Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008 - (Page 30)

OPERATIONS Certain specialties may find it particularly difficult to shed visit documentation. Nelson cites pediatric practices as one example: “Pediatricians have done a very good job of creating paper forms or templates, especially for well-child visits,” she is not a piece of paper that we haven’t gotten rid of,” says Bonini. And not only did the practice scan all of its patient charts. It also dispensed with its printed chart summaries and daily schedules. A terminal outside the nurses’ station Even though they have come up with the plan, they are scared to throw away that paper,” says Bonini. “If you are scared to jump off a diving board, you’re never going to jump. You’ve got to be able to have the confidence that you have a good plan.” • NO TWO ALIKE “All vendors do not create scanning the same way.” Robert Anthony, a former associate editor for Physicians Practice, has written for the healthcare and practice management industries for ﬁve years. He is based in Baltimore and can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com. Rosemarie Nelson, consultant This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of Physicians Practice. explains. “They pull out the form based on what that patient’s visit is for, and they’ve got something that’s really easy for them to fill out by hand, check off the boxes, and do that quickly.” Something like that could be incorporated into an EMR, but it doesn’t have to be. If checklists and forms like them work well for your practice, there’s no reason to discontinue them simply because they are paper-based. Just build a step into your practice’s work flow that allows those checklists and forms to be later scanned into patient files. A temporary piece of paper like this one can help your practice work flow more than hinder it. TAKING THE LEAP But perhaps your practice has heard the above arguments, and it still wants to eliminate all paper. If you really want to make that happen, you can. Look at North Carolina Orthopaedic Clinic in Durham, N.C., where John Bonini orchestrated another EMR conversion. It now has no chart room or any physical space for ﬁling paper of any kind. “I can truly say that there allows physicians to review patient histories before entering exam rooms. It took a lot of homework for the practice to get to this point, Bonini says. Every step of the office’s digital conversion — from scanning patient records to implementing work flow solutions — was planned far in advance. Although many EMR companies provide a checklist for how to go paperless, Bonini knows those checklists don’t tell practices how to look at work flow, conduct internal meetings, and figure out what to do with paper charts. “EMR companies don’t manage medical practices,” says Bonini. “What do they know about that? They know how to make their software help you, but they don’t know how … to improve your office to accept this solution.” You should also expect any paperless move to take time. “I think too little time is spent by groups thinking of the EMR as a transition versus a start-stop. Practices should see the EMR as an evolution, which will be more likely to succeed,” says Nelson. Still, not everyone is able to make that final leap. “There are a lot of people who are just scared. 30 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY GUIDE WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008 TG Cover Story: Protect Your Practice and Sleep Better Operations: Paperless? Not Quite The Internet: You've Got Mail...Or Do You? Patient Relations: Attention Grabbers The Tech Doctor: All About Blogs Lessons Learned: 'My EMR Nightmare...And Why I'd Do It Again' Scheduling: No More No-Shows The Marketplace: Who's Got Your Back IT Enhancement: Time, at Last, for an Upgrade? Online: 'Yup, I'm a Junkie. And Proud of It.' In the Office: New Technologies in the Workplace: Blessing or Curse? Web Surfing: If You Build It...

Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008

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