1. Find a system that is compatible with those already in your community. Healthcare reform law promotes the use of electronic medical records for healthcare providers to keep track of patient records more effectively and efficiently. EMRs will also help the providers gather statistics on their patients and share the records among their staff and other providers. That is, if the other providers use compatible programs.
2. Merging with other practices could help cover the costs. Purchasing electronic medical records and financing implementation places a heavy financial burden on orthopedic practices. Some orthopedic and spine practices are merging to form larger groups and share the costs associated with new technology. “The orthopedic surgeons need to see more patients to keep up with the declining reimbursements and invest in EMR technologies at the same time,” says David Shrier, CEO of HCPlexus, the company that produces the Little Blue Book database of physicians. “The healthcare reform act requires a lot of technology and that is difficult for small practices to grapple with.”
3. Mine the EMRs for evidence-based research. One of the biggest challenges private practice surgeons face when practicing evidence-based medicine is data collection and organization. Surgeons don’t have time to input patient information multiple times into different databases and most practices don’t have the resources necessary to hire another employee for this type of data management. However, implementing electronic medical record systems takes data input from the surgeon and organizes it in several different ways simultaneously. “We record the data like we would in the ordinary, every day process of seeing the patient,” says Scott Trenhaile, MD, an orthopedic surgeon with Rockford (Ill.) Orthopedic Associates. “We collect the data on the front end so it can be extracted later electronically. That’s how private practice practitioners can contribute on a grand scale.”
4. Coordinate the technology to promote scheduling and billing efficiencies. An increasing number of orthopedic practices are investing in electronic medical records, and if used to its maximum potential, this costly investment can improve overall efficiency. Ken Austin, MD, an orthopedic surgeon with Rockland Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Airmont, N.Y., says his practice has coordinated its EMR with its scheduling and billing components. By capturing patient data at the beginning of the process, the practice has been able to increase efficiencies by reducing the number of staffing hours spent entering information into a separate system. “Instead of spending extra time filling out forms, we are about to get in to the office and manage care better by making efficient use of the staff’s, physician’s and patient’s time,” he says.
5. Review security rules for HIPAA compliance. The HIPAA interim final rule calls for increasingly stringent security practices, and the penalties for not complying with HIPAA can be financially devastating. There are security rules that apply to EMRs specifically, so it is incumbent upon practice administrators to review and completely understand the security rules and regulations. This is especially important now that more healthcare providers are turning to online storage databases — as opposed to external hard drives — as a means of storing sensitive personal health information, which can be breached easily if the practice staff are not careful. Have a procedure in place to prevent unauthorized access to the system.
