New Data Suggests Electronic Medical Records are a Worthwhile Investment

A recent study by the Journal of American College of Surgeons indicates that medical offices are recouping their EMR investments quicker than anticipated, many within 16 months. The New York study included 28 providers and documented activities such as pulling charts, creating new charts, filing time, salaries, and transcription services. These activities compared to the same activities using an EMR system proved to be extremely beneficial for all 28 of the providers. Savings appeared in all five areas; however, the largest benefit was a reduction in time required to pull paper charts.

Overall, EMR implementation saved an average of $9,983 per doc per year. EMR systems not only increase office efficiency and pay for themselves within months, they completely alleviate any risk associated with on-site medical record storage.

Stark law relaxation to double EMR adoption rates—offices beware!

Recent relaxation of the Stark Law is expected to have a huge impact on the number of physicians willing to adopt EMR technology. Until recently, medical practices interested in EMR technology were hesitant to make the switch because of lofty acquisition costs. Now, medical practices can take advantage of hospital funded EMRs that are offered as an incentive to join the group. At face value this might appear beneficial but is it really an advantage?

Hospital provided EMRs are typically designed for…hospitals. Trying to scale an enterprise-level hospital EMR to fit the needs of a medical practice may cost more than implementing a tailored solution. Most often, EMR technology determines the workflow of an office and usually requires a company to uproot established internal office processes. This disruptive technology can cripple a thriving medical practice with rigid workflows and processes that are more suited to a large hospital environment. Although Electronic Medical Records are extremely beneficial, overhauling your office with invasive change exponentially increases the odds of failure.

AdvancedMD’s Web-based EMR technology allows your office to use well-established office procedures and lets you utilize an EMR as a valuable tool to increase office efficiency not detract from it—novel concept.

Beware when hospitals offer subsidized or free EMR implementation. It can seriously impact your office workflow and drastically increase frustration levels.

Read The Commonsense Approach to EMRs for more information.

Hurricane season poses a significant threat to medical offices

Medical offices in the Gulf region can attest to the importance of backing up patient data. Over one million medical records were lost during hurricane Katrina, seriously impacting thousands of medical offices and patients alike. HIPAA requires that medical offices backup and verify their medical records on a daily basis; however, recent studies indicate that almost 60% of medical offices incorrectly backup data. Faulty backups coupled with the potential of broken water pipes, computer theft, employee mishaps, power spikes or natural disasters impose serious risk to the viability of a medical practice.
Web-based practice management and EMR solutions typically offer continuous backup technology; backing and validating your data every hour to redundant, out of state locations. These type of solutions only use in-office computers to access patient data that is stored in a safe remote location. If some unforeseen event does occur, your patient data will be safe.

Please see AdvancedMD’s white paper Why the Web and Why Now?; for more information.

The cost of EMR implementation failure is devastating

Electronic Medical Records are beginning to gain traction in the medical industry. Practices are starting to ‘go’ paperless in an effort reduce costs and increase efficiency with dismal results. Industry experts estimate that failure rates of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) implementations range from 50–80 percent.

Medical records are so central to your medical practice that it is difficult to test-drive the true impact of an EMR prior to purchase. Because the costs of a failed implementation are substantial, it is necessary to understand the exposure to financial and operational risks posed by a new EMR. Up-front costs of an EMR system are usually well-documented; however, real implementation costs are often overlooked.

To learn more about reducing the risk of EMR implementation failure read AdvancedMD’s white paper called A Common Sense Approach to EMRs.

CMS is delaying the deployment of the NPI Registry and the dissemination of FOIA-disclosable health care provider data from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES).

Availability of Health Care Provider Data from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES)

In accordance with the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination Notice (CMS-6060-N) that was published on May 30, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is making certain NPPES health care provider data, including National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), available to the public via the Internet. The data being made available are disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and are required to be made available via the Internet by the e-FOIA Amendments to the FOIA.

(Content for this section courtesy of CMS. For more information on this recent update visit the CMS Web site.)

AdvancedMD Medical Office Software Highlighted in M.D. News!

In the July 2007 issue of M.D. News, Editor-in-Chief Liz Meszaros, wrote the feature article, “Electronic Medical Records” that highlights the benefits of Web-based medical office and EMR systems like AdvancedMD. Take a look!

The switch to an electronic medical record (EMR) system is a move that will soon be a requirement for all physicians and practices in this country. But, many physicians and practices are still unsure about how to choose a system and may even dread the actual implementation of the system in their individual practices.

The process of choosing and using an EMR does not have to be painful, however. With some good research and a solid plan for implementation, an EMR system can be “just what the doctor ordered” to increase and improve the productivity, accountability and daily routine of any medical practice, large or small.

For Russell D. Petersen, M.D., the switch to an EMR was inevitable. According to his office manager, Katie Petersen, they decided to go to an EMR system for two reasons.

“Eventually, everyone will have to be on an EMR, according to government mandate. Secondly, an EMR system is much more efficient.”

Efficiency, especially in billing, was a concern, she said. “Most of the doctors I see today do not have efficient billing systems. That is where an EMR comes in and makes sure that everything is documented and streamlined.”

The Petersen practice, located in rural Alabama, was already using a billing system, AdvancedMD. Petersen said that when they decided to go with an EMR, they searched for an efficient one. AdvancedMD then developed its own EMR system, and since they already used is for billing, the choice was a natural one for the Petersens.

“When AdvancedMD developed their EMR system, they surveyed everyone in our office to find out what we wanted. We told them we wanted total flexibility rather than a template-driven system,” explained Katie Petersen, who bore responsibility of finding and implementing a system for her husband’s practice. “Other systems were extremely expensive. We had to purchase the whole system, use their templates and keep everything in our office. That did not appeal to us. We wanted to have total flexibility so that we could decide what we wanted to put in or capture,” she said.

AdvancedMD’s billing and practice management software is 100% Web-based. With AdvancedMD, the Petersen practice is provided with convenient data storage, more effective medical billing and off-site access to critical health care information, Katie Petersen explained.

Because the system is not template driven, the Petersens were able to set up mirror images of Dr. Petersen’s chart files and build their own charts and tabs.

Now, report the Petersens, they save upwards of $4,000 per day or $80,000 a month using accurate, easy and efficient coding available through AdvancedMD. They have five wireless laptops for nursing staff and one permanent computer.

(For the remainder of the article, pick up the July 2007 issue of M.D. News or visit the M.D. News Web site)