Osler,
The letter writer is a disgrace, and by far, the weakest part of the program. It should open up in any program you wish, preferably Word. Most programs allow that.
It isn't just specialists, it is the referring doctors which hate the formatting of the letter. It is embarrassing. And, once you open the letter for printing, it is over. You can't change anything. Also, the preferences at the bottom should default to what one needs. I don't need the note to go with it and usually don't want it, where others may need it.
This is why I do not want the PM. Because as we move toward that and working on that for months and months, the little things don't get changed. I don't think the letter writer will ever change.
I agree with everything you said. The problem with trying to get CCHIT-certified is that doing so requires so much of the company's coding resources that the basics that impact real
functionality get ignored. There are probably a dozen little things that could easily be fixed right now and would improve Amazing Charts immensely. Unfortunately, these are either put on the backburner or else ruled out completely due to lack of coding resources. Some of the things I'd like to see fixed before a CCHIT-approved version is released:
- Letter writer that opens with a user-selectable program (or at least WordPad) so that formatting, editing, etc can easily be done.
- Auto-populate referring physician field in letter writer.
- Allow a user-editable list of favorite prescriptions to speed Rx writing.
- Control the default salutation used for patient letters (currently defaults to the patient's first name, which - in my opinion - is unprofessional.
- User-editable list of headings for imported items to be filed under during the import process.
- Ability to sign notes without having to answer all of the coding prompts.
- Ability to remember user preferences in screens (like the letter writer, as you mentioned).
- Ability to color code appointment types.
- Ability to change default fonts within Amazing Charts screens.
- Ability to turn off templates (so that I can use the mouse cut and paste functions again - yes, I realize that you can use keyboard shortcuts instead.)
- Better control of backups (location, number, frequency, etc.)
- Easier way to add a proper (handwritten) signature to documents.
It's the little things that make a big difference.
