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40 EW FEATURE February 2011 ahead December 2012 Innovation: A look Making continued from page 39 5. Pre-enter as much data as possible. This may involve switching around some staff responsibilities. At Dr. Yeh���s practice, some techs that are proficient both at filing and tech responsibilities temporarily left their technician positions to spend their time doing data entry. That way, when physicians saw patients, their data would already be in the system, and staff only had to confirm everything and add any new information. 6. Make a plan for getting your docs on the system���and adjust your patient load accordingly. ���Never launch everybody simultaneously,��� Dr. Yeh emphasized. Each doctor at her five-location practice started on a different week. Each day, the number of patients for whom the EHR would be used by that particular doctor gradually increased, starting at two Medicare patients a day the first day, then four Medicare patients a day, and continuing on. When you do it this way, the myth of cutting way back on your practice time turns out to be untrue, Dr. Yeh said. 7. Find a vendor that will listen to your feedback. The supertech used at Dr. Yeh���s office considered feedback from various sources at her office and passed it on to the vendor. The vendor was then able to customize their EHR system to make it easier for them. For example, their system allows them to track most information with just a click or two. 8. Have a backup system ready. ���While we are experiencing the expected ongoing challenges of adapting to something new, we are continuing to use it along with a makeshift paper backup system until we are satisfied that all important patient information is truly being recorded properly,��� Dr. Woodhams said. Despite having a system in place now for a few years, Dr. Yeh finds it helpful to maintain paper backup for the forseeable future, just in case there is ever a technological failure at the wrong moment. EW Editors��� note: The sources have no financial interests related to this article. Contact information Lamont: 866-995-3937, Robert@eyecenterofpa.com Macsai: 847-657-1860, MMacsai@northshore.org Woodhams: 770-394-4000, Trevor@woodhamseye.com Yeh: 217-698-3030, syeh2020@aol.com EyeWorld factoid As of 2004, blindness or low vision affects more than 3.3 million Americans aged 40 years and older; this number is predicted to double by 2030 due to the increasing epidemics of diabetes and other chronic diseases and our rapidly aging U.S. population Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention