Family Practice Case Study

#1 in the 2012 American Association Family Physicians EHR Survey

"For those who don't feel like reading all my ramblings, I will give a short description of Praxis - WOW! Truly an amazing program"

Electronic Medical Records choice - Decision for Praxis

Why Dr Schubert's Family Practice needed an EMR system

"Let's face it - we have a complicated job. Diagnosing and treating is really just where we start. Then you have diagnosis codes, procedure codes, keeping track of which nurse has which patient in which room for which provider, managing prescriptions and refills, scheduling, work excuses, lab forms, x-ray forms, referrals, and of course I could go on and on!"

Dr. Schubert chose Praxis because

"No EMR software that manages all these things adequately will be simple. On the other hand, how you could simplify this much more than Praxis EMR software does is beyond me - and I've looked. One advantage Praxis has is that there are several different ways to do everything. So you can do things however you want, but you must decide exactly what you want. I personally see this as an advantage - the software does whatever I want it to do."

How Praxis has improved quality of care

"The care I provide to my patients is more efficient, has fewer errors, and is less stressful than it was before. And what I had before was really very good."

"The software does whatever I want it to do"

Dr Schubert's Praxis Advantages

Fast, Detailed, Accurate SOAP Notes

"First and foremost, the SOAP note generator is incredible. Just amazing. Producing detailed, accurate notes quickly remains the strength of Praxis. My biggest criticism of Praxis 2.19's soap note generator was the HisPro section. It was basically a big empty bucket into which you could toss whatever you wanted - PMH, FamHx, SocHx, ROS, Preventive care charts, and so on. Fine, but difficult to keep current. The Praxis Electronic Medical Record system has divided this up in several clever ways, to be sure that this information is easier to edit. Info which doesn't change is kept handy but out of the way. Info which does change is incredibly easy to keep up to date. Before Praxis 3, I was very confident that every line of my notes was right. Now, I KNOW everything is right. Praxis almost won't let you goof it up."

Pre-SOAP Note Time Savings

"The Pre-Soap which is done by the nurse is very, very clever. This makes all the relevant information for this visit immediately accessible as soon as you walk in the room. This feature has probably speeded me up and decreased my simple errors more than any other single feature. When Praxis first started talking about this a few years ago, I didn't see what the big deal was. Now I know. Very, very clever."

"I don't carry a prescription pad anymore. I still carry a pen, but one morning I forgot it and didn't notice until lunch"

One-Click Documentation

"Praxforms, which was a big help in older versions, is now absolutely remarkable. When I save my note in the room, by the time I've shaken the patient's hand and told them to call me if they're not better soon, my receptionist up front has the patient's prescriptions, work excuse, lab forms, X-ray forms, referral letter, routing slip (with diagnosis codes, procedure codes, return appt, etc), and patient instruction forms in her hand, waiting for the patient at the front desk. I don't write prescriptions anymore - they are generated from my notes or FastRx. I don't carry a prescription pad anymore. I still carry a pen, but one morning I forgot it and didn't notice until lunch. I'd love to know how much time I used to spend every day just signing my name over and over again. My receptionist is looking for things to do, because she doesn't have to fill out lab forms or any of those other things anymore, writing patients' names and birthdates over and over again. Smooth - very smooth."

'Office Harmony'

"Praxis has developed a messaging system called Agents, which like the Pre-Soap didn't inspire me at first, but now I understand how slick they really are. My nurses are no longer chasing me down the hall with questions scrawled on sticky notes. As soon as they have a question on a patient, it is on my desktop, and as soon as I answer it, it is in the patient's chart and back on my nurse's desktop for her attention. No wasted motion. Again, very clever."

"Any new labs are downloaded directly onto my Praxis home page every 5 minutes - nobody has to do anything"

Slick Interfaces

"My LabCorp interface is even better than before. Any new labs are downloaded directly onto my Praxis home page every 5 minutes - nobody has to do anything. All I have to do is click on them, and they are filed in the proper places in the proper charts. Also easy to print out later."

Intelligent Prescription Management

"FastRx is an extremely clever way to manage prescriptions. No wasted motion, everything charted automatically, prescriptions print out up front (if you want them to). Just click FastRx, select the patient, select the medication(s), and exit. Everything is saved in the chart then printed, or faxed, or whatever you want. Huge timesaver."

"Praxis support has been absolutely outstanding"

Outstanding Technical Support

"Praxis support has been absolutely outstanding. I call with a question, and the appropriate expert from Praxis calls me that day. My questions are answered, and if necessary, they dial into my system to fix whatever the problem is themselves. Converting my LabCorp interface from Praxis 2 to Praxis 3 initially didn't go smoothly. After the data conversion, I noticed that the interface wasn't working. I called Praxis and explained the problem. There was a tech dialed into my system in an hour. The problem was partially on the LabCorp side, so the Praxis tech called a LabCorp tech, and they fixed the problem together. The Praxis tech gave me his email address and asked me to email him if anything didn't work right. He even called my office the next day to be sure everything was working. Why can't every computer company have support like this?"

Dr Schubert's Final Thoughts on Praxis EMR

"The biggest problem with Praxis has always been the learning curve. At its most basic level, however, this argument is absurd. "No thanks, I don't want that Gulfstream Jet - I'd have to learn how to fly it." For Pete's sake! It's a Gulfstream Jet! LEARN! Our job is complicated, and anything that does parts of our job for us will not be simple. So arguing that a system is bad because you'd have to learn how to use it seems silly. The Praxis trainers are first-rate, and your time is well spent - the more you work with this, the faster it gets. I was seeing a regular schedule of patients after spending a couple weekends getting started. I've been using it for a month, and I'm scheduling more and more patients now because of the speed of Praxis."

"It will take time for you to learn any system. I believe that your time will be much better spent learning this one"

Conclusion

"Praxis is a simply remarkable program. They continue to improve it, but if it just stayed at this level of sophistication forever, it would be years before anyone came close to it. Every time I visit a friend's office and check out his EMR, I am more thankful that I use Praxis."

"Better patient care. Less stress. More money through greater efficiency....Thanks, Praxis. This will do fine!"