AMS Cardiology saves over $200,000 annually while increasing overall satisfaction.
Company profile
AMS Cardiology’s (Abington, PA) 17 full-time cardiologists serve thousands of patients annually with comprehensive cardiac care. The practice was dealing with an abundance of paper charts, circulated by courier among their four offices. According to Office Manager Barbara Thompson, the process left staff constantly looking for charts. Furthermore, rising transcription costs were costing more than $200,000 annually.
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Dr. Andrew Fireman
Cardiologist
AMS Cardiology
Challenge
- Replace inefficient paper-based process
- Eliminate $200,000 annual transcription expense
- Create comprehensive patient documentation
Solution
- Implement Dragon® Medical Practice Edition with eClinicalWorks
Results
- Complete, real-time patient notes
- Saved $160,000 annually in transcription costs
- Reduced office staff by 4-5 FTEs
- Reduced denied claims
- Obtained unparalleled confidence in coding
- Increased referring physician satisfaction
Background
As the practice researched electronic health records (EHRs), they realized ‘point and click’ templates limited the information in the patient record; physicians still needed to dictate portions of their notes. Dragon Medical Practice Edition, coupled with eClinicalWorks© promised a way to create comprehensive, real-time records.
A phased rollout of eClinicalWorks and Dragon Medical Practice Edition began with a group of four technology-savvy physicians. Although some physicians resisted adopting the new workflow initially, within a few short months the entire practice was fully implemented.
Dr. Bruce Berger, cardiologist, recalled the ramp-up: “I was dragged kicking and screaming into using it, but I was trained after only one day. Today, I’m much happier than I expected. Overall productivity isn’t affected and I get a more complete note dictated now with Dragon Medical Practice Edition.”
Dr. Andrew Fireman, cardiologist, echoed those remarks: “I was surprised by how easy learning Dragon Medical Practice Edition was. You go through the tutorials and start dictating; it was just that easy.”