EHR Success Stories
Tucson neurologist and EHR user David Weidman, MD, states, "In three years, a fully electronic, paperless office, both for records and practice management, has considerably improved our practice. We're happier campers."
| Name: | David A. Weidman, MD |
| Position: | Adult neurologist at Northwest Neurospecialists in Tucson, AZ |
| Product: | NextGen Electronic Medical Records and Electronic Practice Management |
| How long I've had product: | 2½ years |
Benefits:
In 2003, four other physicians and I (two neurologists and three neurosurgeons) branched off from a larger eleven-person neurologic care group in Tucson, and created a smaller practice group in the northwest area of Tucson. A big part of our vision was to get an electronic system up and running as soon as possible- to shed the burden of the old group's voluminous paper charts and antiquated text- and keystroke-driven computer system. Within the startup year of our practice, we were already "going live" and using the electronic health records and electronic practice management system. By having physicians, physician assistants, medical secretaries, billing personnel, and office manager all use the same network, the group runs much more efficiently.
By being paperless, in the last 2½ years, we are enjoying the following:
- Virtually instant access to patient charts, which remain organized, no matter who uses them-office notes, phone calls, prescriptions, outside records, and forms are viewable chronologically or by category. There is no need for a staff member periodically reorganizing or neatening charts.
- Back and forth messaging between physicians and our medical secretaries are part of the mid-day workflow. Any downtime for a doctor in between patient office visits can be used to refill medicines, address telephone calls, and order tests. We do this from portable tablet PCs within each exam room, greatly cutting down on physician workload and time spent in the office at the end of the day. Patients like the quicker turnaround on phone calls and refill requests.
- Greater information at our fingertips to handle weekend and nighttime coverage for partners' patients by tapping into the system from a home PC.
- Paper chart room no longer needed; space can be used for other purposes.
- Better tracking and assessment of office staff job performance-productivity, communication skills and accuracy of individual employees.
- Graphic interface that's user-friendly allows us to stay involved in creating office notes which suit our style (and specific specialty).