So many choices........yet "How" should I go about implementing Openemr?

Management and Administration
#1

We have paid a huge amount of money in the past just to use “practice management” software, not in the realm of economical, nor in the realm of astronomical but over time the investment in the software has been a lot of money…

I wish more people were honest with what they charge for consulting and customizing software and what the benefit will be to the user of the software. I also believe that openemr is cutting edge, an idea with endless possibilities for doctors and their employees to manage their practices and even hospitals? That’s pretty amazing. Thank You for having the drive, and the knowledge to succeed in the rough chartered waters of healthcare.

I guess what I need is some proper direction for openemr to be successful in a 3-office optometry practice…AND since we’ve been paying monthly fees just so the company can say that its for support and maintenance(for software that’s not hosted in the cloud)…I wonder what it would cost to get some help creating a custom or several custom forms for the Optometrist to make their job easier charting an exam?

I am unfamiliar with the process of php working to incorporate html, css, etc into a cool looking form. I’ve read that there are several pieces to creating a form in openemr. I’ve shown our optometrist the eye form before and he thought it looked pretty cool. He says he’d like to reduce the amount of typing, which in my mind means, creating a big database full of choices for the doctor to select either from a drop down menu, or a slider, or checkboxes to chart an exam.

We would also like to have the chance to use the insurance billing to submit claims to trizetto/gateway. Not sure how complicated this will be but…does anyone think it would be possible to run openemr with custom forms for less than $100 a month (~about the price of our maintenance fee is for our current pm software)?

In essence, if we could convert to a purely digital practice, from ehr to billing to scheduling, does it seem feasible to save money over time with openemr compared to using closed source, monthly fee based, software?

I am sure there are many hurdles to make this work, but need some input before taking the plunge. Thanks for reading this, and have a happy new year!

#2

I wonder what it would cost to get some help creating a custom or several custom forms for the Optometrist to make their job easier charting an exam?

There are plenty of vendors for openEMR who would be happy to help your practice both in deploying your instance (eg in house or cloud-based) and they can create forms for you. If you know the requirements for the forms you want, then they can give you an accurate price. The more detailed instructions the better the end product. Usually form development and support is on an hourly rate.

I’ve shown our optometrist the eye form before and he thought it looked pretty cool. He says he’d like to reduce the amount of typing, which in my mind means, creating a big database full of choices for the doctor to select either from a drop down menu, or a slider, or checkboxes to chart an exam.

Reduce typing: built into the eye form is “Shorthand” and “defaults”. The defaults are customizable on a Provider basis. The defaults will fill a whole form or a subsection, depending on what areas the provider examines of course and needs to document (eg. just external, just retina, etc.). I’ll often start from the default and then document the positive findings.

For the Shorthand, here is a You-tube video - All the eye form videos are now 2 years old. The form has improved significantly and should be updated to the openEMR 5.0.1, but it’ll give you the gist. Maybe I’ll find a spot of time to redo these… If you are feeling intrepid, take a look here at the in-depth Shorthand Tutorial. Filling in a form field by field - that is the definition of the EHR disaster. We need better ways and this is a start…

Also built into the Eye Form are QuickPicks. This is your “big database” of choices. It is already part of the Eye Form and it is fully customizable for each provider. You may just be happy with how it comes out-of-the-box but if not you can change it any way you desire. It’s opensource and please contribute improvements back when you can!

We would also like to have the chance to use the insurance billing to submit claims to trizetto/gateway.

I use Trizetto with openEMR. Although I personally create the fee sheet for an encounter (it is now created inside the eye form itself) and I upload them to Trizetto, I do use a remote “openEMR-friendly” billing company who handles the rest for a reasonable fee… There is a way to automate the upload to Trizetto but I haven’t had the time or money to do that yet.

If you or your docs want to know more, send me a PM and we can talk on the phone.

Ray

#3

I had a couple of people ask about the billing company so I figured I’d post that here too:
Quality Billing & Consulting.
They have logins for my openEMR.
Their staff prefers the 4.3 framed interface.
They handle all statements, patient calls, insurance denials etc.
They do not do “formal” collections - they refer that out.
Fixed percentage fee - around 5% of collections.
Monthly reports.

Ray
P.S. I have no financial interest in QBC. I am just a customer.