EMR Software Blog (EHR Software)

Medical Charting Software Is Affordable for small practice doctors.  Part of the Obama economic stimulus plan includes both incentive payments for adoption of medical charting software and eventually penalties for NOT adopting and implementing the software in a doctors office.

What are the benefits of EMR software?

1- Time savings of having a centalized, computerized chart.  No more time spent wasted pulling or looking for files.

2- Reduced number of pharmacy and drug refill requests.  Teach your patients to call the pharmacy for refills and have the pharmacy send you an electronic prescription refill request.  Then check your messages periodically thru the day and reply

3- Ability to enter SOAP notes any way you wish, by: A- Traditional Transcription method which is then uploaded and placed into the appropriate chart; B- Voice Dictation method or C- Template driven method of mouse and keyboard.

4- Ability to accept Lab results automatically into your EMR software.

5- Increase quality of patient care as a result of reduced medication errors and the benefit of having all information at your fingertips.

6- Benefits of a paperless office with Fax servers and document scanning.

EMR System reseller medicalcharting.com shuns walmart and dell emr hoopla and instead offers doctors a personal, one on one, consultant\expert approach to EMR system software implementation.

MedicalCharting.com President Harry Selent, says “Physicians and doctors do not currently buy automobiles at cheap discount prices and then work on them in their own garage at home.  Instead, they seek out qualified automobile dealers that offer personalized sales, service, and “after the sale” support.  Doctors will work the same way with EMR software vendors, even more so than their automobiles, because their medical practice is the “engine” that “Pays” for the automobile and other investments.  Hence, doctors will not approach this as a “off the shelf” solution that you can go to walmart or sam’s club and purchase.”  Harry Selent also stated “the medical software world and especially EMR software is renowned for “shelfware” - in other words software that was purchased, then put up on a “shelf” somewhere because of lack of support, training, and ongoing implementation and service.”  “Thats whats wrong with the walmart-dell deal, there is no local “person” at the local level that can support the doctors office and do the handholding to help them fully implement an EMR system.

Who will be there to support the doctor when he thinks he’s ready to go paperless, make the switch, and the waiting room is backed up with angry patients because the office staff don ‘t know what to do, or because the templates the doctor thought would streamline his practice, actually are taking more time and impacting his revenue flow?  The walmart-dell deal is bound for failure because they lack the local person to deal with and help the doctor make the transition, and the doctor expect that.

The Medisoft Clinical approach at www.medicalcharting.com will succeed because local dealers will hand hold the doctors offices and guide them thru the implementation jungle.

EMR Software being pushed by Walmarts Sam’c Club, Dell and eClinicalWorks sounds like all heavy hitters, but here is the achilles heel of the whole deal.  The achilles heel is the lack of knowledgeable sales force and more importantly “implementers\consultants” to help the doctor make the transition from paper based medical charting to electronic medical records.  Right now you have too many “chiefs” in the mix, and not enough implementers to follow thru and make it work in the dodtors office.  And this is the lifelong problem of buying software from a “store” versus a “dealer” or consultant.

A “Store” usually just “pushes” the product out the door, but the poor customer does not have anyone to help them implement the program, customize for their business, and show them the “ropes”. And as a result, the software package gets relegated to “shelfware” , you know, that “shelf” most small businesses have of software with “good intenetions”, but never got implemented because no one knew how it worked or wanted to take the time to learn it and implement it.  Who’s going to be there when the doctors office comes to a screeching STOP becuse the workstation is not communicating with the server?  Or what happens when Suzzy at the front desk is not answering phone calls for new appointments because shes staring blankly at a screen she knows nothing about, and is in tears because no one knows how anything works?  Or what happens when the physician office is still bombarded with faxes and emails and no one showed them how to automate those tasks? Or what happens when a doctor has a waiting room full of angry patients because the doctor is struggling to figure out how to click on 12 different screens JUST to make a silly progress note?  Or what happens when the waiting room is full of angry patients because the doctor is trying to figure out how to make a new template and there is no one to help him?

And so, this is how I see the walmart EMR software deal going… lots of lookers, some will be takers and buy, but then what?  Who is there to hold the doctors hand? To install the server and get everything talking and syncing?  Who’s going to teach how to perform daily, weekly, and monthly and yearly backups?  Who’s going to show the doctor’s office how to integrate the software with their own unique workflow needs?   Who’s going to be there to assure the doctor that there is light at the end of the tunnel?   No, whats sadly lacking here is a “person” to guide the doctor, coach the doctor, and provide answers and solutions.  Whats the solution? To sell thru a dealer network, dealers who are trained in the product, hardware, integration, who know the worflow of a medical office and can be a local presence that the doctor can call and can shepherd the many pieces of the puzzle into a coherent solution.   Do doctors buy automobiles online and work on the automobile themselves at home in their garage? No, silly notion.  They buy from established dealers who provide local, customized support - the same model applies to EMR software, and even more so as EMR software is concerned with the workflow, and hence financial aspects of the doctors practice.  The ideal model is following the lead of Medisoft Clinical, where for approx the same price as the walmart, dell deal, a doctor is dealing with a local person, trained, and who can provide ongoing support and training.  See www.medicalcharting.com

Medicare will use both carrot and stick approach to reward EMR\EHR adoption, and to penalize non-adoption.

Incentives include up to $64,000 + for early adopters of EHR Software.  Penalties estimate up to 3-5% of medicare billings.

Four critical aspects of the bill include:
1- Elegibile Professional; (under medicare provisions of the bill, an elegibile professional is a doctor of medicine or ostepoathy; dentists; podiatrists; optometrists; chiropractors).
2- Not be hospital based;
3- Demonstrate “Meaningful Use” of an EHR software.  To be left up to discretion of HHS Secretary, but expected to include e-prescribing, interoperability, clinical reporting,
4- Certified EHR program. - yet to be determined by HHS Secretary, but exptected to include CCHIT certification.

Incentives will be allowed thru two provisions:
1-Medicare incentives
2-Medicaid incentives
But NOT BOTH.  No incentives after 2016.  Up to 10% additional reimbursements for physicians in “physician shortage areas”.

Physicians who demonstrate “meaningful use” in first two years receive a $3,000 bonus.

To learn more about Medisoft Clinical EHR Software Click Here.

Legal Disclaimer - this post represents our own interpretation and should verified with your legal and accounting staff or consultants.

Medisoft EMR Clinical is available now.  Medisoft Clinical or Medisoft EMR is a combination of electronic medical records software and medical billing software, all working together and is amazingly affordable.  (Base software price for both Medisoft medical billing software and Medisoft Clinical is under $7,000, not includling hardware, training, project management, installation and other associated costs)

Now, over 80,000 Medisoft users and other single to small practice doctors can an award winning combination of emr software and electronic medical records software (or electronic health record as some call it), and medical billing software with one patient list that can be imported from Medisoft into Medisoft clinical.

Experience the best of both software’s with a combined Practice Management/Electronic Health Record Software solution that enables your medical office to easily perform common work flow tasks like:
*Sharing patient demographic info between programs to eliminate redundant double data entry
*Seamlessly inform your nurse in the patient exam room area when that patient is ready for his/her appointment now to save staff efficiency
*Creating a unique electronic superbill or encounter form that is populated with the appropriate ICD-9 and  CPT-4 codes based on the doctor’s SOAP notes

Also;

Ensure  Patient safety:  Electronic prescribing (via SureScripts® and RxHub®) improves patient safety.

Maximize efficiency: Unlike other EMR Software’s, Medisoft EMR Clinical features a unique note-centric design that allows physicians to complete the  entire chart from the progress note.

Enhance quality- Medisoft Clinical offers easy access to the information you need to ensure exceptional care.

Physician tools: • Analyze the note with a sophisticated coding advisor for Evaluation and Management codes

Have you head the hub bub in the blog community just recently about the PHR controversy?  Seems like HIMM’s CEO publicly questioned PHR’s (Public Health Records) as lacking in trust from the medical community.  Another blog decried the comment “ …{Mr Leiber from HIMSS} should provide full disclosure that HIMSS receives a boat-load of money from the EMR vendors that have a lot to loose should records begin migrating beyond the four walls of a hospital. First, it will force the issue of interoperability, something EMR vendors are loathed to adopt for like any other industry, interoperability gives the buyer choices and easier paths for migrating from one system to another. Also, these vendors are beginning to offer their own tethered-PHR, which is simply a consumer-centric EMR portal to their records. A PHR that resides outside of the EMR limits their market opportunity.

It appears that Leiber and the EMR companies fear that Google and Microsoft will launch a fully-featured EMR/PHR combo that will deliver both value and functionality. Microsoft already has an EMR product in the market.  Both of these companies already have released or announced plans for providing a public portal for Personal Health Records.

Where does this put the Physician?  Smack dab in the middle of the controversy if you ask me, but then, thats where they should be, they should not capitulate and let business or government dictate the outcome of this controversy.

What happens when the government “pays” for an EMR software system thru public funding or taxes? Will they be able to get a “free” peek at the records whenever they want to? What if a local county government hospital raises tax dollars to pay for a county wide EMR solution for hospitals and physicians, who gets a “free peek” at the info?

If a community health record system is available in a community, who controls access? Lets face it, just about any employee in a doctors office gets access to the EMR software, but what happens when you have a whole community wide database and a disgruntled male employee wants to see the “pregnancy” test results for his girlfriend or wife and bribes a friend who works in another doctors office to log onto the community portal and check results?

Alot of issues to be worked out here… don’t have all the answers, but safeguards need to be in place and penalties for violating improper access to the information that most Americans feel very private about.

Seems like the state of Vermont, in its “infinite” wisdom, is attempting to tax medical claims to help pay for a pilot project to implement electronic medical records software in the state.

Its not clear how the “tax” will work, if it will be added by the doctors and hospitals to the patients bill, or if it will be a tax to the doctors and hospitals.

Bad, bad, bad from my thinking.  First of all we are “taxing” the sick to pay for something that will benefit everyone. Secondly, I don’t want the Federal or State government getting involved in dictating what an Electronic Medical Record will look like or influence the decision making of the private doctor.  Lastly, the system proposed for Vermont, doesn’t adequately address “privacy” concerns (if the state helps fund and pay for the software, do they get a “free” peek at the records whenever they want? Or would they need a court order to view it?  What are the punishments for privacy infringement?).  This is BAD public policy as far as I’m concerned.

This Electronic Medical Records Software Blog will cover many issues facing small doctor practices in todays healthcare marketplace. Statistics show that 70-80% of current physicians are either in solo practice or in a group smaller than 5 doctors. This is the target doctor we work with and support with our consulting practice and with our software solutions.

Feel free to post questions here that you may have concerning adoption or purchase of EMR or EHR software for your medical practice. Questions can range for how do I decide what electronic health record software is best for me; what issues will I face in implementing the software, to what company canI trust to be around for the long haul?

Welcome, we’ll be blogging about Electronic Medical Records software (EMR); industry trends; news; and tips and tricks to simplify your medical practice.