This week’s Guest:
Tanya Kormeili, MD
Board Certified Dermatologist
Santa Monica, CA
Dr Kormeili practices with another dermatology colleague. They have 3 employees and are a smaller practice. They use an EMR in their practice – e-ClinicalWorks – and had used paper in other office sites. Prior to this EMR, she had worked with various other systems as part of residency training.
What was your practice’s experience with choosing and implementing your EHR?
I have worked with several EMR’s including the Veteran’s Administration EHR, and Kaiser. We currently have e-ClinicalWorks at the practice and we have customized it to fit our needs for a dermatology practice.
It is definitely a learning curve; it slows you down to start with. It is also at times harder because typing is distracting while writing in the chart is acceptable by patients.
Challenge is adjusting to using fixed templates and navigating around the system vs. “scribbling on paper!” Gains: we are paperless. All records and communication is documented; prescriptions are faxed in directly and we know who got what and when. We have great records of our patients. We can present a more professional front because all our notes are typed and neat.
Diagram pictures – to note the location of a biopsy, for example, or to easily add pictures from “before” and “after” treatments with cosmetics
To be determined
There are certainly many more choices on the market. Adopt an EHR only if it makes sense, and not because of a “trend.”
Easy to renew prescriptions; easy to generate a superbill and submit; easy to use templates to keep track of procedures.
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Want to be interviewed in this series? Have experiences worth sharing with Practice Fusion, or other EHRs? Positive and negative experiences are helpful. If you are interested, contact emily@practicefusion.com
