I had a couple more replies I wanted to post. The following says it all. It can be done…mostly. I know Futura is completely compatable and for the two years I’ve had Futura I’ve been pleased. They run my office well and are very supportive.
The following was my favorite reply and we will pick a date and make it stick.
I’ve included Mrs. Franco’s signature block, I hope she doesn’t mind. This is it in a nutshell:
We are paperless. But that term in a misnomer. The term we use is “electronic charts”. Paper will always be in the picture (rx’s and such for audits). It took us about a year for the conversion. First step was to make sure all the office/lab staff knew the program (we use Medflex and it is easy and wonderful with great support)second step was to make sure all the practitioners knew the program. Third step was to make sure we had all the proper hardware (scanners, computers in pt. rooms). Then, we picked a date ( in our case Jan 1, 2008) and all patients from that point were scanned and all charts were electronic. Old patients that came in with new Rx’s were treated as new patients (new electronic charts) and the old charts were kept in storage unless it was necessary for the practitioner (rarely has that occurred).
We met weekly for about six months to discuss issues that came up with the paperless environment. We worked out glitches, one by one.
Now that a year and 1/2 has gone by in the paperless environment, the ease of having all the patient info at your fingertips is great, especially when it comes to return visits, requests for medical records, requests for “same item” or collection issues.
We had a Medicare audit just a month ago. They looked over our electronic charts and were satisfied in our record keeping. It was a relief!
My advise, pick a goal date to be paperless and stick to it! Jump in, and good luck!
Andrea Ferraco
Human Designs
Long Beach, California
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Another reply, however this was not stated by me, probably a resondant:
What Kevin wrote below regarding Futura’s ability to transfer records from old sytem to new system.is not quite correct. It can be done, and we did it here for our practice and our sister office in Clearwater. All the records cannot be transferred..but the demographics can be populated over to Futura. I would think you’d want your new System to be more up to date anyway..but if they x-fer the Patient Information…at least….that will save you a lot of time. It sure did for us…As we had 20 years worth of patients. Good Luck! Call Terri Long at Futura…she will clue you in.
Kevin C. Matthews, CO/LO
Certified/Licensed Orthotist
Advanced Orthopedic Designs
12315 Judson Rd. Suite 206
San Antonio, TX 78233
Phone: 210-657-8100
Fax: 210-657-8105
www.AdvancedOrthopedicDesigns.com
