The Pace of Change is Accelerating—for Electronic Health Records and All the Rest

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When it comes to practice management software and electronic medical records, change really is the only constant, says Kim Castleberry, OD, who runs a $2 million a year practice, Plano Eye Associates,in Plano, Texas (www.planoeye.com).

Back in 1991, Dr. Castleberry began using OfficeMate practice management and its ExamWRITER package for handling electronic medical records. He was among the first ODs to do so. “I wanted to reduce my overhead and have easier chart access,” he says. And that’s what happened.

But it wasn’t until 2004 when he moved to OfficeMate’s Windows-based system that he really integrated the technology into his practice. Claims and billing and banking suddenly could be done electronically, and all the diagnostic equipment was linked together.

“The benefits are huge and they’re quick,” says Dr. Castleberry. The costs of running a practice go down, he says, and patient care improves as ODs can keep better records and interact with other healthcare providers. Billing is faster, as well.

Federal stimulus and incentives
Just as important is keeping up with government incentives and requirements. The federal stimulus package passed a year ago includes money that practices can receive if they implement electronic health record systems. Last year, for example, Dr. Castleberry’s practice received 2 percent of its Medicare billings as a reward for using an electronic health records system.

But federal pressure is coming in 2015, in the form of a 2 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for practices that aren’t using the systems. It could even be higher than 2 percent if they think too few practices have made the switch. “In other words, they want to have a bigger stick,” he says, adding a concern that private insurers might follow suit.

Adopting systems not easy…but worthwhile
Dr. Castleberry thinks many ODs are enthusiastic about the switch, but “most are just deer in the headlights right now. They just don’t know what to do.” He understands their hesitation: Adopting a new system “is likely the most difficult thing they’ll ever put their practice through.”

The good news, says Dr. Castleberry, is that software from major vendors is getting better. “I wish we had software that was so intuitive that it took no learning curve,” he says. “We’re probably five years away from that kind of technology.” But it’s coming, probably from the major vendors. “There’s a lot of immature software out there, platforms that have only been out for a year or two and they don’t have the resources to develop the kind of software that it takes to run a practice,” he says.