Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/56100
"Physicians, by nature and historically, are here to take care of their patients. The electronic medical record [EMR] world is wonderful, and there's no question that it's here to stay. Our goal is to help every single physician and nurse practitioner that we can to meet his or her goal of using the EMR system in a way that satisfies what he or she wants in that EMR." — Carol Anthony, President and owner of Med-Express Documents, Inc. help with this difficult measure and ease the transition to full use of an EMR." Meeting the Challenges of Electronic Medicine According to Netti, a central challenge that physicians and practices face is transforming a major element of their practice of medicine — documentation of patient interactions — without caus- ing too much disruption to their day-to-day operations. He explains that, in many ways, the answer to the mean- ingful use riddle is appreciating the requirements, recognizing the informa- tion that must be captured and carefully planning how an individual practice can best meet the requirements while work- ing within the context of the practice's specialty, staffing and patient flow. At Cardiology PC in Syracuse, physi- cians contemplated turning to voice-recognition software as an avenue to incorporate their notes into the practice's EMRs. Given the looming time commitment this implementation would require, physicians opted for the tran- scr ipt ion ser v ices prov ided by Med-Express Documents. Robin Yazell, CPC, Billing and Administrative Supervisor at Cardiology PC, reports that, from a coding perspective, the clinical backgrounds and medical knowl- edge of the transcriptionists offered significant benefits over using voice- recognit ion programs. With an increasing number of records requests from insurance companies to study the coding of services, she says, the human element of Med-Express Documents' transcription services and the expertise of the transcriptionists provide a second level of security for properly documenting a physician's care. Elaine Guppy, CPC-I, CPC, CCS-P, CPMA, CMBS, Business Manager of a division of Associated Medical Professionals, assesses the transition to EMRs: "One of the important factors to a successful transition begins several months prior to implementation. The choice of a Windows-based secure EMR, which can easily interface with new hardware and software, as well as offering options to providers is essential to a successful transition. "An EMR should offer the providers a flexibility of designing and using templates, Dragon software, dictation or a combina- tion of these. When providers transition to a new system, they have to look at how they practice and have a system designed to meet their individual needs. Providers also need to review how the system will adapt to changes brought about by meaningful use requirements. Providers may opt to begin their transition with dictation because they are comfortable with it, and as they progress in using EMRs and meet- ing meaningful use, build templates to make them more efficient. Offices should be ready and open to ongoing change, as implementation of an EMRs has many stages and will offer different design options to choose from." Guppy concludes, "A company should not work for the computer system. The computer system should work for the company." The Ticking Clock As Medicare-eligible profession- als must begin participation in the Medicare Electronic Health Records Incentive Program by 2012 to receive the maximum incentive payment — and with 2015 representing the deadline to successfully demonstrate meaningful use or suffer an adjustment in Medicare reimbursement payments — time is of the essence. Having already adapted to EMR systems, transcription companies like Med-Express Documents can serve as a stable bridge from the paper system to the digital age. "We are very familiar with EMRs. This is our future," Anthony says. "We were already nurses, but we have updated our skills in order to know how to call into a practice's servers, download a voice file, transcribe the file and put it back into the EMR." In addition to providing same-day and stat dictation as turnaround times, the transcriptionists can easily navigate software programs. They know where specific pieces of information should be placed and when certain items are missing. Cookie-cutter templates within an EMR system can present significant challenges for physicians if the template design fails to accommodate the full extent of what should be recorded in a patient's chart. Medical transcription companies like Med-Express Documents can assist physicians to allow them to focus on exactly what they should be concerned with most: patient care. For more information about how a transcription company can assist medical practices in the transition to EMRs and meeting their meaningful use require- ments, visit www.medexpressdocs.com or call (315) 687-9399. ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ MD NEWS Central New York | 15