Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Locums and AC

How are the solo docs handling locums coverage when they are gone? AC is very intuitive, but I wonder about messaging, refills, billing. My office staff are trained in transcription and could enter all the info into AC on the fly if the locums couldn't figure out the EMR. Maybe we need a pool of AC certified locums. What is everybody else doing?

Okay, no takers. Well, I've been researching the subject myself and found a possible solution in an old Medical Economics article (prior to EMRs) that might work. Use a "scribe" who knows the system, to accompany the doctor in the exam room and populate the EMR. This way the "doc" does what he does best, and the "scribe" (probably a nurse or MA) keeps him from screwing up your EMR. Any better suggestions?

Have you tried creating a "false" patient or two like we did: "James Bond"??? This allows newbies to screw around and get the feel for the program without messing up a real patient's chart. People tend to play much better and learn faster once they know they can "do no harm", might we say. I have kept hounding Jon to make us a way of making patients "off-line" so their numbers and demographics and other data don't get compiled into the main database's numbers, but no answer as of yet....Lastly, AC can hold any number of users, so create a provider for anybody who does work there for you so you always know for sure, who charted which patient.

Thanks for the suggestion. So, do you know what the red dots mean?

What Red Dots are you talking about

The plot thickens. Apparently someone from AC does follow the forum. The red dots are no more! I believe their departure was captured by a retired Air Force colonel in Arkansas recently (see today's WorldNetDaily.com for pictures)

For the rest of you who may be lost, for years now, the AC website has included a picture of the earth on the "users" testimonial page, also accessible from the main page, that had both yellow and red dots indicating where in the world people were using the program. There used to be a "key" explaining the difference. I seem to remember yellow meant "using" and red meant "purchased", but I'm not exactly sure about that. That's why I was asking about the red dots. Seriously, they were still there when I posted the question originally. "Someone" decided to sneak the red dots off the scene, without bothering to answer my original question. The original question was good-natured fun. Maybe the red dot thief is having his as well. ; )

Have you tried looking in "Roswell"???

For locums?

Sure go find a Doc in Roswell; does he or she know alien anatomy? You must have a very interesting waiting room. I meant for your missing "red dots".

For clarity, in all future postings, satirical retorts will be marked with an "S" to avoid confusing the masses.

Seriously though, are there any AC-literate docs out there from Roswell that are available for short term locums? "S"

hey hey watch there buddy, hockeyref

Roswell, NM is THE regional 'mecca' for medical care
locums get paid about TWICE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE HERE
like ER at 250 per hour !!
they have Docs coming from all over the country-- TN, MN, ME, NY, CA, WA and what not
you could consider it a little secret but this place is a gold mine for Docs ........... err, used to be a gold mine ......... recently new admin came and screwed up big time ............ lot many docs have left town ......... pt are still there and that adds to demand/supply equation

"S"
Why should I leave my solo practice where I struggle to get the money I'm owed, pay myself less than 1/2 what they offer in Roswell, work 3 times the number of hours they do, race between the hospital and office, arrive early and stay late?

I mean really. Who doesn't love working 5 times harder for 40% of the income?

I didn't know they pay $250/hr for ER in Roswell, NM! I was moonlighting in ER 80 miles west from Roswell and they only paid me $75/hr.

I have had several locum tenens in my office. Some of them were not computer savvy, so they did paper notes and I scanned them to AC. Some of them knew how to use an EMR, so they created AC notes on their own.