For one West Tennessee Physicians’ Alliance clinic, taking the steps and making the effort to achieve meaningful use with its Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has paid off.

Besides receiving $126,000 for its efforts and being one of the first in the state to receive an incentive payment from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Woman’s Clinic also has a more seamless care process for patients.

“The road to achieving meaningful use was not a short one or an easy one, but one that was well worth the effort,” said Jon Ewing, Executive Administrator of the Woman’s Clinic in Jackson. “It was a collaborative effort that began more than four years ago with a vision to implement electronic health records (EHRs) to improve patient care and lower health care costs. It took teamwork and tenacity from every person in our clinic.”

A provider must prove that it has met a set of proposed objectives with its EHR product to be considered a “meaningful user.” Clinical quality measures are determined by a core set of measures, as well as a specialty-specific subgroup. To be eligible for an incentive payment, the practice must use a certified EMR and must meet meaningful use criteria for at least 90 continuous days, and then for the entire year each subsequent year to continue to qualify.

“A wide range of information must be captured on each patient, such as demographic information and a drug allergy checklist, and each patient gets a written summary of the visit,” said Ewing. “We chose to go through the meaningful use process on the Medicare side, which is harder to do. This year to qualify, we have to meet the criteria for the entire year for 50 percent of the total patient population. The payoff is essentially $144,000 over three years for each physician in our clinic.”

A huge adjustment

The process was not a simple one. “Just switching from paper charting to electronic charting was a huge adjustment for all of us, especially for some of our physicians who were used to writing rather than hunting and clicking though a template,” said Ewing.

Then, information had to be captured on each patient and in a consistent manner that could be tracked, he said. “It all took quite a bit of getting used to and a great deal of coordination and input from all our staff. As with any change, there was some resistance and a learning curve, but in the end, we all took the attitude that we were going to do whatever it took.”

“If you’re not that great at typing, then it takes longer, and initially it can slow down patient flow through your clinic as doctors adjust to the new way of charting,” said Dr. Madhav Boyapati, a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist with the clinic. “However, what is lost in speed is gained in “legibility, accuracy, reproducibility and simultaneous access.”

Patient care coordination increases

The clinic’s EHR helped it improve patient care coordination. When a mother-to-be arrives for one of several prenatal visits at The Woman’s Clinic, for example, she often sees a different physician, depending on who is on call. Because physicians now type the details of patient visits rather than hand-write them, each physician can easily read what the last one noted, allowing for better continuity of care.

The benefits of the electronic record reach beyond the clinic’s walls. Patients, for example, can access their personal medical information through clinic website patient portals into the system.

“We knew that EMRs were going to be an inevitable part of our practice several years ago,” said Ewing. “So taking the steps to attest meaningful use and getting some of the incentive payment associated with it made sense. We can use these monies to offset the costs we incurred to install and implement the EMR system. Following the steps to become a meaningful user also means we are better serving our patients.”