MxTranscribe EHR™ a “Wonder-Drug” for Dallas Hand Center

Improved timeliness, accuracy, service contribute to a healthy new practice

It was a promising start: A bright young orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Megan Wood, fresh from a fellowship in the hand and upper extremities, opens her small specialty practice, The Dallas Hand Center, in October of 2008.

Physician referrals flowed in almost immediately. But as the case volume grew, Dr. Wood realized a critical piece of her operation wasn’t keeping pace, and even threatened the practice’s success: the “budget” transcription service she hired when she opened her office.

The Situation:
Office manager Rebecca Gilmore says their original transcription service was a nightmare: “It could take weeks for transcriptions to come back, and it got embarrassing. Referring physicians would call and ask about the status of their patients, and we couldn’t respond because we didn’t have the dictation files back yet. That’s not the way you build a new business.”

The delays also affected their workers’ comp cases: “We’d want to send a new patient to therapy, but that’s hard to do without the transcription. The workers’ comp adjusters need a formal diagnosis, in writing, before they’ll okay additional treatment.”

Plus, the dictation process was inefficient for the doctor: “She’d have to dictate by phone,” says Gilmore, “which meant she was tied to her office, and she’d frequently be cut off or get a message that the tape ended before she had finished her dictation. Worse yet, we sometimes wouldn’t find out until weeks later that there’d been a problem with a tape, and there was no transcription.

“And the transcriptions we got back had a real ‘old school’ look, just plain type, no formatting to help make the important things stand out.”

The Solution:
Within several months, the doctor became so frustrated by the delays and poor service that she asked Gilmore to contact Casey McKelvey, the MxSecure rep she’d met with prior to opening her office. Casey promised that MxTranscribe EHR would give them quick turnaround, enhanced formatting, convenient, 24/7 access to their documents and great service – all for slightly less than they were paying for their original service. (See box, below, for pricing model.)

Gilmore remembers: “We were very busy, so we were reluctant to make a major change like this, but we were so frustrated with our previous service that we decided to go ahead.

“Ironically, we had some issues right at first, but the problems were on our end, with the hospital’s internet connection. MxSecure’s Client Services Account Manager, Carrie Roth, knew exactly what to have our technical people check, and had the issues corrected quickly. She was awesome. And from that point on, learning the system was easy. We’ve had no problems, and they’ve responded immediately to our questions and any requests we’ve had for special formatting.”

The Results:
Gilmore says, “Now, we get our transcriptions back the next day, and they become part of the patient’s charts right away.

“The doctor loves it. It’s like night and day for her. She loves having the pocket digital recorder because it allows her to dictate almost anywhere and anytime.

That’s actually let us schedule more patients. Before, we had to block out a lot of office time for the doctor to finish her dictations. Now, we’ve reduced that time and we’re able to see an additional 5 to 10 patients on her consult days because she’s dictating more efficiently. For example, for quick, follow up appointments, she can dictate into her portable recorder while walking from one examination room to the next, and be done with that dictation”.

I don’t have to play ‘Nancy Drew’ searching for the dictation that goes with each chart.”

Rebecca Gilmore, Office Manager

The Benefits:
“The timing of the dictation is the biggest benefit for me,” says Gilmore. “Getting the reports back overnight allows me to fax back information to the referring physician immediately, and the improved communication has meant more referrals.”

The practice has also seen faster processing and payment of their workers’ comp claims because they can now quickly send written reports back to the agency along with the claims.

And it’s made Gilmore’s job easier: “Getting charts ready for the next day’s appointments is really easy now. I don’t have to play ‘Nancy Drew’ searching for the dictation that goes with each chart. Everything’s already in the chart. All my dictation documents are now in one place when they come back, and I can go back and search by date if I need to look at an older file.

“Also, the accuracy is much higher – so the time we used to spend proofing and correcting the documents has gone way down. And the doctor is much happier with the look and organization of the documents.”

Gilmore concludes that, “Overall, it’s dramatically reduced the stress level for the doctor, which automatically lowers the stress level for everyone.”

Gilmore’s message to other practices considering a new transcription and document management system: “I’d tell them to just go out and start with MxTranscribe EHR right now. It’s really easy.”