I've played with File Assistant Pro. Bert and his computer programmer have done a good job with it, I've played w/ it and experimented.
For me it's a matter of principle. To me, the point of having an EMR is to use it just like a paper chart---> everything is stored in it. So that's the main reason I don't use FAP, but rather use AC's Imported Items tab. I have a separate PM system. I don't want 3 separate systems to manage my practice. Using 2 is bad enough. I'd like to have just one system for everything but the PM system in AC is weak and therefore unusable for my practice.
True, but there are some things to consider:
Consider the benefits vs cost ratio of taking perfectly good paper records, which you will refer to less and less frequently as you see patients longer and longer on your EMR, and converting them to electronic images. There is a VERY REAL COST to converting these, and filing them so you can find them on the computer. If you only look at the older records rarely, most likely converting isn't worth it. Seriously. It's not.
I agree it would be nice to have it all in one place.. but in an environment of $30 office visits, spending hundreds or thousands to scan and file rarely used documents is money directly out of your pocket.
For 20 years I counseled my clients NOT to convert old data. Most of them thought that they needed every transaction, every sale, every check going back to the dawn of time in their new system.. what they found was that they rarely used any data older than one full fiscal year old, which meant rarely did they have more than two full years of data online. For anything older, was cheaper to pull the file and look it up - something they did maybe 3-4x / year. We brought over all open items for all current customers and vendors. We did NOT insist that this all be there by the "go live" date. Indeed, customers who haven't bought in over a year did not get brought over.. as we might never hear from them again.
So how does this accounting software wisdom apply to medical records?
The average patient stays with a medical practice for about 2 years. People move, insurance changes, etc. Scanning records of patients you are never going to see again is an expense with no benefit. If you ARE going convert, add a patient to the scan queue if you MUST have it all in your EMR only when you schedule them for the first time after your go-live date. Don't spend your money creating electronic images of dead records. (of course, if you've won the lottery and INSIST on doing this, I'm expensive, but available :-D )
You will find that if you keep paper charts from before your EMR days, and are all electronic after your go-live date, that in about 6 to 12 months you'll only need the paper chart about 1/2 to 1/3 the time, and in about a year the number of paper charts you'll pull to review will be only a handful a day, and will decrease rapidly.
Of course, you are going to want to scan for any CURRENT patient any HISTORICAL data you use for active E&M - if they have hyperlipidemia, by all means scan a couple years worth of labs.. AFTER a real visit, where you can decide what part of the chart you want in your EMR.
Just my $0.02
V.
