Healthcare IT News - November 2008 - (Page 22)

22 Healthcare IT News ■ November 2008 phySIcIaN pRactIcES & aMBulatoRy caRE www.HealthcareITNews.com had to cut back on productivity and the staff put in long hours, she added. Nancy Mault, EMR coordinator at Scenic Rivers Health Services, said a “pain” she witnessed and experienced during implementation was “providing patient care while trying to implement a new electronic medical record.” Paul Terrill, MD, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic’s medical director and family medicine physician, agreed. “The hardest thing for the providers to learn is how to conduct a visit in electronic format,” he said. “We are in a transition phase right now. We are totally transforming the visit process and how nurses Jackie Moen and providers do their work. We tell them that they will never see a transition as large as this in their careers.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: NMN 1108 paul tERRIll, MD, ShaRES “aha” MoMENtS oF uSINg aN EMR ➔ ”Preventive care activities are easily checked by clicking the ‘protocol’ button. We can show the patient the standard list of activities for their age/sex and which of that need to be done. Ditto for immunizations.” NMN Continued from page 21 ➔ “Flow sheets and graphs allow us to show patients how their health measurements (BP, weight, blood sugars, etc.) have changed over time in response to changes in lifestyle or meds.” ➔ “Printed patient instructions allow us to quickly provide patients with the plan we want them to follow. This reduces medication errors at home and is very helpful when they see other providers – especially the emergency room.” ➔ “Walk-in patients at a satellite office are not seen without their chart any more – I have the same electronic chart access there as I do at the home office, making the visit more effective and safer.” totally new thing for them because they had all previously been using a PM system. The reason that we chose GE was really based on the clinical functions. We liked it because it was one platform for both a PM and an EHR.” Moen said they needed to do a lot of testing before they went live. It was the, “small things like a period that didn’t get carried over in a name that changed how you found that person in the system,” that presented the most difficulties for the practices she said. The next step for the NMN was a three-phased EMR implementation with Sawtooth Mountain Clinic going live in April 2008 and then Migrant Health Service following in June and Scenic River Health Services in September (its last site was expected to go live on Oct. 21). “Training was very important and something that we needed a lot of,” Moen said. The clinics also ● PIloT Continued from page 1 implementing, and they probably won’t join until they are forced,” said Steve St. Clair, MD, of the Urologic Services of the Berkshires. St. Clair serves on the Steve St. Clair, MD steering committee for the MaeHC North Adams pilot. Although change in workflow was a “pain” for Paul Pettinato, MD, of Signature Healthcare, (Brockton pilot), he says, “In general I spend more time documenting than I ever did before, but I still finish the day faster than I did in the past.” Maria Justina B. Villano, MD, Maria Jusina B. Villano, MD at the Northeast Endocrinology and Diabetes Center at Anna Jaques Hospital, (Newburyport pilot) says, “As IT continues to change the way we live, physicians and their practices will have to adopt EHR systems in order to meet the expectations of patients and demands of thirdparty payers and other health business partners.” The MAeHC is beginning to collect information on EHR use at the practices. If a practice is not using the EHR system, it will be put on “breach.” It is part of the deal, Tripathi says. “We pay for everything, and they agree to use the EHR system for the pilot projectperiod.” Practices that have been put on breach represent a small minority, less than 5 percent to 10 percent. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e ● Connect: PIlot 1108 e ● Connect: allSCrIPtS 1108 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.allscripts.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10300 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10281 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=10340 http://www.allscripts.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - November 2008

Healthcare IT News - November 2008 Contents $700M Strong PHR Power Stepping It Up Geo IT EMRs Go Rural HiMSS Insider: Making a Difference Home for the Blues Merge Amnesty Management Solutions: Outsourcing Appeal Clinical Toolkit: Enterprise PACS

Healthcare IT News - November 2008

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