Are EMR consultants Useful?

[FP_DOC]

Are EMR Consultants Useful?

[Kursk]

What is your experience?
What question(s) do you want answered?
What services do you require?
What do you expect from EMR?

If you can't answer the above I would get some help from peers and online sources. Then you can intelligently contract with a consultant.

[FP_DOC]

What is your experience?
What question(s) do you want answered?
What services do you require?
What do you expect from EMR?

If you can't answer the above I would get some help from peers and online sources. Then you can intelligently contract with a consultant.

We contracted one while shopping for an EMR, he kept talking up one product, didn't know much else and our practice could not agree on a budget at the time, so we got SOAPWARE.

[ozzie]

I dunno what an EMR consultant is sounds more like a sales blab that anything else. Knowing how complex EMR systems are, I can see the need for a consultant to help you define which packages maybe suitable to your needs. then coming up with a short list. Also to help define EMR LOL..
I would say in general from what I have seen docs need to sort their networks out first..


oz

[mel]

I dunno what an EMR consultant is sounds more like a sales blab that anything else. Knowing how complex EMR systems are, I can see the need for a consultant to help you define which packages maybe suitable to your needs. then coming up with a short list. Also to help define EMR LOL..
I would say in general from what I have seen docs need to sort their networks out first..
oz

Are they required to disclose any conflicts of interest?

[ozzie]

Well,,,,l if you as the customer require it otherwise no..
Consultants are regulated by no one except common law.

oz

[dr eric]

Only you understand your buisness of patient care, so the real question is what can / should an EMR do for you,, it is only a tool to help you.. If you dont redesign your work flows and rethink all your work arounds then an EMR is just adding to the dysfunction of the office encounter. First redesign , then use an EMR to support your work,, a consultant who understands redesign can be helpful. :)

[ozzie]

Any system requires change and yes the consultant SHOULD be able to assist your there. I consider that training and training can easily be 30 % of the EMR cost. I am not so sure the patient flow changes that much , as EMR's provide the documentation of a visit so its more of adding the time to do now. As in many cases the documentation you did later in 2 or 3 steps.
Intitially your patient visit time (maybe) will be longer, but at the end of the day you be finished, no transcripts to read etc.


I believe that documention correctly via the EMR assists you in doing a more complete vist therfore be able to document and bill more. You should end up making more profit and you are seeing less patients and billing more per visit . Your transcription costs would be far higher that the ongoing cost of an EMR system..
Even given the end of the day you make the same as you did before but get more time with the patent and document in real time. I believe that is a win for all concerned.

Oz

[dr eric]

If you look towards an EMR to help with documentation as the main focus , you will be disappointed, Any ROI that is promised as transcription reductiion and enhanced billing, is misleading,, you can document up to a 99214 for a URI , but it is still worth only a 99213,, the real ROI is how you use it to reduce work arounds, FTE reduction ( your single highest overhead expenses), consider reduced transcription as added icing if you get it,,its nice and helpful but should not be the main reason for an EMR.. dr eric

[ozzie]

umm have to take you task on that one Doc..
Maybe swap my term documentation for SOAP..
The average transcription cost was about $18 K per year so if you don’t need it that is a saving . To me and be warned I am not a MD if I can do something once ( type in a note ) then be done with it. Versus talk it in then get it transcribed then review the transcription. Even if there were no cost advantage, just the less hassle and logistics would make it attractive.
I am talking in general and it would vary office to office..

FTE reduction will only occur in bigger environments. Smaller practices need the FTE for many functions .. The EMR system will facilitate scheduling , follow up transition to billing and less re-billing, chart management, inter office communications with referring offices etc. The EMR will enable the office to flow smoother and the FTE may be able to do other tasks that should be done but never get done like talking to the patients , giving out health information flyers. Quality control surveys.. Looking at picture of a patient and saying Hello Mr Brown its nice to see you again..

If the EMR helps a Dr spend more time with a patient and helps the office become more human and enhances the patient's visit FOR THE PATIENT then the tool has done its job. If that can be achieved at zero cost increase then you are winning.

A happy patient is part of being a healthy patient.

[BigDoc]

We have a few EMR consultant physicians on here, wish they could join in, defend their corner :)

[DrWinn]

We have a few EMR consultant physicians on here, wish they could join in, defend their corner :)

EMRs offer the greatest benefit to physicians that re-engineer their practices to accomodate the efficiencies created by the EMR. An EMR won't make bad business practices go away - so Step One is analyzing the way you run your practice and looking to the EMR to see how it might streamline or improve inefficiencies.
Step Two is what I call CMEMR (continuing medical education using EMR). Most practices get down 20% of the capabilities of an EMR. By learning new capabilities when new versions are released and re-studying old capabilities of the system, new opportunities are created to further refine and improve EMR usage.
ROI varies greatly between practices. We find that docs struggling with practice finances, almost without exception, are still neophytes in their use of the EMR. The docs posting huge ROIs are power users who know how to squeeze every dime out of their investment. They also tend to have the highest staff morale and job satisfaction.

[Kursk]

The old 80-20 rule again eh? I agree. Change is painful and changing workflow really hurts. I agree with those that feel docs spend too little time and effort training. I am still showing some functions of the hospital clinical information system to docs that have been using it for years, but just never clicked on a clearly shown function and didn't even know it existed.