Electronic Medical Record Software Eases Physician Compliance Burden

With more than 85 percent of physicians not using electronic medical records, medical documentation becomes time-consuming and costly. Many clinics and physicians are turning to EMR software to reduce errors and ease compliance burdens.

Johns Island, SC (PRWEB) November 5, 2007 -- There are nearly 1 million physicians practicing in the United States and Canada, and nearly 90 percent of them are still relying on handwriting or human transcription to record their medical notes. However, with the increasing documentation requirements necessary for reimbursement these days, it means a growing number of physicians will be adopting electronic medical records as a means to comply.

Physician reimbursement is tied directly to the level of documentation recorded in their medical notes, and these documentation requirements for medical insurance providers continue to grow each year. Furthermore, inadequate documentation can result in severe penalties if discovered.

"When you're handwriting all of your notes, there will always be inherent legibility and documentation problems," said Dr. Jeffrey Gersbach of Medamation MD (http://www.medamation.com). "If you need to find something, you're going to have to hunt for it, and if it didn't get filed, then you're potentially in a lot of trouble. That's where EMR software comes in."

When you're handwriting all of your notes, there will always be inherent legibility and documentation problems

Handwritten notes and prescriptions are notoriously illegible, and incomprehensible. Illegible prescriptions have been cited as a significant cause of death and morbidity. According to the Institute of Safe Medicine Practices, nearly half of the 8.8 million adverse drug events that occur each year are tied to errors due to illegible handwriting, unclear abbreviations and doses, unclear telephone or verbal orders, and ambiguous orders.

An electronic medical record, or EMR, enables physicians to document patient encounters in a computer database. This way, physicians can search for the information they need using virtually any criteria.

"It's good to have hard copies as a back-up system, but when they're your primary system, you're going to waste a lot of time and money transcribing them, filing them, and searching for them," said Dr. David Wright of Northern Virginia. "With electronic medical records, everything you need shows up with just a few clicks of the mouse."

With the Medamation EMR software, multiple users can access patient information simultaneously. Plus, physicians can input information in a variety of ways, including a touch screen, keyboard and even speech recognition software.

"A lot of physicians are nervous about making the switch to computers because there's such a steep learning curve," Gersbach said. "With Medamation, we're trying to make it as easy as possible for them to have all the benefits of electronic medical records with the least amount of effort."

Medamation MD has four different EMR solutions: Medamation MD Lite, a free single-user entry-level program; Medamation MD, designed for small offices and solo practitioners; Medamation MD Plus, for larger offices and clinics; and Medamation ED, for hospital emergency departments and freestanding urgent care facilities.

For more information about electronic medical record software, visit Medamation online at http://www.medamation.com

About
Medamation, Inc. is a physician-owned company that has been in existence since 1999. Medamation is committed to the development of affordable world-class electronic medical record (EMR) solutions for physician practices of all specialties and sizes, including multi-specialty clinics and emergency departments. Each product offering has been specifically designed and thoroughly tested by a team of doctors and programmers to address all the needs of the users and to overcome the shortfalls of other charting systems.

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