What features do you need in a good EHR system?This post was added Dec 14, 2011
As physicians, we are always looking for ways to improve the care we provide to patients. When electronic health record systems became available, we saw a good opportunity to enhance our services and demonstrate Meaningful Use to CMS. A few years ago we started interviewing EHR providers to see which CMS-qualified registry system would be the best fit for our group.
The Balboa Nephrology Medical Group is a large organization, with 35 doctors, more than 100 staff members, and 15 office locations across the San Diego area. Our doctors and other staff work in about 20 different hospitals, and approximately 30 dialysis facilities. Because of this dispersed work environment, it was a challenge for us to get quick and easy access to patient information, which is one of the reasons we were eager to implement an EHR system.
We rolled out our EHR system in two phases. First, to give our doctors a basic familiarity with the plan: we simply wanted to document all of the patient visits to our dialysis units. After a few months of this basic training, we were able to extend the system to all staff in offices around the city and use all of its reporting capabilities. We used customer support throughout this process, and had a project manager to assist with workflow and best practices, which kept us moving in the right direction.
Our reporting tools and Web-based interface make it easy to demonstrate Meaningful Use of a certified system, and it also helps up communicate from provider to provider. If one of my partners sees a patient at a clinic, I can easily communicate with him or her and share notes if I see the same patient later at a hospital. For our practice, it's extremely valuable to be able to access a patient's charts and records at any of our locations.
Some physician groups may see EHR systems as a big investment-both financially and as an employee resource-but with the Meaningful Use incentive, that up-front expense can be recouped over time. We use our EHR to report our nephrology quality measures to CMS, and we have had a great experience with that system too. Without a doubt, our EHR was worth the resource investment. Once we made the transition, our entire organization became more productive, which has resulted in better care for our patients.
News & Updates
Balboa Nephrology Sending Champions to Compete in the Transplant Olympics
For over 20 years the World Transplant Games Federation has been staging international sporting events for transplant athletes in order to...BNMG participates in Worlds Longest Kidney Transplant Chain
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Rick Ruzzamenti admits to being a tad impulsive. He traded his Catholicism for Buddhism in a revelatory flash. He married a...What features do you need in a good EHR system?
As physicians, we are always looking for ways to improve the care we provide to patients. When electronic health record systems became available, we...
