The main way it's affected us,
it's really improving patient care,
the ability to look at a patient's record
anywhere in the world.
We still do inpatient hospital care,
so we have access to our patient care records
when we have to go to the emergency room
or from within the hospital
when we're taking care of a patient.
The EHR is a tool that we're using
to gather data, to document,
to get information from the hospital,
and all the laboratory tests that we do
all come in through this one piece of equipment,
so instead of rushing around
all over the office looking for things,
it's all right there in front of us.
When the program started a year ago,
we started to gear up and find out
when our system would be able
to meet the demands of meaningful use.
Our whole goal in this past year has been to get to that point
where the money's available.
It was great when the checks came.
We were just amazed.
When Leann told us that we certified on that first day,
we met meaningful use, we kind of tracked it
through the REC, and week by week went by
and they said, "it's coming," and,
"it's going through this office,"
and when the checks actually came in,
we were so busy that day we didn't probably
open the mail until later in the day,
and so we all had a little celebration that day.
We all appreciate the electronic prescribing,
because even now,
patients that have been seeing me for years,
I'll write them a prescription, press the button,
it goes right to the pharmacy,
and they're waiting for me to hand them the prescription,
and I have to keep telling them, "No, it's already
at the pharmacy, you just go pick it up,"
and they're just amazed.
It's fantastic.
We were one of the beta test sites in Dover for the DHIN,
and it's in its second phase now,
so we can get laboratory reports that we've ordered
and also we can get reports that have been ordered
by other physicians with a carbon copy to us.
All of that comes in electronically, no paper.
Goes right into the patient's chart,
and just like a piece of paper lab coming in,
the electronic record puts it in a file
where you actually have to look at it
and certify that it is what you ordered
and before it gets just tossed into a patient's chart.
I think everyone has to go on to electronic health records.
Personally I've been involved with
the Medical Society of Delaware on a project
where we have four physician networks throughout the state,
and the next step is to get all of those practices integrated
into electronic health records, so it's not just my practice
and my patients, it's the entire network
can be communicating, so that if a patient
has a test done in Northern Delaware,
myself in my office, I can pull it up
and look at it and not have to duplicate it.
We had about two or three weeks where
we transitioned from paper to electronic records
where we slowed down a little bit,
but after the first month,
our workflow has actually increased.
We have every staff member doing more than they did before
and we're providing better care.