Practice Makes Perfect
Printed in Advance for Health Information Executives, July 2003, Page 72.
Like many physicians in private practice, Martin Basaldua, MD, FAAFP, a family practitioner in Kingwood, Texas, discovered that while he kept getting busier, he was taking home less each year. The practice was demanding more of his time and he was becoming less satisfied with his job. Staff morale was also suffering; the practice seemed to need more people to move around paper, yet there wasn't any money in the budget to hire additional staff. With mounting Medicare cuts, Basaldua and the practice's other physicians wondered how they could make payroll without lowering their standard of living.
The physicians decided it was time to implement an electronic medical record (EMR), and began investigating several EMR vendors' products. Each had it's own strengths and weaknesses. Due diligence led the practice to select
The system's results
Having tabulated results before and after deployment, the practice noted a slight initial decline in income. This was to be expected as the staff learned the system, and at
Patient lab results, ECGs and additional documents (e.g., correspondence) are now scanned into the electronic chart and the old paper chart is archived.
The practice expects to be completely paperless in two years. Adjusted net physician collections increased $179,960 in the first year of using topsSuite. In the past, the practice had rarely completed 99204s, 99205s, 99214s and 99215s because of the lengthy documentation required. Since implementing topsSuite, the practice now codes these visit levels easily.
Within three months, cash flow improved by $46,490 each month. After paying the lease, the practice will have netted an average additional $43,490 each month, reflecting much better results than had been expected. These results were achieved through a combined reduction in overhead, increase in patient volume due to workflow efficiencies, and higher average reimbursement.
Tell Me More About e-MDs Solution Series...
*topsSuite is now known as e-MDs Solution Series.