Physicians Practice - March 2008 - (Page 50)

TECHNOLOGY spent two years researching a replacement for the group’s antiquated practice management system and procuring an EMR. Simmons agreed with her choice, but after scrutinizing the proposed purchase agreement, he was aghast at the price tag. By eliminating many “bells and whistles they didn’t need,” he says, he “trimmed almost $500,000” off the purchase price. “That helped prove my worth right off the bat.” Simmons also renegotiated the practice’s copier contract to lower its maintenance costs, and he re-outﬁtted the ofﬁce with a new phone system. The initial asking price: $100,000. “We got it for $50,000,” says Simmons. “I worked it hard. I put in a lot of hours.” A skilled in-house technical perspective can also help you avoid future headaches. Gateway Medical Associates, a multispecialty practice in Exton, Pa., went live with its integrated EMR and practice management system about a year and a half ago. Because the 28-provider practice already had a satisfactory practice management system, prevailing opinion in the ofﬁce was to purchase just an EMR and “simply” interface it with the existing practice management software. But Gateway Medical’s director of information services, Vince Carrigan, disagreed. Well aware of the yawning gap between “should interface” and “will interface” due to the current lack of an industry standard for exchanging patient data, Carrigan espoused a common vendor for the two software applications, even though it meant spending more money to replace something the practice already had. “I felt strongly about having an EMR and practice management system with the same company, because a version upgrade could happen at either end, and ﬁnger pointing could start,” he explains. The practice’s CEO, Jim Rodgers, listened: “[Vince] convinced us, and because of his input we decided to spend the money.” They’ve never regretted their decision. HIGH-TECH MATCHMAKING HIRING THE PERFECT IT EMPLOYEE — A CHECKLIST Hiring staff is costly and time-consuming, so ﬁnding the right person the ﬁrst time is obviously a worthwhile goal. Make your practice attractive to candidates by offering the following: • A competitive salary. Sorry, the pros in this ﬁeld don’t come cheap. But the right person will greatly enhance your bottom line, helping you afford the extra cost. Where does your practice stand now in terms of technology? What are your goals? What are the unknowns? one wants to feel trapped in a go-nowhere job. • A well-deﬁned scope of responsibilities. • Opportunity for growth. No • Regular training. With the ever- upgrading nature of technology, be ready and willing to send your techie wherever she needs to go to stay current in her skill set. chosen well and don’t have a habitual naysayer or an ungrounded dreamer on your team, if your IT expert warns you that a proposed plan is ﬂawed, or if she seems passionate about trying something new, take heed. to house spare equipment and have a private space that’s conducive to problem-solving. • A listening ear. Assuming you’ve • An ofﬁce. Your IT staffer will need Everyone outside of the IT profession has a certain amateur technology skill level, from the plugged-in enthusiast pining for the newest gadget as soon as it’s released, to the techno-phobic curmudgeon who eschews most technologies as new-fangled frippery. The people who work in your practice fall all along this spectrum. Considering that fact, the busy nature of a medical ofﬁce, and the ever-increasing pressure to adopt paperless habits, the IT professional you need and want will have to know how to serve your practice competently and diplomatically, despite these challenges. But how do you ﬁnd such a gem? One solution is to create your own. Gateway Medical puts a high value on Carrigan because he’s become exactly what they need. He was a serendipitous ﬁnd. Carrigan’s mother worked in Gateway’s billing ofﬁce for a decade. Her son started taking care of the practice’s IT needs on a part-time basis a few years back while he was still in college. “We knew Vince, and we knew his work ethic,” says Rodgers. Carrigan’s degree in ﬁnance, his MBA, and his impending MS in information systems give him a well-rounded skill set to meet Gateway’s complex IT needs. Rodgers appreciates Carrigan’s intimate knowledge of his group’s operations: “He’s a very marketable person, and we’ve had to be very competitive with things like salary. … He’s one of our highest paid employees at this point, other than the physicians — and well worth it. If I had to go out and hire somebody, they aren’t going to know the nuances of the organization and the personalities; Vince does know.” Another answer to your IT needs is to hire right. This is a challenge in any industry, but in the IT world, job requirements shift as quickly as the latest technologies. And within the medical world, new tech tools are entering the marketplace at breakneck speed. “IT is not at the bottom of the company any longer, just banging out zeroes and ones,” says Simmons. “Before, it didn’t matter if [your IT person] understood the ﬂow of the front desk. It’s not that way anymore.” Your IT person should possess at least a working knowledge of EMRs and practice management systems. “If I don’t understand how that button will ﬂow and how it integrates with the rest of the clinic, I could really mess things up,” says Simmons, who dedicated hours to understanding the practice’s work ﬂow when he ﬁrst came on board. Also, because IT has become much more mainstream, it’s critical that your techie also knows how to WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 50 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | MARCH 2008 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - March 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Try a Little Tenderness Second Opinion Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: The Value of First Impressions Noteworthy Cover Story: Your Complete Guide to Patient Service Billings & Collections: Rules to Code By The Administrators Desk: Selecting an EMR Technology: Learn to Love Your Nerd Ask The Experts Coding The Guide The Tech Doctor: All About Blogs The Great Practice Makeover: When Bad Things Happen to Good Practices Start It Up - NEW! The Law: Audits 101 In Practice: Do As I Say... Pretty Please? Healthonomics: Handling the Changes Wrought by Medicare D Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - March 2008

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