The majority of physicians strongly dislike using EMR systems. They are not interested in typing, selecting options from a drop down menu and all the other things associated with documentation in an EMR. It slows them down, reduces the number of patients they can see in a day and can negatively impact the quality of patient care. After all, this is why physicians were not documenting their own notes all along.
What many transcriptionists don’t know is an EMR could spell big opportunities for them. Your clients want to work as smart as possible, they used to record their notes and dictations in a machine and hand it off, never needing to worry about documentation. So why change? Your physicians would like to continue dictating narratively, so let them.
How can this be achieved with an EMR?
It’s really quite simple. A professional dictation system, like Atom or its hosted flavor, Atom Live, is a grown up dictation system that can be easily interfaced to plug right in to an EMR system. This lets your doctors continue to dictate the way they always have by phone, a portable recorder or even a smartphone application. You continue to type the way you always have, but when you’re done, you send the work through an interface directly to the clients EMR system.
The physicians are typically very pleased with this arrangement as it keeps them productive, allows them to take advantage of all the good of an EMR, but they continue to have a human use their narrative dictation to create the medical record ensuring good documentation.
Some transcriptionists will tell you EMRs are taking their jobs. While this maybe true in some cases, often we see medical facilities get rid of transcription when they adopt an EMR, but end up within months, bringing back transcription because physicians are not happy and often they can experience revenue losses.
If you’re in the transcription business take note, an EMR system doesn’t need to be challenge. If approached correctly with your clients, it could be a great opportunity for your business.
