Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 38)

38 Healthcare IT News ■ February 2008 phySIcIaN pRacTIcES & aMBULaTORy caRE “They run a pretty efficient ship,” Collins said. “Christopher is a ‘super-user’ of the system, and has been a national leader on GE’s Centricity EMR. The practice does lots of electronic messaging between patients and phyDavid Collins sicians, and they manage a lot of their administrative work through the EMR and practice management system.” Indeed, Village Health has never employed a practice administrator – a fact of which Crow is particularly proud. “We’ve cut our staff per provider ratio in half since implementation,” said Crow. “While you do get less productive during the transition to an EMR, we saw lots of clinical efficiencies within a few months. Our system gives us decision support at the point-of-care, and we have begun to proactively manage patients’ health rather than waiting for them to come into the office.” Crow admits transitioning to an www.HealthcareITNews.com EMR may be challenging for physicians, as doctors are not taught “change management” in medical school. But he says the move is worth the struggle. “Physicians are very singleminded, we fall into patterns,” Crow said. “You can do more with an EMR, but to succeed there must be a physician champion. The leadership necessary to take an organization through a change process must come from the top.” ■ More at Crow Continued from page 35 E. Davies Awards recognize excellence in the implementation and use of healthcare information technology. Joining Village Health Partners as 2007 winners in the ambulatory care category is the Valdez Family Clinic of San Antonio, Texas. “The number of applicants in the ambulatory care category continues to grow each year,” said David Collins, senior manager of the Davies Award program. “The industry recognizes the importance of these awards. The review committee spends a lot of time on the site visits going through a finalist’s workflow before voting on winners.” Collins said the committee recognized immediately that Village Health was a very “forward-thinking” practice, with an entrepreneurial spirit. The practice has expanded to larger offices, and now employs seven physicians. HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: CroW 0208 LAN of the Free. Introducing the new Welch Allyn Spot Vital Signs LXi with wireless technology. ® see us aT HIMss08 BooTH #4579 Clinician gains efficiencies, Davies Award By rICHard PIzzI, Associate Editor SAN ANTONIO, TX – The co-winner Now you can have the freedom you deserve—the new wireless Spot Vital Signs LXi integrates with your existing hospital infrastructure. Using Welch Allyn Connex™ Data Management System, the Spot Vital Signs LXi will wirelessly send vitals data to a range of EMRs. You choose the technology and we’ll provide the workflow that’s best suited for your hospital and your nurses, letting them wirelessly capture and document patient vitals from the bedside with no extra steps. And that’s liberating for everyone. For more information, please call 1.800.289.2500. www.welchallyn.com of the 2007 HIMSS Davies Award in the ambulatory care category is the Valdez Family Clinic, a solophysician family practice serving an economically disadvantaged and medically underserved community in South San Antonio. A majority of the patients treated by San Antonio native Alicia Valdez, MD, are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Ninety-nine percent of her patient population is Hispanic, and 65 percent of Valdez’s treatment encounters are pediatric. “The Valdez Clinic almost functions as a public health clinic in the region,” said David Collins, senior manager of the Davies Awards program. In the practice’s initial years, Valdez faced many financial challenges, most notably declining Medicare reimbursement levels and the under-coding of patient encounters. She realized that the clinic needed help in pursuing accounts receiv- Alicia Valdez, MD able, and denied or rejected claims. Valdez implemented the MedcomSoft Record EHR from Atlanta-based MedcomSoft in the early autumn of 2006, and the results have been dramatic. Valdez sees approximately 43 patients per day, using seven exam rooms simultaneously. The average time charting a patient note has decreased from 10 to two minutes. Per-patient billing has increased 25 percent, and the net ROI after the first year of implementation was close to $200,000 – a staggering return of more than 325 percent. “Most days I am home by 6 p.m., with the flexibility to practice medicine the way I want to,” said Valdez. “Now I can devote more of my time to patients.” More at Advancing Frontline Care™ e ● Connect: WelCHallYN 0208 ©2007 Welch Allyn MC4788 HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: ValdeZ 0208 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8616 http://www.welchallyn.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8623 http://www.welchallyn.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8696

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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