EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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60 EWOphthalmology Business April 2012 Digitizing practice management by Enette Ngoei EyeWorld Contributing Editor The biggest technology change in practices in 2012 F rom incorporating elec- tronic health records (EHR) to online patient appoint- ments and social media, a large number of ophthal- mology practices is now focused on moving management processes into the digital age. In a recent survey of ASCRS members conducted by EyeWorld, almost 70% of the nearly 400 re- spondents indicated that the biggest technology change in their practice anticipated in 2012 is practice man- agement related. EHR and getting online Jordan E. Sterrer, M.D., Eyecare Medical Group, Portland, Maine, said his practice is taking a serious look at several vendors for EHR sys- tems right now. "We've designed a process and set up committees to look at these things so that we can try to make the right decision, rather than jump- ing into something that doesn't meet our needs and wind up fail- ing," he said. In order to meet the needs of the different specialty areas within the practice, Dr. Sterrer said the EHR program his practice needs must be flexible and not an "out-of-the-box plug and play" system. It needs to tie in with an existing practice man- agement system so that the transi- tion is as seamless as possible, he said. In addition, it must handle all the advanced equipment that the practice uses, and integrate them so data can be pulled up easily in the records. The imaging facilities have to be good as well and be able to store surgical videos in patient files, Dr. Sterrer said. Ultimately, the EHR program his practice decides to use will help them take better care of patients, he said. Michael Boone, M.D., Eye Surgical and Medical Associates Inc., Visalia, Calif., said his practice is up- grading its EHR system. "We've had a system since 2002, but we're now ramping the system up to meet the meaningful use crite- ria," he said. In order to take advantage of in- centive payments provided by the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, Dr. Boone's practice is making signif- icant investments into extensive software and hardware upgrades, he said. Part of this system that his prac- tice is hoping to incorporate is a pa- tient portal, Dr. Boone said. This will also include patient education mate- rials, based on whatever the diagno- sis, question, or problem is, that can be sent electronically as opposed to the standard American Academy of Ophthalmology brochures that his practice mainly distributes now, he said. Another part of this upgrade is a new practice management system that allows his practice not only to schedule a little better, but also to evaluate in real time what someone's eligibility is and how much his/her deductibles are for greater efficiency, Dr. Boone said. Staff can make sure that patients are properly covered like they say they are, and co-pays can be collected right off the bat, so the process for insurance claims can be quicker and better, he said. Kenneth Snow, D.O., Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, Tucson, Ariz., said his practice incorporated EHR in 2011 and is expanding its online facilities to include appoint- ment making, more patient educa- tion, surgical videos, and online check-in. "We have expanded our website to include physician profiles; [pa- tients] can check in online, and hopefully we'll be able to start hav- ing them do their new patient exam check-in online," he said. Social media Apart from digitizing records and taking practice management processes online, a number of re- spondents in the survey indicated that their practices are venturing into social media territory. Dr. Sterrer said it's probably the most exciting thing his practice is doing this year. Data compiled from EyeWorld 2012 Technology Update survey, January 2012