Rio Pecos boosts productivity by implementing EHR and a medical claims management system medical claims management system http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/McKesson.com/For+Healthcare+Providers/Physician+Practices/Practice+and+Claims+Management+Solutions/Practice+and+Claims+Management+Solutions.html

1. Case Study
Rio Pecos Family Practice
At a Glance
Implements EHR to Boost Productivity
Organization
and Brighten Financial Outlook
Rio Pecos Family Practice Like many physicians operating in Like other physicians, Dr. Seidel
Ruidoso and Capitan, N.M. rural areas, Walter Ray Seidel, Jr., also struggled with mastering the
– One physician organization M.D., has a high-volume, diverse organizational skills required to deal
– Two primary care clinics and geographically distributed with a high volume of information.
practice. He often sees 50 to 60 He frequently had to rely on
patients per day (in the winter patients to schedule their next
Solution Spotlight months) between his primary visit or come back for lab or test
– Practice Partner® office in Ruidoso (population results. Undercoding was also a
Appointment Scheduler 12,000) and a clinic 25 miles away problem in the practice’s paper-
– Practice Partner® in Capitan (population 850). based environment.
Patient Records
Burdened by paper charts, Answers
Dr. Seidel could not efficiently Dr. Seidel made the transition from
Critical Issues track patient records between paper to electronic charts with the
– Limited access to paper-based two offices, bill completely for implementation of McKesson’s
records across geographically services or schedule follow-up Practice Partner® Patient Records
dispersed practice locations treatments for patients. Dr. Seidel EHR and Practice Partner®
– Undercoding of visits tackled this challenge with Appointment Scheduler automated
electronic health record (EHR) and scheduling system. (Practice Partner
– High overhead practice management scheduling versions 9.1 and 9.2.1 from
solutions from McKesson. After McKesson are CCHIT CertifiedSM
Results implementing these solutions, products for CCHIT Ambulatory EHR
– Increased ability to access he gained the power to boost 2006 and 2007.)
and maintain patient records productivity and improve his
from multiple locations financial outlook. With access to By using medical office software
the right information at the right to transition from a paper to
– Recouped system cost in time and improved documentation
only eight months an electronic environment, he
at the point of care, Dr. Seidel sees eliminated transcription expenses
– 30% increase in patient volume more patients, avoids undercoding and reduced his staff overhead.
and billing for the services he provides and He improved his productivity during
– Decreased overhead expenses has increased revenue. patient visits allowing him to see
– Increased patient visits per day more patients, which increased
Challenges revenue. In addition, the ability
– Improved patient education One of the biggest challenges to access patient records remotely
Dr. Seidel faced was access to ensures Dr. Seidel has the right chart
patient records from the various at all times. That access, combined
medical facilities. He typically with the speech recognition
transported the paper files from function and robust templates,
one location to the next, a system allows him to quickly and accurately
that was far from foolproof. complete charting responsibilities.

2. Case Study
“When I leave the exam room, “When I leave the exam room, “The patient teaching function is
95% of the time the patient chart phenomenal,” relays Dr. Seidel.
95% of the time the patient is complete, billing is finished and “Patients forget 80% of what you
chart is complete, billing is everything is documented,” he tell them. Now, I can print out the
explains. “I rely heavily on the built-in, customizable patient
finished and everything is Practice Partner templates to keep education sheets. The system
me highly productive. What I can't documents that I’ve provided
documented. I rely heavily cover with templates, I supplement patient education, which enables
on the Practice Partner with the speech recognition/ me to bill a higher code.”
dictation functionality.”
templates to keep me Results
Dr. Seidel also uses the internal Since implementing Practice Partner
highly productive.” messaging system available in Patient Records, he has fewer
Practice Partner. “If my staff needs instances of undercoding, resulting
to ask me something, they can in an improved revenue stream.
Dr. Walter Seidel shoot me a message. I can quickly Additionally, Dr. Seidel’s use of the
respond without interrupting system’s templates combined with
Rio Pecos Family Practice what I’m doing.” speech recognition have increased
productivity to the point that billing
Additionally, the Practice Partner and documentation are complete by
Patient Records solution keeps the time he leaves the exam room
Dr. Seidel in constant contact in 95% of cases. As a result, he can
with his staff when he is out, which see four to eight patients per hour
alleviates the burden of finding (depending on the complexity of
physicians to cover his practice. the patients) with no reduction in
the quality of care.
The easily customizable progress
note templates also make it simple “I consistently finish in the top 5%
for Dr. Seidel to apply the latest among physicians in the Ruidoso-
research findings and care Capitan area in terms of revenue,”
recommendations to his practice, Dr. Seidel says. “I’m finishing very
which is especially important for well because I have this EHR system.
his patients with chronic conditions. I can’t reinforce enough how
Further, Practice Partner Patient productive it makes me.”
Records allows Dr. Seidel to edit and
print patient educational materials,
automatically documenting the
activity so it can be factored into
the final bill.
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