At Northern Medical Specialists, Smith is in charge of coordinating billing and recordkeeping processes for 23 physicians spread out over multiple offices in three different New York counties. With all of this to manage, it became apparent to Smith and her associates — including Dr. Maddipoti Choudry, the head of the practice — that traditional data entry simply would not do.
"Dr. Choudry insists on implementing the most cutting-edge systems as possible in order to manage patient care. This is why we first looked to Misys," Smith said, referring to Misys' integrated clinical and practice management solutions — Misys EMR, an electronic medical records system, and Misys Tiger for practice management. "Our main challenge was the need to bring together our multiple organizations. Everything is very geographically dispersed, and we found it important to be able to have all information accessible to our doctors at any time, from anywhere, allowing them to get patient records instantly and remotely. Through a combination of Misys Tiger and Misys EMR, we are able to do this very effectively."
Now, using Misys' intuitive and flexible technology, the physicians and staff at Northern Medical Specialists are able to electronically scan all of their documents, including billing data, patient records and more. Remote access enables physicians to retrieve this data on the fly, allowing for more time spent out of the office with their own families — and, most importantly, better quality of care for their patients.
"Misys has significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to access charts," Smith said. "This has made our operations much more efficient and effective, both from a physician and patient standpoint. Doctors are able to access a patient's entire history without necessarily being in the office, and different offices are able to share pertinent patient data. This accomplishes several things, including freeing-up valuable administrative time that can otherwise be spent helping patients, and making it easier for patients to get their information, in that they can call any of our offices and it will be right there when they need it."
Smith said that Northern Medical Specialists had been using a character-based EMR for several years, but decided to employ Misys EMR's Windows®-based interface after enjoying the results they experienced with Misys Tiger.
"We did look at other systems when we were looking to convert Windows-based protocol, but decided to use Misys because we knew their protocols for follow-up, trusted them and knew they would help us convert the files we already had."
Smith worked very closely with Misys to convert these files, and was extremely pleased with the process. "I can't imagine any other company being able to write that script for us. We would have had to re-enter every patient that walked through the door and would have had to, in effect, start over with a new system. Working with Misys eliminated that need."
Smith said the benefits to having implemented Misys' integrated technology have been greatly enjoyed by all 23 physicians and associates — all of whom have benefited in some way from Misys Tiger and Misys EMR.
"Some of our 70-year-old physicians were working on paper charts only a few years ago," she stated. "They're all using Misys now and feel that it makes their lives so much easier. We also have two people with disabilities who have both benefited from using Misys. One's job is to manage documents, patient charts and other items. Because of his handicap, the ability to scan this information electronically makes this work far easier and more enjoyable. Another was injured in a car accident, and had to rehabilitate to learn to write and type with the use of her left hand only, but Misys Tiger's Windows-based interface allows her to use the mouse, which makes accomplishing her tasks much less of a hurdle. We've been able to make all of these people happier and more efficient through Misys.
"For me," Smith added, "Misys is the only way to go."