Rio Pecos Family PracticeImplements EHR to Boost Productivity and Brighten Financial Outlook

Case Study

At a Glance

Organization

Rio Pecos Family Practice Ruidoso and Capitan, N.M.

– One physician organization

– Two primary care clinics

Solution Spotlight

– Practice Partner®

Appointment Scheduler

– Practice Partner®

Patient Records

Critical Issues

– Limited access to paper-basedrecords across geographicallydispersed practice locations

– Undercoding of visits

– High overhead

Results

– Increased ability to access and maintain patient recordsfrom multiple locations

– Recouped system cost in only eight months

– 30% increase in patient volumeand billing

– Decreased overhead expenses

– Increased patient visits per day

– Improved patient education

Like other physicians, Dr. Seidel also struggled with mastering theorganizational skills required to dealwith a high volume of information.He frequently had to rely onpatients to schedule their next visit or come back for lab or testresults. Undercoding was also aproblem in the practice’s paper-based environment.

AnswersDr. Seidel made the transition frompaper to electronic charts with theimplementation of McKesson’sPractice Partner® Patient RecordsEHR and Practice Partner®

Appointment Scheduler automatedscheduling system. (Practice Partnerversions 9.1 and 9.2.1 fromMcKesson are CCHIT CertifiedSM

products for CCHIT Ambulatory EHR2006 and 2007.)

By using medical office software to transition from a paper to an electronic environment, he eliminated transcription expensesand reduced his staff overhead. He improved his productivity duringpatient visits allowing him to seemore patients, which increased revenue. In addition, the ability to access patient records remotelyensures Dr. Seidel has the right chartat all times. That access, combinedwith the speech recognition function and robust templates,allows him to quickly and accuratelycomplete charting responsibilities.

Like many physicians operating inrural areas, Walter Ray Seidel, Jr.,M.D., has a high-volume, diverseand geographically distributedpractice. He often sees 50 to 60patients per day (in the wintermonths) between his primaryoffice in Ruidoso (population12,000) and a clinic 25 miles awayin Capitan (population 850).

Burdened by paper charts, Dr. Seidel could not efficientlytrack patient records between two offices, bill completely forservices or schedule follow-uptreatments for patients. Dr. Seideltackled this challenge with electronic health record (EHR) andpractice management schedulingsolutions from McKesson. Afterimplementing these solutions, he gained the power to boost productivity and improve hisfinancial outlook. With access tothe right information at the righttime and improved documentationat the point of care, Dr. Seidel seesmore patients, avoids undercodingfor the services he provides andhas increased revenue.

ChallengesOne of the biggest challenges Dr. Seidel faced was access topatient records from the variousmedical facilities. He typicallytransported the paper files fromone location to the next, a systemthat was far from foolproof.

Copyright © 2008 McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Practice Partner is aregistered trademark of Physicians Microsystems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of McKesson InformationSolutions LLC. CCHIT Certified is a service mark of the Certification Commission for Healthcare InformationTechnology. All other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks, service marks or registeredtrademarks of their respective companies. PRT287-01/08

“When I leave the exam room,

95% of the time the patient

chart is complete, billing is

finished and everything is

documented. I rely heavily

on the Practice Partner

templates to keep me

highly productive.”

Dr. Walter Seidel

Rio Pecos Family Practice

McKesson Provider Technologies

5995 Windward ParkwayAlpharetta, GA 30005

http://www.mckesson.com1.800.981.8601

Case Study

“When I leave the exam room, 95% of the time the patient chart is complete, billing is finished andeverything is documented,” heexplains. “I rely heavily on thePractice Partner templates to keepme highly productive. What I can'tcover with templates, I supplementwith the speech recognition/dictation functionality.”

Dr. Seidel also uses the internal messaging system available inPractice Partner. “If my staff needsto ask me something, they canshoot me a message. I can quicklyrespond without interrupting what I’m doing.”

Additionally, the Practice PartnerPatient Records solution keeps Dr. Seidel in constant contact with his staff when he is out, which alleviates the burden of findingphysicians to cover his practice.

The easily customizable progressnote templates also make it simplefor Dr. Seidel to apply the latestresearch findings and care recommendations to his practice,which is especially important for his patients with chronic conditions.Further, Practice Partner PatientRecords allows Dr. Seidel to edit andprint patient educational materials,automatically documenting theactivity so it can be factored intothe final bill.

“The patient teaching function isphenomenal,” relays Dr. Seidel.“Patients forget 80% of what youtell them. Now, I can print out thebuilt-in, customizable patient education sheets. The system documents that I’ve providedpatient education, which enablesme to bill a higher code.”

ResultsSince implementing Practice PartnerPatient Records, he has fewer instances of undercoding, resultingin an improved revenue stream.Additionally, Dr. Seidel’s use of thesystem’s templates combined withspeech recognition have increasedproductivity to the point that billingand documentation are complete bythe time he leaves the exam room in 95% of cases. As a result, he cansee four to eight patients per hour(depending on the complexity ofthe patients) with no reduction inthe quality of care.

“I consistently finish in the top 5%among physicians in the Ruidoso-Capitan area in terms of revenue,”Dr. Seidel says. “I’m finishing verywell because I have this EHR system.I can’t reinforce enough how productive it makes me.”