Chinese Medicine Wiki.org

EHR/EMR (Electronic Health Records/ Electronic Medical Records) are making a big splash in medical fields right now. This is partially because of growth in technology that allows for it but also it is a question of best practices; what is best for the patient?

I am considering moving from the old paper/file format for a few reasons:
Pros

• Clean and professional
• Intragrative system of booking/case management/and payments
• Better more effective communication among practitioners.
• Future standard friendly
• Templates and forms for wider ranges of use (for example: you can have 10 different types of forms/templates easily instead of a one-size-fits-all)
• mobile access anywhere anytime
• One of the biggest reasons is long term tracking of complex cases and drug/herb interactions and long term tracking between multiple practitioners to analyse metadata. This leads to the next point:
• If we we truly want integrative medicine, this facilitates the best means of cross referral communication.

Cons:

• Biggest con is privacy. It is of greater concern to patients when files are kept electronically.
• Some learning curve of use.
• Lack of certain functions like drawing diagrams or areas of pain.
• Incompatibility between different software versions may make importing/exporting/backing up/ or changing EHR system difficult or impossible.
• Some practitioners may not be willing or open to use such a system.
• Most systems are designed for Western Medicine and as such, need re-modeling to fit a TCM practice.

These are what I am looking at:
www.drchrono.com
www.practicefusion.com

What do you think?

I am having the same exact battle! Wondering if you settled on one and what your thoughts were. Looks like the advantages of dr chrono are voice dictation, online scheduling, and app already made for iPad. Cons are the costs, abou $150 for a multipractitioner office. PF is free but lacks above. All in all we don't qualify for tax incentives so it's a non issue who's certified etc. wondering if you found the templates on either easy for Tcm?

Thanks!
Hillary

Hillary,
I have not decided on any yet. I've had a few dialogues pushing some of the medical oriented ones towards having a CAM option, but I suppose the target market just isn't big enough. There is, at least in Canada, still a legal obligation to sign a legal contract with any EHR system when they are storing your files. If you use a local system, it remains your own legal responsibility, but as long as the system is on-line, it should meet all the legal standards, regardless of grants. I have decided to wait for a bit longer until some of these systems mature a bit more or another system that meets my needs comes up. I think Dr. Chono is closest. For me it is all about workflow. The input of data, and ease of use for the patients is the most important. It should save time rather than add time. PF does have on-line scheduling, and voice dictation, but it is sooo clunky and cumbersome to use. If they could streamline the site to be fast and light, it would work just fine on an ipad or other tablet.

I don't know if you've already picked a system, but ours (MD HQ) incorporates a bunch of great features for CAM/integrative medicine (of course, on top of all the standard things you would expect from a full electronic medical records and practice management system). And we're 100% with you on the speed and workflow issue - your EMR should absolutely make you faster! We even have some features that address some of your cons of using an EMR. For one thing, we're fanatical about making sure that you can always get your data back in standards-compliant electronic and human-readable form, so if you ever leave, you can take your data with you. And, while we're based in the U.S., we just worked with a client in Alberta to help successfully complete a Privacy Impact Assessment using MD HQ, so we know all about the privacy issues. In any case, worth taking a look: md-hq dot com.

On our webpage, you might also check out our brief summary of some of MD HQ's features for complementary and alternative medicine practices (under Why Choose Us). Better yet, try MD HQ for yourself on our full online demo (under Resources).

Best of luck!
Slayde Hawkins
MD HQ

@Slayde Hawkins,

I am unable to find MD HQ with a google search. Can you post a URL?

I thought I would update you all and let you know that I have been using Drchrono for a while now and find it to be the most complete and versatile option. It has too much american billing and coding integrated, but i don't find it too obtrusive and I was able to make all my forms preset with TCM data such as formulas and single herbs, as well as point combinations, and pretty much whatever else you want. I still find it cumbersome to use an EHR, but the benefits outweigh the minor nuisance that comes with it. I still would love to see other options. My 2cents:)