There is so much information about meaningful use and EHR but there does not seem to be one repository for this information as it pertains to the practice of podiatry. I have decided to create such a site. The purpose of this blog will therefore be to establish not only a collection of information pertaining to the use of an EHR in podiatry but also to provide resources and information on how to qualify for the meaningful use incentives. I will also try to give my impression of the various EHR programs I have had demo's on and will welcome your comments and experiences as well.
First some background info and a disclaimer:
I am a podiatrist who has been practicing for over 25 years. About 20 years ago I made it my business to study the intricacies of personal computers and learned how to put them together and tear them apart. I also studied networking and began dabbling in programming. I decided to combine my career as a podiatrist with my passion for computers and joined forces with the now defunct company DR Software run by Don Rogers out of Marietta Georgia to create the first animated software program for podiatric surgeons for use in patient education. The program and its animations (DR Animator) are still in use by podiatrists throughout the United States, Great Britain and Canada and is available on my company's website at http://www.podiatrysoftware.com. I also wrote and used my own customized podiatry electronic medical records software for over eight years until I was forced to change to a "meaningful" (read certified) EHR.
The reason for this information is to let you know that in addition to my expertise in computers and software programming, I am also a full-time practicing, ABPS board certified podiatrist. I am not a consultant for any software company and I have no financial interest in any outside company other than my own (which does not deal in electronic medical records but only with podiatric surgical animations). So my reasons for beginning this "electronic dialogue" with the general podiatric community is not to entice you to purchase any EHR program, but rather to show you what information I have gleaned from my searches, pass this along to you, and hope that you will share with me and the rest of the readers of this blog your experiences and knowledge.
I spent at least one year researching different EHR programs and I will share this search with you as well as some of the pitfalls that you may be able to avoid. I will also share with you the steps in planning and implementation of an EHR as well as hints, tips and tricks that I have discovered that help with work flow, and should apply to any EHR implementation in a podiatry practice. The links that will be contained within this blog are sites that I have found using the typical search engines. I claim no responsibility for the information contained in these links however I have found them useful and perhaps you will as well.
Instead of starting at the beginning, I have decided to start at the middle and work my way in each direction. This allows me to help the current EHR users with some of my posts, while addressing those involved in the Podiatry EHR hunt with others.
Because trying to meet meaningful use criteria is such a hot topic I would like to focus today's entry with one of the most discussed topics in the meeting of meaningful use:
Because trying to meet meaningful use criteria is such a hot topic I would like to focus today's entry with one of the most discussed topics in the meeting of meaningful use:
Providing clinical summaries to patients within three days of an office visit
I have found what I feel is not only a relatively easy solution but also one which provides additional marketing for my practice. Ideally, a patient portal is the best way to deal with meeting this MU criteria. It allows the practitioner the luxury of completing the note later in the day and then making it available to the patient through the portal. I do plan on adding a patient portal eventually, but currently I do not have one. If you do, you probably can still use my suggestion below and incorporate it into your EHR use.
I don’t have the time at this stage of my EHR implementation to have a clinical summary of their visit ready to hand to my patient as they leave the office following a visit, so here is what I do:
I don’t have the time at this stage of my EHR implementation to have a clinical summary of their visit ready to hand to my patient as they leave the office following a visit, so here is what I do:
I have created a cover letter which contains fields that are filled in from fields in the EHR. This feature is fairly standard in most EHR's which will allow you to create a template letter with fields to be filled in such as patient name and address. Here is what the template of my letter looks like for my EHR:
||DATE||
||PAT_FIRSTNAME|| ||PAT_LASTNAME||
||PAT_ADDR1||
||PAT_ADDR2||
||PAT_CITY||, ||PAT_STATE|| ||PAT_ZIP||
Dear ||PAT_FIRSTNAME||,
In our continuing efforts to provide you with the best podiatric medical and surgical care, we are pleased to provide you with information about your recent visit to our office. Included may be a list of the medications you are currently taking that we have on file, as well as the diagnosis for any conditions that may have been addressed at your last visit. Please take a moment to review this information and let us know if there are any corrections that need to be made.
At <Insert Practice Name Here>, it is our goal to provide you with the highest quality podiatric medical and surgical care in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. We believe in providing you with compassionate and personalized health care by focusing on your individual needs. We treat everyone from infants to seniors, with conditions ranging from skin rashes, toenail problems and heel pain, to performing complex surgical correction for painful foot deformities. Thank you for choosing us to be your podiatric health care provider.
Sincerely,
<Your Name Here> D.P.M.
This letter is formatted to show the patient's name and address when folded and placed in a window envelope. This letter is then enclosed with the clinical summary that is printed out by the EHR program. This only has to be done for patients who are billed for an office visit code. In a typical podiatry practice, although you may see 20 or 30 patients in a day (more or less), there will only be a percentage of those who are billed an office visit code. I usually try to make a list of those patients the day before the visit so that I can identify which ones I will need to have the form letter printed, the clinical summary printed, stuffed into a window envelope and mailed. It should take no longer than about 1 minute per patient to do this and the cost should be under $1 per patient (including labor, postage and supplies). As long as this is done within the next day or two after the visit, the patient should receive it in time (three days) to meet the meaningful use criteria. By providing this to the patient, I am not only improving the quality of care, but the use of the cover letter provides a nice marketing touch. The potential return-on-investment is much greater than the $1 spent when you consider possible referrals generated ( not even taking into account the meaningful use dollars).
That's all for entry number one of this blog. Future posts will include a look at how I made my own EHR purchase decision and the implementation costs involved. I will also discuss my experience with my current EHR and display videos showing the program in use. I hope to see comments and tips from readers of this blog and you can always contact me with questions at Roger@PodiatrySoftware.com
Here are a few links which I have found useful:
Straight from the Authority - CMS.gov
I don’t use this software, but this is a nice MU “roadmap”
I don’t use this software, but this is another MU guide.
You might want to bookmark this – you will need it eventually.
