Good to hear from you, Gary. I would be interested to hear the specifics of how you incorporate Amazing Charts into your practice.
All I want is an EMR that helps me to do my job every day. I am a struggling solo FP, and Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs is dictating my EMR choices.
Therefore, I am indifferent, if not opposed, to any EMR that fulfills someone else's lofty vision of "21st-Century Medicine" at my expense.
There is a lot of scorn at emrupdate for EMRs that are perceived as "only a note-maker". However, I think that is all that most doctors want.
The overwhelming majority of doctors right now are fulfilling that function with hand-written notes, forms and transcription.
I am no technophobe, having used Mac and PC platforms for probably 20 years before I started my own office, but decided to use paper forms and then transcription when I started my own clinic because of the expense of starting up an EMR (I had never heard of Amazing Charts until this year).
Amazing Charts allows me to create notes nearly as quick as I could dictate them, with immediate access to the final typed report, and adds a number of auxiliary features that simplify other aspects of office management.
We had been a paper-only practice for four years, and my staff got beside themselves when I brought in Amazing Charts, for crying out loud. I tried to switch too abruptly for them. I had to give up my plans temporarily, and then re-introduce elements that could be absolutely demonstrated to save them time and energy, as quickly I thought their nerves could handle it.
After a couple of months, we are working two-charted, paper and electronic, but everybody likes Amazing Charts, and they are showing me new ways they have found to use it. I am still charting my course to a paperless office (pun unintentional).
Currently, I am figuring out the best way to use the LabCorp interface, which is basically going very well. Next, I want to look into ways to tame the fax machine, and the lab results from the hospital.
