Wow. This is getting crazy. I think, again, this is a work flow issue. No right or wrong. I am just trying to share ideas, and it baffles me that everyone is using AC if it is that slow. Maybe we should write the ways it improves efficiency like with chart finding and legibility and NEVER getting call backs from the pharmacy for illegible scripts or from the labs due to illegible labels or reqs.
Nobody gets/changes just one prescription. Nobody knows their pharmacy, and if they do, only the phone number, not the street address that AC uses to search for the pharmacy.
I get that Internists tend to have more chronic and sick patients. But, that makes prescribing the same meds over and over rather easy. I think I make up for it with multiple acutes. I have no idea what the names of your pharmacies are, but it is completely the opposite here. Everyone knows if their pharmacy is Walgreen's or Rite Aid or whatever. No one knows what the phone number is. I wish I had a dollar for each patient who called me on call for a medication and didn't know their phone number. And, every patient knows Hannaford on Union Street, Shaw's on Main Street. It must be much older patients. ePrescribe allows you to search by zip code which is by default, city, street, name. Generally, if you can get the city, they can choose a pharmacy.
I am amazed that Bert prints out an order for a CBC and hands it to the patient. Only a CBC? I never order a single study; these folks all have a dozen problems. Did you remember to look up and put the Medicare certified ICD code on the lab order for every test?
Don't be amazed. First of all, for my example, why should I choose seven tests? It was an example. I happen to print out as many tests as I need. I am a pediatrician so I don't have Medicare, but if I did, I would associate the ICD-9 codes with each lab in a template. But, I have never had to do that. Didn't know you had to or even could. I put an ICD-9 code where it is supposed to go that is the reason I am ordering the labs.
