Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Anyone here able to train us asap?

Hi. We have two docs who have just moved from a group to solo practice and have installed AC. We need training as quickly as possible, but the AC's training folks are booked until next week. Is anyone here able to help out? We are happy to pay--we just need to get up and running as soon as possible. We've got the program loaded on our desktops and laptops, which are tied together with a wireless router. We've looked at all the online training sessions but have more questions. Halp!

(We are in Alaska: four hours earlier than Eastern Time)

Thanks.

CS

Just sit down and start typing!! The wonderful thing about AC is that it is very intuitive. Once you play with it you catch on quickly. I was pretty much in the swing of it after simply playing around with it over a weekend. Begin with setting up your users and schedules. As each patient arrives (or earlier if you have the data) begin loading the demographics and then start making encounters. As you have time, begin making templates of your most used encounter types. Ideally, try to complete each encounter while you are in the room with the patient. This gets easier as you develop more templates and learn the short-cuts. Print or fax your scripts right from the rooms. Personally, I think you will be amazed at how easy it really is. As you gain some confidence with the basics, you can then experiment with ways to fit it to your own practice styles, as many of us have done here.
Anyone on the boards would be more than happy to try and answer questions as you go along or to direct you to threads which pertain to your particular questions.

Good Luck and welcome to the wonderful world of being the master of your own business!

Leslie

i usually set up residents or new staff with the tutorial on the website for an hour or so. Then I have them shadow me for a while. From there they can usually pick up the rest.

They and I are usually amazed at how quickly they pick up the process.

I apoligize, I now realize you looked at the training sessions. What are the specific questions you have? That may be a better starting point.

another idea is create a patient called Dummy Dummy, and let the staff and docs practice on them. It is not very difficult to get to it. You dont have to use all the power of AC from day one, keep learning.

You must see our Dummy,Dummy patient all kinds of labs and diagnostics and templates and etc

I could probably charge you an arm and a tooth to give you more training, but really AC is pretty easy like Leslie said. You might be pretty well off by making up a fake patient (Mr. James T. Kirk or Ms. Nyota Uhura for instance) and pretend you had an encounter. And just do it.

Be careful, you could actually end up with a patient named James Kirk. Better use Spock. While someone did name their child Apple, no one named their child Spock.

Exactly what I did with Joe Test. AC really is intuitive and when my caffeine titers fall I just log on or call tech support. They really are Angels!

Ditto!!!! the above. I was to close my practice at end of December and well things change and it didn't happen. So, I played with AC as a test and went live 3 weeks ago.

I made templates for some of the exam things that were pertinent to me (IM/Pulm) especially the tedious negative history review... broke it down by system to point and click.

Also went through and did the same for some of the PMH/PSH that is pretty common for my age group of patients... 55 and up club usually.

Ask questions of the user group for how tos if you can't find the answer or call Angel support. Everyone has been very helpful. But just start. It won't be perfect but you will get it "perfected" over time.

The fee schedule loading was a bit daunting but it really isn't that bad. It walks you through the steps from encounter to billing.

Where in Alaska are you Capalo?

I hope you are not frustrated by this "bundle of tips" approach to learning but it is what we have all done, and how pertinent our tips are will probably be related to how recently we did what you are doing now.

My tip for you today is this:
For the coding I started out using my old superbill and carrying it around, with copies taped behind cabinet doors, inside drawers and all sorts of silly stuff. It was a great super bill in a paper world but it is woefully inadequate for an EMR. So I wrote up a sheet of tips for coding. (It is currently about 5 pages of Word document.) In my paper locked brain I just couldn't give up my little fist full of notes, so I carried the old superbill with the 5 pages of extra notes with me from room to room for the next 18 months. (I feel like someone confessing at a 12 step meeting!) FINALLY I made the mental jump to leave the document in ms word, and simply open it on my laptop every morning, then minimize it and open AC. When I need it I toggle back and forth between the two. I will try to post a copy of it or at least a sample of it when I get in the office tomorrow.
Good luck, (and by the way, our "dummy" patient is "#1000, Just Testing!)
Martin

I am with Wendell here. Well, with everyone I guess.

Set it up and use it and if you have questions, just post them. I doubt you will have to wait more than a few hours to get an answer.

I am in the 'trial' phase of AC and would like to SEE it in a real setting...does anyone know of a practice near Victoria Texas (between San Antonio, Austin, Corpus or Houston)willing to let me visit to see AC in Action?