Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008 - (Page 40)

LESSONS LEARNED That sounded logical to me. Within two weeks the system was installed, the training was underway, and everything seemed on track. OPENING DAY April 1997 brought our first day of operation with our new EMR and real patients. Right out of the gate, our patient charts (containing demographics, medical histories, and the chief complaints entered by the front desk) that were to be sent to specific exam rooms didn’t arrive. Some made it after several hours; others never showed up. My vendor discovered that my practice management system and my EMR used different operating platforms that apparently were not on speaking terms. Each system worked ﬁne separately, but they weren’t working well together. “Has this system design ever been tested elsewhere?” I asked the vendor salesman, who sheepishly admitted: “Uh … no … but there is no reason why it shouldn’t work. We think we can work out the details if you just give us some more time.” But there was no more time. This electronic engineering nightmare was now turning into a research and development project with my solo practice as the guinea pig. My Maple Valley site was suffering. With the EMR server 30 miles away, its computers were receiving data in slow motion. I was then told that the telephone lines were at fault. “If we install a special ISDN line capable of carrying more data faster, then the problem would be resolved,” said the vendor. Of course, that meant forking over another $10,000 to pay for the new phone lines and the special routers they required. It was now August, and we’d been hobbling along with our defunct EMR for four months. Ten grand and a month later, the data transfer to our Maple Valley site was a tiny bit faster, but still not fast enough. A T1 line was then suggested. But when we investigated, we discovered those lines were not yet available in rural Maple Valley. So in a moment of desperation, I came up with my own fail-safe solution. In September, I began transporting the server between the two ofﬁces myself. After my vendor expressed his horror at my proposed solution, I admit that I was intimidated by the prospect. But what else could I do? I recall what was to be the ﬁrst of my many server transport trips quite well. When disconnecting the server, I meticulously labeled each of the wires I removed and matched them with numbers I’d placed on each of the server’s many ports. I then wrapped the disconnected server in blankets and carried it to my car like a fragile infant. I buckled it in the front seat beside me and worried during the entire trip that it would take a tumble and my signiﬁcant investment would break into pieces. When I arrived at Maple Valley, I reversed the process, and to my surprise, my “baby” sprang to life! In time, I reﬁned my means of transportation by using a padded, low-wheeled luggage cart. By using the same server at both locations, I ﬁnally conquered the slow data transmission problem, and I now had a functional EMR at both ofﬁces. I continued my personal server transport solution for more than two years before I ﬁnally elected to close my Bellevue ofﬁce and consolidate my operations at Maple Valley. It was December 2001 — nearly four years after implementing the EMR. I ﬁnally abandoned my original EMR purchase and switched to a new one in January 2002. With the centralization of my practice into a single location, a new server was designed and installed with considerably increased capacity. Today my still-solo practice continues to operate smoothly with a single robust server and ﬁve workstations in Maple Valley. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE… While I continued to struggle to manage the demands of a busy solo practice, in addition to the ﬁnancial problems created by a poorly designed and dysfunctional system, I decided it wasn’t right to continue to pay for 40 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY GUIDE WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.amazingcharts.com http://www.amazingcharts.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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