Although I'm newer to AC, it seems asking for a consultation should be easy - generate a simple letter to the consultant describing the reason the the consultation, and send to the consultant a copy of the chart notes and lab values ( which are easily generated from 'Past Encounters' tab)
My problem is as the consultant, writing evaluations back to the referring doctor - Once I've completed a patient visit and transcribed in all the components of the current visit (which will initially contain either typoes or word errors from Dragon NS) I'm stuck with one of two bad AC options: I either forward the chart for proofreading unsigned (though now I don't have access to it and more importantly, any inadvertent closure of that unsigned chart entirelyv erases the encounter!) or . . I can generate a letter and sign/lock the chart. - but now the chart encounter can't be corrected, and AC saves that generated letter in HTML form which is an ackward form that doesn't interface with Word processing documents.
I can see one of two easy solutions: either prevent AC from erasing encounter data when an unsigned chart is closed (and ideally, allow multiple users in a practice simply open the chart without having to "forward" it to each other --and let the provider] sign/lock the chart only after it has been proofread
or
Allow the letter generated from the encounter to be saved as a DOC word document that can be both proofread and corrected using standard word-processing, even after the original chart encounter has been signed and locked
The AC team has promised to look carefully at this flaw - but does anyone else who writesconsultation letters have a good solution to this problem? (I'm still looking into Bert's HTML ->DOC converter)
-----------------------
Bruce Morgenstern, MD (Neurology)
Denver, Colorado