Dr. Darshan Shah in Enfield, Connecticut
The Situation
For general practitioner Darshan Shah, M.D., of Enfield, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford, an EMR solution helps him to not only manage his clinical practice, but also be a better doctor to his patients.
In a typical month, Dr. Shah and his one associate see close to a thousand patients, many of whom have chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Given the chronic nature of their problems, and an age range from 18 to 102 years, it’s critical to carefully track their indicators and their progress. By using ABELMed’s EHR-EMR/PM software, Dr. Shah is able to provide the best possible health care in a proactive and efficient manner.
The Challenge
When Dr. Shah opened his practice in 2001, he wasn’t using a fully integrated EMR solution.
“Many of my patients came in with chronic symptoms or requests for medication refills. Keeping track of each patient’s individual needs and case history became problematic with an older paper-based charting system,” says Dr. Shah. “If I could not access their whole medical background quickly prior to their examination, it was difficult for me to give them the exact care they needed.”
To manage the patient from a holistic perspective, Dr. Shah quickly realized that he needed the electronic tools to become more organized and efficient. “I was looking for a solution that could fully integrate with the practice management (billing and scheduling) software I was using at the time. I was also hoping that I could streamline the clinical and business aspects of my practice and provide seamless electronic communications among our administrative staff.”
The Solution
Dr. Shah looked for reliable software from a company that had excellent customer support and longevity in the marketplace. After careful consideration, he selected ABELMed’s EHR-EMR/PM software.
Important deciding factors were ABELMed’s ease of use and competitive price, and the fact that ABEL is a solid company with a record of providing physicians with state-of-the-art solutions.
ABELMed is now helping put Dr. Shah’s patient-centered philosophy to work in many practical ways, including streamlining the workflow and offering the doctors and staff easy access to patient medical history.
For example, ABELMed’s ability to produce automated alerts when patients are due for their health maintenance procedures is critical. These notices prompt the clinic’s staff to schedule patients for their mammograms and other screening procedures, as well as blood glycogen and other important lab tests, on a timely basis – raising the level of preventive care.
Dr. Shah also finds that he and his staff have become more proactive through receiving and reviewing lab results electronically rather than on paper via mail or fax. “Because they come in faster electronically, it is easier to notice trends. We can flag any abnormal results and our staff can call our patients almost immediately after we get the lab.”
In addition, ABELMed’s software has helped the doctor streamline and standardize patient visits.
“Before we used EMR, we could miss things that should have been checked routinely during an examination, such as a simple foot exam for a diabetic patient,” adds Dr. Shah. “Now with the EMR in place, it is standard practice to review patient records before they arrive for an office visit. Our staff has the patient history and knows exactly what should be checked. We can now send the patient into the examining room with shoes off, ready for a foot exam.”
From the staff’s perspective, the communications module of ABELMed’s EHR-EMR/PM software offers great efficiency. The messaging tools within the software let Dr. Shah get timely information from his clinical staff. “Initially, it was a little bit different from what they were used to,” he says, “but they adapted easily and it’s working great.”
These examples illustrate just some of ways that the practice and its patients benefit from ABELMed’s powerful features.
The Relationship
A special relationship between Dr. Shah, his clinical/administrative staff and ABEL has grown over years because of ABEL’s in-depth training and ongoing customer support. “I’m impressed that ABEL updates and schedules its training modules regularly and keeps in touch with us on an ongoing basis,” says Dr. Shah. “With their support, we found the software easy to learn and use from the start. It only required a few hours of training from ABEL staff to become proficient in all its comprehensive features.”
The Result
Since using ABELMed EMR, Dr. Shah finds that he can use his time more effectively, spending more time with patients and less time on administrative tasks.
He also says the software has grown with his practice. “The nice thing about the software is that I can fine-tune it the way I want it to be,” he says. “It’s completely flexible to my specific practice and needs. ABEL often develops new features that help me manage my time and resources efficiently.”
A highly satisfied ABEL customer, Dr. Shah says, “I would like to take this solution to the next level by integrating records with those of the patients I see at our nearby community hospital. If these patients come to see me at my practice in the future, I would have their whole medical histories available.”
By every measure, the software was a healthy move. By integrating ABELMed’s EHR-EMR/PM software into his practice, Dr. Shah and his staff are able to practice their philosophy of putting patients and their health care first.
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