater Northwest Medical Group, Arlington Heights, IL William Smits, MD The Allergy & Asthma Center, Fort Wayne, IN BUSINESS ADVISORY BOARD I recently completed a consulting gig with a client using a new EMR. They liked the product and were noting new efﬁciencies. The only problem: A couple staff members had very weak computer and keyboarding skills, which basically meant they couldn’t use the new system. Blithely assuming that your staff and physicians are all up-to-date on their basic keyboarding and computing skills will land you promptly behind the technology adoption eight-ball. Veteran workers in particular may have little to no computer experience, making the transition to a paperless ofﬁce extremely challenging for them. But you needn’t eschew adopting new technologies just because some of your staff — or even your physicians — are not yet computer savvy. Just take some time to bring them on board. Develop a game plan before implementing new technologies to identify and train these individuals. Consider surveying your staff and physicians to determine the following: • How many of your employees and physicians have a computer at home or use a computer more than three times per week? • What common administrative programs (Word, Excel, etc.) have your employees used, and how often do they work with these programs? • How many of your employees are adept at Internet research (to locate patient education and insurance information)? • How many words per minute can each employee type? The answers to these questions will help you develop a successful foundation for an EMR implementation 16 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | JANUARY 2008 plan and will shorten your staff’s learning curve. Once you identify the individuals who need a more structured or ongoing training program, you can plan ahead to meet their needs. During the ﬁrst few weeks of implementation, you will also need to carefully monitor all of your employees and physicians to ensure they are adjusting well to your new processes. Failure to bring everyone up to speed on basic computer skills — and, by extension, the skills required to operate your new EMR — will force you to use a dual system of paper charts for some and the EMR for others. This will add costs, promote inefﬁciencies, and frustrate the rest of the staff — not what you want. Instead, work patiently with the people who need training until they have mastered the necessary computer skills and have integrated working with the EMR into their daily activities. The bottom line: Implementing an EMR in your ofﬁce is a time-intensive process that requires a detailed plan to identify and eliminate the technological weaknesses of your staff and physicians before, during, and after the process. A little front-end prep work will do wonders to ensure your success post-implementation. Susan Allen Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR Rebecca A.H. Anwar, PhD The Sage Group, Philadelphia, PA John Barrasso, MD Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, WY V. Alin Botoman, MD Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale, FL Barry Brennan Miami Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL Greg Bruce UMC Health System, Lubbock, TX Patrick Cawley, MD Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC Wanda English Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Richard Gangemi, MD Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY Hewitt Goodpasture, MD Via Christi Regional Medical Center, Wichita, KS Darren R. Haskell, MD St. Luke’s Hospital, Chesterﬁeld, MO Larry Hopperstead, MD Central Maine Medical Center, Lewiston, ME Allen B. Hornell, MD ETMC Regional Healthcare System,Tyler, TX Timothy Huffcutt Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshﬁeld, WI Peter J. Jacoby, MD, FACEP St. Mary’s Hospital, Waterbury, CT Jean Kostelansky Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Michael Kryda, MD Ministry Healthcare, Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Milwaukee, WI Mark C. Lester, MD, MBA, FACS St. Mary’s of Michigan Medical Center, Saginaw, MI Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA Jim Lindsey, MD SETON Healthcare Network, Austin, TX John Mackel, MD Saint Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO Lorraine L. Manzella SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY Hagop Mekhjian, MD OSU Medical Center, Columbus, OH Daniel M. Navin, MD Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, MI Harold Pillsbury, III, MD UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC J. Robert Polk, MD Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, Boise, ID Thomas Pow, MD Lakeland Regional Health System, St. Josephs, MI Kevin Ruggles, MD Rockford Health System Rockford, IL Stephen Smith, MD The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE Ronald W. Swinfard, MD Lehigh Valley Hospital, Bethlehem, PA R. Stephen Taylor, MD Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA Donald Thomas, MD Kingman Regional Medical Center Kingman, AZ Jerome Thompson, MD UT Medical Group, Memphis, TN J. Stephen Wikle, MD, MPH Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA Michael Wong, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY Sally Wright, MD Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA Florencio Yuzon, MD Community Health Partners, Lorain, OH John M. Zerwas, MD Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX Nathan J. Zuckerman, MD Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro, NJ • Nick Fabrizio, PhD, FACHE, FACMPE, is a senior consultant with the Medical Group Management Association. Dr. Fabrizio also serves on the faculty at Cornell University in its graduate program in Health Administration. He can be reached at nfabrizio@mgma.com or via editor@physicianspractice.com. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - January 2008

Physicians Practice - January 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Fixing Medicaid Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks Noteworthy Cover Story: Fee Schedule Survey: 2007 Results Adding Ancillaries: Bucking the Practice Ask the Experts Idealab: 'How I Got Over My EMR Excuses' Technology: Don't Be Denied The Tech Doctor: Blessing or Curse? The Administrator's Desk: Learning From the Best Coding Career: To Partner, or Not? Management: Controlling Your Inventory Human Resources: How to Fire an Enployee Finance: Beyond Reimbursment - How to Fix Your Mix Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - January 2008

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