EMRs for Surgeons

Question: I am interested in looking at low-cost EMRs for my practice. What does a surgeon need to consider in an EMR?

Answer: One of the issues to consider is how you’re documenting visits pre-EMR. For example, if you dictate all your new patient visits and consults, are you thinking that you would keep on doing that? If you currently use a transcriptionist and plan to continue doing so, you’ll want a solution that allows importation of those documents.

Surgeons still wanting to dictate sometimes incorporate voice recognition into their EMR solutions. If that sounds right for you, then select a system that supports voice recognition software. Of course, you can gain efficiencies by using templates to document the follow-up and post-op visits and re-checks. (Special thanks to MGMA consultant Rosemarie Nelson for assistance with this answer.)