Bottom line: Be sure to get paid for the work you are already doing through robust, but honest and accurate, documentation.
Summing Up
Unfortunately, it often seems that the government’s EHR incentive program has completely backfired. Instead of making our use of health information technology more meaningful, it has instead only resulted in additional mouse clicks and less efficient workflow. It is possible, though, to optimize the way we use health information technology and increase our efficiency with it.
Who knows? This might even make using it more meaningful at the same time!
Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is also editor in chief of Redi-Reference, a software company that creates medical handheld references. Dr. Notte practices family medicine and health care informatics for Abington Memorial Hospital. They are partners in EHR Practice Consultants, helping practices move to EHR systems. Contact them at info@ehrpc.com.