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Dover Orthopaedics Quest For The Best EMR

Practice Profile

Dover Orthopaedics
Orthopaedic Surgery
ChartLogic EMR user since March 2003
4 Physicians
1 Location
27 Workstations
Practice founded in 1986
100% of notes completed with ChartLogic Precision Voice™

The Decision

Dover Orthopaedics in Dover, Ohio, started its Electronic Medical Record (EMR) search in 2001. Practice administrator Marilyn Orr said Dover began re-evaluating the value of the practice management system they had used for nearly 12 years. Marilyn said the EMR search revealed that most practice management systems were partnering or developing their own EMR system. Dover determined it would be in their best interest to find the best EMR in the marketplace and then find a practice management system that complimented the EMR. After an exhaustive search, ChartLogic® EMR was found to be the ideal solution for Dover Orthopaedics because it could be used by all Dover physicians whose computer skills ranged from "highly technical" to "never touched a keyboard."

The Transition

To have employees use ChartLogic EMR to its full capacity, Marilyn Orr converted the practice's standard and hospital forms to electronic forms within the EMR. As a result of this conversion, additional prescriptions were generated and automatically documented in compliance with the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy. Dover physicians transitioned to seeing patients using ChartLogic within three months. Patient chart pulling had stopped in the fourth month, and one month later all charts had been moved to permanent storage. The empty space became an office area for two billing employees. ChartLogic also eliminated the need for transcription services. Dover Orthopaedics' electronic process begins when new patients contact the practice for appointments; information is entered directly into ChartLogic EMR to create a patient information record that contains past and current medical history. On arrival, patients review this information from pre-populated forms which allows, Dover to get patients in and out of the office more quickly with less paperwork. Patient satisfaction has improved greatly through this process. Since ChartLogic EMR adapts to each physician's original charting style, all of Dover's physicians were able to successfully complete 100 percent of their charting in ChartLogic EMR within 18 months. "The most technical of our physicians was up and running in ChartLogic EMR within three weeks," Marilyn said. Another valued benefit is remote access to ChartLogic EMR, which allows the practice to offer flex time to key staff. This has improved productivity and job satisfaction.

The Net Result

11% Increase in physician salaries
50% Decrease in staff overtime
12% Decrease in cost of office supplies
11% Decrease in data processing costs
30% Decrease in days in A/R
4.25% Decrease in staff salary expense

Bottom Line

ChartLogic EMR has helped Dover use their resources and personnel more efficiently, resulting in an almost 10 percent increase in patient visits. "Physician and staff salaries increased and our accounts receivable is down 30 percent due to faster collection and better documentation," Marilyn Orr said. Some results of better documentation and appropriate coding include fewer appeals, quicker reimbursements and lowering malpractice premiums. When the Vioxx® recall was announced in September 2004, ChartLogic EMR enabled Dover to instantly generate a list of their Vioxx patients and effectively communicate information about the recall to every patient that had received a Vioxx prescription or sample. Within two weeks, Dover was able to advise patients to make an appointment to find an alternative treatment and provide information on requesting refunds. Before Dover adopted ChartLogic EMR, the practice created 10 to 15 paper charts at an average cost of $2.25 per chart. The elimination of paper charts saves Dover $7,000 annually. A comparison of the six months before ChartLogic EMR and the same period one year later showed a 50 percent reduction in overtime for the administrative staff. Savings are attributed to process flow reduction, document management and prescription functions within ChartLogic EMR.

"Since the implementation of ChartLogic EMR, we have had no transcriptionists,"

Marilyn Orr, Administrator