drchrono, the first company to offer a complete EMR platform on the iPad, iPhone and cloud, has released the results of a new study that found that 75 percent of physicians surveyed have experienced efficiency gains through their use of Electronic Medical Records in hospitals and medical offices.
According to the survey, EMRs have allowed doctors and medical practitioners to save approximately 10 percent of their time each day, allowing them to see more patients without sacrificing the quality of patient care provided because they waste less time. According to drchrono this increased efficiency provides the capacity to generate more than $150,000 annually per doctor.
The survey, which gathered information from more than 1,300 physicians across 1,000 small to mid-size practices nationwide indicated that the majority of physicians have been able to free up more time because of EMR technology, enabling them to see more patients and improve work-life balance for clinicians. According to the survey:
- 75% of physicians said EMRs increased practice efficiency
- Average physician saves 62 minutes per day from using an EMR
- 57% of respondents have better operations and reduced paperwork due to an EMR
- 85% feel confident about the access and security of cloud-based EMR systems
The final point is one that I find to be particularly interesting – 85% of those surveyed feel confident about the access and security of cloud-based EMR systems. That’s a significant change from what I heard a few years ago about the availability of cloud based systems. Many of the people I interviewed then were extremely concerned about access. However, in more recent conversations with smaller practices those concerns seem to be diminishing. Perhaps the concern about managing the IT project that a client server based EHR would present is an even greater worry?
Michael Nusimow
“The real measurement of success for EMRs should be about efficiency gains in doctors’ time, so they can focus on seeing more patients and spend more time with them to ultimately raise the standard of care that is provided. It shouldn’t be about just billing more hours for the sake of increasing revenue,” said Michael Nusimow, co-founder and CEO of drchrono. “We fielded this survey to highlight the importance of incorporating EMRs in medical practices, and we wanted to point out that EMRs can help limit the high volume of paperwork that comes with every medical appointment and give doctors more time to focus on the number one priority – the patient.”
In other company news, drchrono is introducing what they describe as the first ever Meaningful Use application for iOS. This new functionality to the drchrono app automates the Meaningful Use sign up process for doctors and takes them through a simple step by step procedure and sets physicians up for Meaningful Use in a matter of minutes. Features include:
· Real time dashboard on the iPad
· Real time Meaningful Use qualification checking for every patient appointment
· Itemized list of data points that count toward Meaningful Use
· Checklist validation tool
· Faster pay from Meaningful Use incentives via iPad
