Eyeworld

OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS 80 November 2017 physicians can be most beneficial, who can be involved in peer-to-peer learning after the implementation occurs so their colleagues can learn from them," he said. From a more general stand- point, Dr. Boland said it makes sense for most practices to outsource their IT infrastructure (like servers), using cloud services. This can save money on equipment and make it more likely that you'll adhere to best prac- tices with regard to IT, though you'll be paying for the service. Mr. Gans also pointed out the more recent but necessary cost of cybersecurity and noted the importance of having backup systems. What technologies will benefit your practice and when to get them will remain a challenge at the prac- tice level, Mr. Gans said. "The shiniest tool in the market- place is not always the best one for the practice. They have to test what the return on investment is in time. In some cases, there might be new billable procedures, but oftentimes it's whether this is going to have a significant decrease in staff time or an improvement in patient care … ideally both." When it comes to timing of buying new technology, Mr. Gans said there is usually a sweet spot. "[That is] not necessarily being the first but adopting in that second wave of the technology where it has a significant improvement over the first version and further improve- ments are more incremental, and you have a better understanding of how it's going to impact the prac- tice," he said. Going forward, Mr. Gans projected that the cost of IT opera- tions is only going to increase, but hopefully with good benefit for the practice and patient, which he said comes from good management and good planning. EW References 1. Chiang MF, et al. Adoption and percep- tions of electronic health record systems by ophthalmologists: An American Academy of Ophthalmology survey. Ophthalmology. 2008;115:1591–7. 2. Boland MV, et al. Adoption of electronic health records and preparations for demon- strating meaningful use: An American Acade- my of Ophthalmology survey. Ophthalmology. 2013;120:1702–10. Editors' note: The sources have no financial interests related to their comments. Contact information Boland: boland@jhu.edu Gans: megane.schaefer@ogilvy.com patients, here's the kind of building we want,'" Dr. Boland said, provid- ing an analogy he finds applicable to EHR. "If you don't do that, you could end up with an EHR system that doesn't match your practice, and then it's actually going to slow you down as opposed to facilitate the processes that you have or that you want to have." Once a practice-specific EHR is set up, Dr. Boland reiterated the importance of making sure your other IT systems and equipment are properly integrated to take full advantage of integration. Dr. Boland also noted the importance of mak- ing sure the system works effectively to deal with all the complexities of medical billing. Mr. Gans said education on how to use EHR is important from the get-go. "What is highly associated with using the technologies is training and time spent up front learning how to use the system as opposed to learning to use the minimal amount that covers the majority of your day- to-day work. This is where having one or more super users among the IT expenses continued from page 78 Watch for our weekly emails every Saturday, broadcasting recorded live cornea presentations All content is archived for future reference VideoEd.CorneaSociety.org Copyright ©2017 Cornea Society. All rights reserved. Watch, Learn, and Share! Available on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops Watch, Learn, and Share! VideoEd On demand! Clinical presentations recorded live at Cornea Day 2017 in Los Angeles Learn from the cornea experts! Scan to view video using EyeWorldAR app

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