A lot of it boils down to training. If you can get the person putting in the vitals to open the correct templates, most of your note is done.
Most charting is repetative, that is the point of templates.
I operate with 1 front desk person (checks insurance, sets new appointments, answers phones) and 1 MA (who does vitals and puts in the CC and relevent templates and gives immunizations.) Both are cross trained and I can operate with only 1 in a pinch.
We schedule 15 minutes for established patient but also do some walk ins. I almost always complete all the charting. Occasionally, I will hold a chart because I plan on doing more extensive charting than I want to do in the office, or I would rather complete the note without the patient in the room. The receptionist usually uploads billing 1-2 times a week on a day I am in the other office.
What would be nice is a global note template (filling in multiple sections in the note) but it is not now available.
Oh, on another note, I set the brother to answer after 1 ring and the PC fax modem to answer after 4 rings. If the brother "misses" the fax, occasionally the PC fax will pick it up.
