EMR Benefits in a Urology Practice

An interview article by John Deutsch describing his experience with A.I.med, an EMR and practice management product by Acrendo Medical Software

Electronic Medical Records has been a popular topic of discussion throughout the healthcare industry, with extensive pressure from the government for physicians to convert to EMR. However, there has been little concrete data on the actual return physicians will receive on their investment. The percentage of small private practices who have implemented EMR is still below 10%. Dr. Moez Khorsandi, a urologist in Los Angeles made the leap to EMR and comments that he would “never go back to paper”. The following is an interview between John Deutsch of Acrendo Medical Software and Dr. Khorsandi.

John: “Dr. Khorsandi, how did you reach the decision to purchase an EMR?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “Two reasons John, no. 1 was that handwriting became so painful for me that I had to find an alternative method to charting my notes, and no. 2 was I needed to improve the profitability of my practice. The potential of EMR was obvious to me but I was skeptical and wondered whether the $10K to $15K dollar investment would be worth the risk.”

John: “What key features were you looking for in an EMR?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “Efficiency was my no.1 priority. In order for EMR to successfully work in my practice it had to be easy to use, and robust enough to keep up with me, even when I see up to 10 patients per hour. Before I went with Acrendo, I looked at multiple products, many of which were very point and click intensive. Most of my patient visits are routine and I needed a system that would allow me to move quickly from screen to screen and a system that would allow me to create customized EMR templates. I was also concerned about the support we would receive from the company I chose. I felt the implementation process would be challenging and I needed a company that would be there for us when we needed help. Acrendo has always provided that high level of help.”

John: “How has EMR helped you save time?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “EMR has greatly reduced my overall charting time by reducing the redundant data entry. As a specialist, I often have to write duplicate notes – one for my own records and another for the primary care physician. A.I.med’s EMR has eliminated this problem completely.”

John: “How has EMR helped increase your revenues and profitability in an industry facing deep reimbursement cuts?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “EMR has integrated with my billing system by pushing the CPT/ICD-9 codes from my notes to the billing system in real-time. This has resulted in more accurate and timely billing. Documentation is much more accurate and accessible to every user in the system. Providing proof of documentation to insurance companies is now very fast and easy as well.”

John: “How has EMR helped improve your quality of care?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “For starters, we don’t have to look for charts anymore. There has been a significant improvement in the quality of patient care. And by having quick access to medical records, it gives us the ability to have patients’ information at our fingertips within seconds from any computer.”

John: “How long did it take you to achieve a 100% Return on Investment?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “Even with a small practice, a relatively low number of daily patient visits and buying the necessary hardware I have seen a 100% ROI in approximately 12 months.”

John: “What challenges did you experience during the implementation phase?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “Scanning in our old records was a big hurdle.”

John: “If you had to do it all over again what would you do differently?”
Dr. Khorsandi: “Nothing”

A.I.med by Acrendo Software is a state-of-the-art Practice Management and Electronic Medical Record software system. Designed with the small-medium size practice in mind, A.I.med is both affordable and easy-to-use. A.I.med’s award winning “back-end” allows for real-time customization and is designed for Windows 2000 and XP. Based in Southern California, Acrendo Software boasts a 100% client retention rate as a result of their excellent support and products.