Physicians Practice - September 2008 - (Page 68) TECH SURVEY practices reported having an implemented EMR. This year, only 35 percent did. Our best explanation: Physicians are abandoning systems they implemented. Why on earth would they do that? Because they never really made proper use of the system or the system itself failed to deliver on hoped-for cost savings. Part of the confusion is that we’re now in the “upgrade” stage of EMR adoption. Follow-up interviews revealed that physicians who bought low-cost and low-complexity EMRs are now moving on up to more costly and more complex systems. It’s round two. Case in point: Susan Andrews originally used the very first version of e-MDs simply to generate charts for her family practice. When the Murfreesboro, Tenn., clinic went independent, leaving the nest of a hospital-owned setup, it decided to move on to “something a little more robust with billing and a scheduler plus the EMR,” Andrews says. Now she uses Practice Partner to handle everything from charting to e-prescribing. And she got patients on the bandwagon, too. Medfusion, a Web portal that runs through Practice Partner, lets Andrews do online housecalls, and patients can type their own medical histories into their chart from home or in the office. Krichmar had a similar experience, realizing more advantages from a system that goes beyond charting. His practice, South Florida Cardiology Associates, acquired its RATE OF EMR ADOPTION 40% 35% 32.9% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Solo 2 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 30 31 to 50 34.7% 38.3% 36.4% NUMBER OF PHYSICIANS IN GROUP 68 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | SEPTEMBER 2008 WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 24.2% http://phonetree.com/hardware-exchange http://phonetree.com/hardware-exchange http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
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