Computers in doctors’ offices have not always given patients a good experience. A lot of patients started complaining because when they were talking to their doctor, the doctor would turn away from the patient and look like they’re paying more attention to the computer than they were to the patient. Who would be happy with that? These days with tablets, you can still take notes, enter data into the system immediately and make the patient feel like you care.
Patients will understand that the EMR is a tool you use to help you run your business more efficiently. If you can embrace EMR and have one less person on staff, you have less overhead and can pass on the cost savings to your patients. Everybody is trying to save money these days and if a patient sees you embracing computers and not hiring more staff, they will think you are saving them money.
I’m sure you’ve seen this setup. A doctor would have the computer out in the hallway. They’ll talk to the patient about what’s going on and then go down the hallway and they’ll type it down and if they have to come back in, they’ll come back in. They’re going back and forth, to the office, to the hallway, to the office, to the hallway. You’re not going to see a patient for a half hour to 45 minutes, listen to everything they have to say and be able to remember everything and then code it out in the hallway. It also takes time away from your day because with the time that you are spending coding in the hallway, you could be seeing another patient.
With the tablet device, you can do all your charting. You do all your coding while you are seeing the patient in the office so that you know, you are talking to the patient, you will meet with them, talking about what’s going on with their health, doing your coding and all your charting, all that 30-minute period and then you move on to the next patient. And then when you want to go back and sign off on your notes, you can do that all at one time at the end of the day. You will have everything there. You don’t have to worry about forgetting anything. It’s all on the EMR tablet device.
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