Roxanne,
What you are describing is similar to what I did. I started with AC in late 2010. The very first thing is to make a flow chart of everything you do now, each office procedure and workflow, and envision how you will do it with the EMR and other new processes. There are many decisions to be made from how you will do document management, how to handle old records, transferring data to the new system, how to document(templates, Dragaon dicatate,typing), on and on. I spent several months using the search function of this board to answer these questions. Many kind users have already posted their experience in adapting to AC. I suggest using the Advanced search function to pull up older posts about a topic about which you need information.
Once I got AC up and running, I had my staff enter demographics. You have to decide if you will use a data transfer or manual entry for this. Then, I began to construct templates and play with notes. Then, I began to use AC for one patient a day, the rest still paper. As my speed improved, I did more. I realized I needed to set up charts ahead of visits to manage it. I taught my staff to scan and manage documents, then eventually converted to electronic faxes. UpDox is great and many use it. I have chosen another method for now, but did trial UpDox.
I did our conversion in small steps so as to try not to overwhelm us, and at times, it was still hair-pulling. It took most of 2011 to get comfortable, then I was able to collect my 3 months data for MU and attest in late 2011. So, I think your method and time frame sounds realistic. There are others who may have gone cold turkey into everything AC with all patients, but I did better with a slow progression.
Read the threads under the MU forum for some important points. CMS has a lot of great educational materials on their website, and some of them have been referenced in prior threads. If you can find other users in your area, it is really helpful to collaborate to learn.
Post your questions. This is a wonderful community of very kind and helpful users.
