"I've been using EMR since 1995. KeyChart is my third system and by far the best. It is simple to use, both for the physician and staff. The custom menus make transition from previous paper or electronic systems easy. The best feature is the ability to see a glaucoma patient’s record summary on one page. I highly recommend KeyChart.”
Charles R. Wesley, M.D., Ph.D.
Noblesville, Indiana.
"Our practice has been PRISM clients (KeyMedical's former company) since 1992. Our association with Susan Jones has been a positive experience since day one. Having dealt with a conversion previously, and not looking forward to another... they made our conversion to their software so easy. The training we received prior our first live date was invaluable. Our staff were able to learn the software with ease, and required little, if any, help in operating the program on a daily basis. During the initial weeks of using their software, my calls for support decreased to nonexistent, but when I did call, my calls were returned promptly. We continue to use PRISM today. Although technology has changed, we continue to be happy with the original program. I highly recommend any program Susan is affiliated with".
Mona Byrd
Tupelo Eye Clinic
Tupelo, Mississippi
"We are doing well with KeyChart, our electronic medical records system. We have scanned enough charts into our system that we can remove several file cabinet. We have even added patients to our schedule without having to add additional staff members!"
Lisa Lam
Administrator
Sheridan Lam, M.D.
Lombard, Illinois
I have found that my staff needed about 3 months to get accustomed to using our EMR. For a successful EMR installation, you need a lead physician involved who stands behind the EMR through thick and thin. You have to have a physician champion for the EMR. If he or she doesn't stand behind it, it won't happen. The doctor can't say things such as, "We're running behind or having some difficulties today, so let's go back to paper for now," because the office will end up dropping the use of their EMR.
Two other things I have found to be very important to a successful EMR implementation are staff buy-in and user friendliness of the software. Staff members can help make an implementation successful or they can help it fail. Also, user interfaces that are simple for the end user to navigate are critical. Most staff members don't care how good the back end is, they just want the part they see and use to be easy.
McDonald Eye Associates has been using EMR since October 1997 and recently updated to new software. They have been successfully using EMR for almost 7 years. "We wouldn't want to go back to documenting exams on paper. Once the doctors learn the system, they are faster on EMR than on paper. It's faster to point and click than to use paper and a pen not to mention the documentation is more thorough. Copying from the last exam and updating the data appropriately is faster than entering the data from scratch." Our practice didn't lose any staff members, but each year when they budget for the coming year, they add more appointments to the doctors' schedules without adding new staff. So, we have been able to increase the number of patients they see without adding any additional staff members because they have EMR.
From talking with other practices and serving on panels at meetings, I have learned that many of the practices who tried to implement EMR and failed were ones who either tried to write the EMR themselves or invested in a company that was attempting to write EMR instead of choosing a package that was already working.
Vonda Syler, COE
Administrator
McDonald Eye Associates
Fayetteville, Arkansas
“KeyMedical has been an invaluable resource to us. They always go the extra step to make sure we have all the information we need and provide additional data to use in the future.”
James Richmond, M.D.
East Ridge Eye Center
Chattanooga, Tennessee