Request input on AC and other options

I said our software is not really designed for those people who want a point and click and click and click and click system.

I found it ironic we find ourself in the same price range as these systems given we include Enterprise Document Management, Dragon and now Active Ink.

A recent article in this weeks June 13th Medical Economics lists us as one of these lower costs best bang for the buck applications software.

www.medicaleconomics.com

It is entitled:

EHRs: Consider these programs if youre strapped for cash.

Don't know why you edited out the link, but here it is again.

gchiu:

You just need an EMR designed for this ... I know of at least one that provides a rich experience which is similar to whether being used in ASP mode, or client server.

 

Can you be more specific?  Actually that premise and my post is for another thread.

digital-doc:

Can you be more specific?  Actually that premise and my post is for another thread.

You just have to make sure that when designing the network layers of your EMR that you minimize the traffic and grab everything asynchronously so that the user has the important stuff in their face immediately and the less necessary stuff comes later.  This improves the apparent response of the application, and turns an ASP application into a desktop experience.

I too would urge you to demo the TheChart!

I have been using the DescriptMed product for almost 2 years now and am quite happy with it.  I also must say that I am barley utilizing all of its features.

Single practitioner Anesthesia/ Pain Management specialist (100%), office-based.  I have and had been using NDC Medisoft as a PM program and OfficeHours as a scheduling program.  DMs product has a scheduler built-in which we will, eventually transition to.  DM has a hook and can import new patients from Medisoft .

Originally I had made my own E&M and procedure templates in Word and used Tablet PC (MS journal) to circle relevant positives/ negatives / normals , etc.  This still generated a lot of paper  and I was not happy with the “look” of the finished product. I had also paid way too much money to have my IT guy (friend of mine) adopt these to a pull-down menu, networked program.  Didn’t like it.

Then demo’d TheChart! I imported my procedure templates (already had them). Spent quite a bit of time customizing “ the click to add text” options in the SOAP and H&P screens which I use 99.44% of the time.  This was to construct sentences in the respective screens. I did a lot of arranging and organizing/ grouping these according to my style/ way of thinking /constructing a note.

I am a malcontent.

At this time,  I have the program pretty well –tuned to my satisfaction.  Depending on the day, I have1 or 2 physician extenders see the patients prior to my exam/visit .  I will probably now provide them with tablet PCs to initiate the notes so that I just have to complete the Assessment and P{an and alter some verbiage (picky also).

Terry has always been available to troubleshoot any issues- always minor and, now with built-in remote desktop functionality, very easy. He will listen and has made suggested changes to the program promptly.

To do’s:

*I will now probably have my office staff the process of scanning (as multipage .tifs) my paper charts into the program.

* I do not (yet) use the Rx feature.

* I perform mostly flouroguided procedures and save the pics as JPEGs.  These too will be imported into the patients’ folder.

* ?

Evan Musman, D.O.

I have no financial interest in any of these products.

Congratulations, Brendon for coming out in the Medical Economics top-of-the-line EMR for small doc offices!

Brandon had a lot of great questions.

I am an Amazing Charts user, and I will back up what FPdoctor said.  Amazing Charts is simple, highly intuitive, and inexpensive.  I would not hesitate in recommending it to solo or small offices.

>> Brandon: Can you describe your IT setup?

Nine PCs, half wired and half wireless. All PCs are off-the-shelf, most are several years old. My "server" cost about $500 on tigerdirect.com. LinkSys wireless router from Wal-Mart.

>> Brandon: If I came to your office what system would your staff use to check me in?

Amazing Charts. Your demographics would be entered, a chart created, and that would be forwarded to the nurse's intra-office email Inbox, alerting her that a patient has arrived. She brings in the patient, enters their chief complaint and vitals, and reviews and updates the allergy and medication list. A medical assistant could fill out much more. The chart is forwarded to my Inbox, letting me know the patient has arrived.

>> Brandon: How would you know I was in room 2 and I just wanted a basic physical for a late twenties male?

The nurse would add that to the subject line of the email your chart was attached to.

>> Brandon: How would you order the lab work for me? How would you receive the labs and input the results into the system?

Your lab would be ordered via the two-way link to Quest or LabCorp (free subscription and installation).

>> Brandon: If you were to write me a prescription, would you get out your script pad? Or, would you write the script in your EMR?

Amazing Charts can print the prescription to paper, or security paper, or thermal printer on security paper, or e-fax, or e-prescribe.

>> Brandon: On my follow up visit, could you review my last visit, meds (update the ineffective meds) and look over my previous labs before initiating the new exam (assuming you asked for a follow-up visit from my initial visit).

Yes.

>> Brandon: How would you write/schedule the follow-up? If I was referred to a specialist how would you write the referral?

With the Amazing Charts Letter Writer, and custom templates.

>> Brandon: Using a "no follow-up required work-flow" with AC, how could you quickly and easily send me a letter telling me my labs were normal and no follow-up visit is required? How would you even be alerted the lab had come in?

When you sign off on labs from Quest or LabCorp, the sign-off process is linked to the Letter Writer. The results just show up in your Inbox. It is easy to print off a letter and a copy of the lab results for the patient at the time the lab is reviewed.

By way of comparison, I have monkeyed around with SoapWare (visited their office in my home state), demo'ed Practice Partner, and I have fiddled around with NextGen. I am not a technophobe, but I found them all cumbersome. I have really enjoyed learning to use Amazing Charts.

I am sure there are a lot of other fine EMRs. Another EMR may be better suited to someone with a different temperament or practice style. I tried out Amazing Charts for free for three months before deciding it was the one for me.

Thanks Al,

We actually are coming up with even lower prices for Solo Docs.  Really it is about equal to our maintenance costs.  The only requirement is that it is a solo physician office. 

We are getting aggressive for this market, even though actually they can be tougher to work with then larger practices for a bunch of reasons.

BenjaminSerrato:

AC

To use AC you need to be a good typer.  Are all the docs good typers ?

Q: are you hoping to be a chartless practice ?  Jon, the developer of AC has paper charts as do many AC users.

Brendon:

www.medicaleconomics.com

 

EHRs: Consider these programs if youre strapped for cash.

The AC Group, which researches healthcare IT, included a list of companies with low-cost EHRs in a May report titled “Digital Medical Office of the Future Survey.” From top to bottom in terms of EHR functionality, these vendors are Health Communication Systems (HSC), eClinicalWorks, InteGreat, Infor-Med (Praxis), Spring Medical Systems, AmazingCharts.com, and Holt Systems. AC Group President Mark Anderson says that with the exception of eClinicalWorks, the vendors on this list charge under $5,000 per doctor over three years for software, training, and support. eClinicalWorks is pricier at roughly $20,000 for a soloist. Hardware beefs up the bill.

DrMurdoch:

 

Q: are you hoping to be a chartless practice ?  Jon, the developer of AC has paper charts as do many AC users.

 Jason,  you can also highlight that many AC practices don't use any paper charts. 

That's up to the practice.  

bcmd:

>> Brandon: If I came to your office what system would your staff use to check me in?

Amazing Charts. Your demographics would be entered, a chart created, and that would be forwarded to the nurse's intra-office email Inbox, alerting her that a patient has arrived. She brings in the patient, enters their chief complaint and vitals, and reviews and updates the allergy and medication list. A medical assistant could fill out much more. The chart is forwarded to my Inbox, letting me know the patient has arrived. 

I'll have to check out the AC inbox again ... last time I looked it was a pull inbox where you would have to keep checking it too see if new mail was there.

bcmd ... are you chartless ?  joseph ?

FPdoctor:

  many AC practices don't use any paper charts. 

some AC practices don't use paper charts ....  I'd like to see a survey of more recent users and determine how many are chartless.

A year ago, the vast majority of AC users ... including Jon used paper charts.

There were ways to be chartless with AC previously but they were more for show and wouldn't allow you to do it well. 

There are newer methods now, ie. Updox, etc.  I was trying to demo Updox 18 months ago with AC but didnt have the time.

 Joseph, you started a brand new practice using AC.

Do you also have a paper chart for each of your patients?

 FP doctor:

We are paperless for more than 4 yrs now since imported items feature became available in V2 of AC I believe. I have been in practice for a lot longer than that and we scanned all of our old charts and put the paper charts in storage for 7 yrs per State guidelines. After 7 yrs they can be shred.