Vinny,
I agree completely with you. Currently, I am still printing out encounters and using paper charts, mainly because I have not yet determined in my mind just how I want to handle the 5000 or so charts I have. I am very aggressive at thinning out "old records" and no chart survives beyond the 7 year "must retain" laws of my state. The charts of patients who have not been here in 5 years or more (once we have called or mailed reminders several times without a response) are actually removed from the active chart rack and stored en bulk in another room, just to give my active charts the needed space. I am also fortunate that the husband of one of my employees actually owns a company that makes big industrial grinders...so we load up her pick up with papers and they are hauled off to the grinders (we do get a receipt for those records saying they were handled appropriately and they have signed all the necessary HIPPA compliance documents).
One of the reasons I have been so reluctant to convert to total electronic records is that when my local hospital went with McKesson for their EMR I absolutely hated it. It slowed me down tremendously as I could flip through a paper chart and pick out what I needed much more quickly than I can click from screen to screen. That remains an issue for me even today and I do not think it is unique to any one program. I like being able to see things side-by-side and no EMR program I looked at truely gives me that ability. On the other hand, like Adam, the physical storage space needed and the complexities of moving 5000 paper charts was a real bugaboo when I moved my office last September. In fact, my staff told me in no uncertain terms..."YOU SHALL NOT MOVE AGAIN!!" ( this was only my 2nd move in 20 years, give me a break!)
Certainly if I were just starting out I would attempt to be completely paperless. But with less than 10 years (I hope) to go, I am not sure it would be fiscally and functionally the best move. I am adding more and more small electronic features to my office all the time. I am just not sure I am ready to make the big leap.
Leslie
