Robert Rowley, MD – Medical Director
Dr. Rowley brings together three areas of expertise, and helps shape Practice Fusion in a unique way. He has been a practicing primary care physician for over 30 years, and as an early EHR adopter, has been practicing without paper charts since 2002.
He has been involved in governance and directorship of health care delivery in a managed care setting in California for over 20 years. He also has a strong technology background and helped develop the very first version of Practice Fusion based on tools created for his own practice.
As Medical Director of Practice Fusion, Dr. Rowley helps guide the development of the EHR as an essential tool for our doctors, and as a valuable resource for healthcare overall. Dr. Rowley also writes for EHR Bloggers on the topics of health IT and health policy from the physician's perspective. He has spoken on health IT at Health 2.0, HIPAA Summit West, HIMSS and the Health Data Initiative Forum.
Dr. Rowley's practice in Hayward, CA has functioned without paper charts since 2002. He created and developed the early EMR system, Medical ChartWizard based on his own need for a more efficient record system. Dr. Rowley earned his medical degree at UCSF School of Medicine in San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Rowley has also accumulated extensive experience in managed care, having served for many years as a Medical Director and board member of a large regional IPA, Hill Physicians Medical Group.
About Dr. Rowley
- Title: Chief Medical Officer
- Joined Practice Fusion: 2006
- Hometown: Danville, CA
- Outside of the office: Listening to live jazz
- Passionate about: Improving the primary care system for doctors and patients in the US.
- Expertise: medical practices, family practice, medical directors, electronic medical records, health IT in the small practice, health policy, medical management, charting and e-prescribing, the business of medicine, EHR usability, public health, physician workflow
- Bonus: Dr. Rowley is fluent in Spanish
Dr. Rowley said:
"Electronic Medical Record systems are systems used by doctors to replace paper charts. They are used for capturing chart notes, for creating electronic prescriptions, for getting lab test results, for doing all the things that are ordinarily done on paper – or traditionally have been done on paper. Electronic Medical Record system replaces that so that the swamp of paper that is often seen in your doctor's office goes away." (WTEV-CBS – Jacksonville, FL)