Richard Paris, M.D. was named the 2005 Family Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) at their annual meeting in October 2004 for his 25 years of patient care and teaching. He is the first electronic health record (EHR) user to win this award. However, he probably won't be the last because the AAFP has developed the Partners for Patients initiative to help AAFP members acquire affordable, standards-based electronic health records (EHRs). Physician Micro Systems, Inc. (PMSI)—the creator of the Practice Partner® line of electronic health record and practice management systems—is a core member of the AAFP’s Partners for Patients program and is proud to have Dr. Paris as a customer.
Dr. Paris practices family medicine at Hailey Medical Clinic in Hailey, ID, which consists of nine providers at two offices that are approximately ten miles apart.
Many patients visit both offices, which posed a problem because the staff at each office did not always have access to the patients’ paper charts. In January 2002, Hailey Medical Clinic implemented an EHR and appointment scheduling system, Practice Partner Patient Records and Appointment Scheduler. By October 2002, they were completely paperless. A specialized phone line connects the two offices and allows the staff to access all patient charts, regardless of which office the patients visit.
Dr. Paris is also part of a rural outreach program. Twice a month, he flies a small plane to Challis—one of the most geographically isolated clinics in the lower 48 states—which is about 130 miles away from Hailey and is staffed by one PA. Currently, this rural clinic uses paper charts. The PA has to make copies of the paper charts and then mail them to Hailey Medical Clinic for Dr. Paris to review. Dr. Paris is planning to implement Practice Partner in Challis—with grant assistance from PMSI—so that all the clinical staff has instant access to patient data, regardless of their location.
In addition, Hailey Medical Clinic is a rural teaching site for students from the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Paris teaches in the university’s Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP), a four-week program for medical students transitioning between their first and second year, and the WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience program (WRITE), a six-month rural program for third-year students.
According to Dr. Paris, Practice Partner has been an instrumental teaching tool. He stated that his students quickly learn how to enter patient information such as past medical history, family history, social history, and previous immunizations directly into the electronic chart. Since implementing Practice Partner, Dr. Paris has found that he spends less time on documentation and more time directly interacting with students.
Dr Paris says, “I am excited and proud to be an ambassador for the AAFP in their initiative to improve family medicine by encouraging more family physicians to adopt an EHR. I can attest to the efficiencies, and therefore improvements, to patient care that are garnered by actually using an EHR.”
For more information about the AAFP’s Partners for Patients program or the 2005 Family Physician of the Year award, please visit the following Web sites:
http://www.centerforhit.org/x200.xml
http://www.aafp.org/fpr/20041100/1.html
About Physician Micro Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1983 by Andrew G. Ury, M.D., Physician Micro Systems, Inc. (PMSI) is the creator of the Practice Partner line of electronic health record (EHR), practice management system (PMS), and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) software applications for ambulatory care practices. PMSI is committed to making healthcare easier and is grounded in the daily reality of providing mission-critical clinical and administrative systems for thousands of physicians and their staff. PMSI has succeeded through a strong focus on the ambulatory care market combined with technology, leadership, and vision. PMSI is a privately held, independent corporation that has been profitable since 1991. Practice Partner applications are used nationwide by approximately 1,300 practices of all sizes and specialties, from solo-practitioners to large, enterprise, multi-site practices. Approximately 5,000 providers use one or more Practice Partner products. Practice Partner Patient Records alone is used by approximately 850 practices, 3,500 providers, and 14,000 medical office staff, making it one of the market leaders of EHRs in the U.S.
Public Relations Contact
For more information about Physician Micro Systems, Inc. or the Practice Partner product line, contact Alicia Basteri at 206-374-4088 or e-mail protected from spam bots.