Dan,
This is one area where specialists have a different preference than primary care providers.
One important thing to do is to go to this setting:
Edit...My preferences...User preferences (you can also get here from the main page with ctrl-U). Click the "documentation preferences" tab and look for the radio button "Print Note/Letters: Don't show the print/letter window after signing the chart". That button should NOT be checked.
This means that as you finish each note, the "print note/letter screen" that Leslie and Marty refer to will always come up. If you don't need to send a copy of the note, you close the screen, but the default is to remind you to do so.
I also put a list of referring docs (who gets the cc: ) at the end of the note, as a reminder of to whom to send it.
So you sign your note and the "print/letter" screen pops up. Go to the right side (#2) and click the down arrow, which lets you select the format for your note. I only use one of two choices: "Detailed large note with header", or "SOAP note with header". (One of the idiosyncracies of AC is that you can print the same note in different formats; sometimes you can control the output and sometimes you cannot. Here, you have limited control: I generally use "detailed large" for an initial note, and "SOAP" for a follow-up).
From here, there are several choices. First, a word about what I have decided to dub "The Grauman conundrum" (since he first described it; to me, anyway). Simply stated, the conundrum is that as EMR's become more and more efficient, a higher percentage of the clerical work seems to fall to the provider. So as you stated, you can sign the note and send it to a staffer who then faxes it. But it becomes so easy (and to some degree, satisfying) to immediately fax it yourself, that you may chose that route.
A good option is to set your default printer to "Updox". So after finishing the note, you select the "Detailed large" or "SOAP" format, and then click "Print to default printer". A copy of the note is now in the Updox practice workspace. If you have put "cc: Dr. Spock" at the bottom of the note, your staff knows that when they see your notes in the workspace, they fax it to him. This makes the contact list in Updox important since that is what they will be using for faxing. It has a pretty good "self-complete" function.
There are other options. Leslie describes one that works well. I have a set-up that allows me to receive faxes in Updox without them counting towards my monthly total. That is a topic for another day. One upshot is that I have a fax modem and often use that to send my notes (these also do not count towards my quota. I know what you are thinking: "what a cheapskate"). Anyway, "Faxtalk" is my default printer and I just hit "print", choose the referring provider from the contact list that pops up, and the fax is sent.
