Fort Wayne, IN – July 23, 2010 – Physicians who have successfully deployed the WebChart EHR and WebChart EHR Now products from Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE), are announcing that they are well positioned to meet the new meaningful use criteria finalized last week under the HITECH Act's electronic health records (EHR) incentive program.
“For the past decade, MIE has worked in close collaboration with physicians, nurses and practice administrators to configure a Web-based, ‘minimally invasive’ EHR product that accommodates practice workflows and individual preferences while simultaneously updating the systems to meet proposed meaningful use criteria,” said Doug Horner, Founder of Medical Informatics Engineering. “Rather than re-building an entire EHR system based on the final criteria, our roadmap to meaningful use has been in process for many years now. Our physicians have successfully migrated from paper to online charts easily and cost-efficiently with minimal practice disruption and we expect them to be eligible for stimulus funds in 2011.
MIE physician customers talk about their “road to meaningful use” stories and provide advice to other practices below.
I used electronic charts from one of the big EHR vendors for quite some time. When I started my individual practice in Fort Wayne, I knew I needed a system that was more conducive to a small practice and the way I worked – a system that was more time and cost efficient and easier to use. I decided to implement MIE’s WebChart EHR Now system that was specifically built to meet proposed meaningful use. With this system, I am able to file things more effectively and navigate exam histories more quickly. The user interface is a huge improvement over what I was used to. The biggest benefit of this system is time, and time is money. MIE also helped me design the system to my liking and what was most helpful to me. I like that I was able to influence the final product for my practice. Currently, I believe we already meet meaningful use under the final guidelines.
My advice to other practices is to find a Web-based system that can be accessed from anywhere. Demo products to be sure the functionality will work for your practice and that the vendor can tailor the product to your individual needs.
We learned several lessons after scrapping a $400,000 EHR implementation that went bad and starting from scratch with a new vendor. The second time around, we knew we needed an EHR product that could be customized to our practice’s workflow. We also knew that we wanted a SaaS, Web-based system that was easily accessible from any location and interoperable with current practice management systems. And finally, we wanted a vendor that was very responsive to our needs. MIE and its WebChart EHR product met all of these criteria, helping us turn meaning-‘less’ use into meaning-‘ful’ use and we are expecting to receive full stimulus reimbursement based on the final ruling.
My advice to other practices is to find a vendor that will customize the EHR to you. Research needs to be done so you know exactly what type of electronic capabilities you need in your practice.
We started implementation in our main Little Rock office with the basics -- e-prescribing, tasking, point and click exams, etc. As physicians became more familiar and more comfortable with the product, we added more functionality. MIE really worked with us to customize the product based on how we practice medicine in the ENT field and we took the implementation project one step at a time. Now, MIE’s WebChart is being used in four of our locations and we are completely paperless which will position us nicely for the new meaningful use standards.
I would advise smaller practices to look at everything out there. Be sure you can afford it and you’re not going to get in over your head in case it doesn’t work in your practice. Make sure you have enough connectivity to make it happen and find a vendor who cares about your business and is responsive to your needs. Also, vendors who focus on one specific medical niche may be too much of a niche player. You want a vendor who is flexible enough to build an EMR around the way you practice medicine.
Through the use of MIE’s WebChart EHR product, our office has been paperless with a fully functioning EHR since 2007. MIE didn’t come at us with an 'all or nothing' proposition. We started with the basics, training our staff on certain aspects of the system a little at a time, while we continually added functionality. This approach worked really well for us because it didn’t disrupt our current practice workflow, which was one of our biggest concerns. Additionally, MIE helped us integrate the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) PINNACLE Registry data form into our existing workflow without adding extra clicks or duplicate data entry. In addition to working out of a paperless office, all of our patient data and quality reporting is electronically captured and transmitted directly to the ACC, which will help us meet the final meaningful use criteria.
My advice to other physicians is to look before you leap and analyze vendor options that won’t disrupt current practice workflow.
For more information on Medical Informatics Engineering, and to obtain a free demo of its WebChart EHR Now product specifically designed to meet meaningful use criteria, please visit www.mieweb.com.
Founded in 1995, MIE has developed a web-based, Minimally InvasiveTM EHR portfolio that is deployed at physician practices and Fortune 500 organizations operating on-site employee health clinics. Unlike many EHR vendors that require physicians to alter the way they practice medicine to fit an inflexible software platform, MIE tailors its EHR solutions to fit the workflow preferences of each practice and its individual clinicians. This minimally invasive approach was designed to be:
More information can be found at www.mieweb.com
Press Room