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Posts Tagged ‘EHR’

Never Ending EMR Saga

David Langford, O.D. on December 10th, 2010 under Optoblog, Reviews •  3 Comments

I have previously announced my intention to dump OfficeMate because I didn’t want to spend close to $1000 updating my server software from WSBS2003 to WS2008R2-standard for the version 9 upgrade (and that’s in addition to the painful yearly software agreement fee).

Well, now I’m not so sure. All I need is for something to easily enter data and claims, export an ANSI 837 file, and include a ledger, receipts, and reports system so that I can easily see my accounts recievable.

Well, apparently that’s too much to ask because I have test driven several competitors, and believe it or not, their interfaces are actually worse than OfficeMate’s!. Several of them won’t export a simple ANSI 837 file to upload to a clearing house like Apex. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to the OfficeMate system after four years. I can quickly do all my insurance billing and receipts myself (no paid help) in OM8. Of course, so far this year I only bill insurance for 27% of my exams, which is close to average for my practice profile.

So if I abandon OM for another system, it’s going to take me way more time to process claims and figure out accounts receivable. With Walmart getting into the Medicaid game on glasses, now I’m sure I’ll have even more insurance to bill in 2011. So, as of now, I am leaning towards biting the bullet and doing what it takes to upgrade to OfficeMate 9.

An interesting topic is how many mouse clicks per patient one needs in EHR/PIM software. A doc at EHR Compare forum reports that it takes his office 200 clicks per patient in OfficeMate. Is it any wonder that many docs think EHRs are not ready for prime time? (Example 1, 2, 3)

Why hasn’t someone created a free or cheap, open sourced PIM/EHR that is easily navigable? I tried OpenEMR (which you can install on a windows machine using XAMPP), but it was confusing how to create charges with attached ICD9 and CPT codes, let alone create an ANSI 837 file.

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OfficeMate 8 to 9 Progress

David Langford, O.D. on October 19th, 2010 under Optoblog, Reviews •  2 Comments

So I have OfficeMate in my practice. I started using them in 2006 with release 7.x, and I currently have 8.x. It uses an access database which never really needed a server because it’s just a file that you could put on one computer and share it peer to peer. At the time I went ahead and bought an expensive Windows/Dell server because they recommended it, but I found out later from working with it that I could have just put the OM db file on cheaper network attached storage.

Anyway, along comes progress. OM with release 9 has implemented the famous, awesome SQL database. What makes it famous and awesome is that SQL is opened source and cross platform. So of course OM implements a Microsoft only version of SQL. The Windows Server Small Business that I’ve been using isn’t supported, so now I am faced with paying a whole bunch of money for a new edition of Windows Server standard. If I upgrade to that, I might as well update my client machines to Windows7. If I do that, my current video cards don’t support it, so I’ll have to either buy new video cards or just a new box.

So now, with all that plus the yearly, over $1K fee for OM, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t start over with some other solution. To tell you the truth, the only thing I use OM for is electronic billing. I just scan my paper charts with my awesome and fast Fujitsu Fi-6130 document scanner.

I really wish OfficeMate would have implemented a cross platform implementation of an SQL db. I could have just used a free Linux server to host the db.

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Answers to Your Search Questions Part 3

David Langford, O.D. on December 23rd, 2009 under Optoblog •  Comments Off on Answers to Your Search Questions Part 3

In Answers to Your Search Questions Part 1 and Part 2, I improved by search juice and answered the questions that seem to be on everyone’s mind.

Well, I’ve done it yet again. There seems to be no end to all the inquiring minds out there. Just to review, I know what IP address you have and the URL that was in your address bar just before coming to my website. A search URL contains the search term that you used.

  1. “is Crizal worth the extra expense” – That depends. The original Crizal, Crizal Alize, Crizal Alize’ with ClearGuard, Crizal Avance’ with Scotchgard, or the next one that they come out with 6 months after you buy the one available now.
  2. “satan’s plan” – This search term was by someone from Lagos, Nigeria, Africa. (It directed them to this post.) Lemme splain. In pre-earth life, Jesus wanted us to have the freedom to choose to follow Heavenly Father and obtain Eternal life. Those who don’t obey God’s will and never repent would be lost. Those who disobey (all of us) would need a Savior in order to be worthy enough to enter into God’s presence again. Well, the Son of the Morning didn’t like that. Satan, wanted us all to be forced to choose God and obey His commands so that none of God’s children would be lost. It’s kind of like liberals vs. conservatives when you think about it.
  3. “what scanner should you use with officemate” – If you are going to scan, go big. You will not regret buying a fast document scanner like the Fujitsu 6130. I used to have a slow HP ScanJet N6010. It lasted two years and died. I wasted so much time waiting for files to scan. With my Fujitsu, waiting is a thing of the past. Let’s say you get an EOB that you want to scan into OfficeMate. You pull up the patient’s file, select the eDocuments tab, and then press scan. It will scan duplex, then you hit complete, and you’re done. Fast, fast, fast. Plus mine came with Acrobat 9 Standard.
  4. “nbeo optometry review notes” – I just wanted to bring this up because I’m so glad I’m done with school and boards.
  5. “how to recharge pachmate dgh55” – I’m thinking you should read the owners manual. If you don’t like keeping dead trees around, then scan it into a pdf with your Fujitsu scanner.
  6. “stylish medicaid frames” – NO SUCH THING
  7. “screening acute angle glaucoma with mydriasis with pen light in pcp office” – Yah, so what I think they want to know is before they dilate somebody, what’s the likelihood that they give them an angle closure pressure spike. I believe that should be in the manual for your nifty DigiScope. Someone in Maryland should just refer to their local optometrist.
  8. “best way for optometrist to get FDA job” – I’m pretty sure you can get any government job you want by contributing enough money to the DNC. If you’re not a trust fund child, then I would spend loads of money to attend optometry school, study hard, work hard, graduate, and join the rest of America in the unemployment line.
  9. “optometrists are stupid” – Someone in Alameda, CA was having a bad day.
  10. “crack officemate” – Some web surfer in Indiana needs a crack for Officemate. Let’s see, I’m pretty sure stealing around $6000 for the initial year and ~$1400 per year after that could be considered enough to get you in trouble with the state optometry board. I don’t think it’s worth it. If you can’t afford it, do yourself a favor and try something else. Or, like I’ve said before, if you’re willing to crack expensive, niche software, then why stop there? Robbing banks and pimping can “earn” you boat loads of tax-free money.
  11. “average christmas bonus for optometrist” – Let’s see. Um, try about $0.00
  12. “pronounce similasan” – put the emphasis over the second “i” and then say the rest really fast. sim-IL-uhsahn. Or call their consumer information line, 1-800-240-9780, and they say it on the recorded message.
  13. “Biofinity review” – This is by far the most searched term by people coming to my website from google and yahoo. Seriously, why don’t you just try it for a week or two? If you don’t like it, then try something else! These lenses could work great for you and terrible for someone else- or vice versa. It’s like asking other people if a certain brand or size of orthotic shoe insert works good.

I’m here to help.

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OfficeMate and ExamWriter vs Mouse Scroll Wheel

David Langford, O.D. on February 9th, 2009 under Optoblog •  1 Comment

OfficeMate historically has not allowed the use of the scroll wheel in its applications, which is totally stupid. Using the mouse’s scroll wheel really speeds up my data entry.

Somewhere along the way between 2006 and now I think they fixed this issue in ExamWriter because my plain vanilla Dell computer with its USB mouse with scroll wheel is now able to wheel scroll in ExamWriter 7.4.2 (EDIT: A simple search of my own website reveals that starting with 7.4 they enabled ExamWriter wheel scrolling). It still isn’t fixed in OfficeMate’s third party billing application. When I want to do “CMS Maintanence” for a claim (that’s technical talk for manually updating fields in a HCFA-1500), it doesn’t allow scrolling with the wheel.

Thankfully, there is an application called KatMouse. I heard about it from Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte’s podcast, Security Now. This small application enables scrolling for most every application. I installed it, and now I can scroll with the mouse’s wheel when editing a HCFA.

Thank you, KatMouse! Shame on you OfficeMate.

By the way, OfficeMate. Do you really think it’s a good idea to charge $1200+ per year for the “Annual Software Maintenance Agreement” (ASMA)? It feels like extortion. I mean, some less scrupulous optometrist could pay a kid less than $1200 to crack your ASMA, and then where would you be? (Not that any optometrist would be that unethical, but I’m just sayin’.) If I pay several thousand dollars for the program in the first place, I think I should be able to use it without strings attached. Instead of disabling editing of all records, why not just disable stuff like VisionWeb? Or maybe make your money off of established clients by charging for new features/upgrades. (Still provide security fixes for free).

Sooner or later someone is going to come up with a really nice, free, open-source optometry practice management system using PHP and MySQL on a Linux box. When that happens, watch out, OfficeMate.

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OfficeMate ExamWriter 7.4

David Langford, O.D. on December 6th, 2007 under Optoblog •  4 Comments

Officemate ExamWriter now comes with the long awaited “feature” of allowing you to scroll up and down with a mouse wheel.

Thank You!!!!

Glass-is-half-full thinking would make me want to curse you for making me mouse-click scroll for the last year and a half, but I’m going to try to stay positive.

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Optometric EHR wants #3

David Langford, O.D. on October 2nd, 2007 under Optoblog •  1 Comment

At my round of golf after some CE a couple weeks ago, the topic of conversation drifted to what practice management software was everyone using. Of course, for years we have been inundated with PIM/EHR software ads in industry magazines and booths at conferences and conventions. I still haven’t seen an appreciable improvement in the EHR part of the package. Sure, the PIM helps me track the money, but the EHR still slows me done. It would be faster to draft a paper chart and then scan it under the patient’s name in the PIM.

The whole reason to utilize a database for EHR would be to track numbers over time. For example, OfficeMate has this feature in the fields of IOP and C/D ratio. BUT THE WHOLE CHART SHOULD BE THIS WAY! And it would be great to have the functionality to analyze binocular testing data according to OEP, graphical, and normative analysis.

Anyway, if your EMR is just basically storing text for you instead of inserting data into searchable/analyzable database fields, I think it’s faster to scan your paper copy and link it into the PIM instead. Plus it will save you money on buying a separate EMR module.

Here were EHR wants number one and two.

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