Prime Clinical's Patient Chart Manager Stands Out from the EMR Crowd(Pasadena, Calif.–June 30) – Rodney Sepich, M.D., did his homework before purchasing an electronic medical records system. As a matter of fact, the internist launched an honor roll-worthy effort as he examined at least 50 systems before deciding to implement Patient Chart Manager from Prime Clinical Systems.

"We knew it was extremely important to find something that would meet our needs. We looked at a lot of systems, talked to a number of other physicians and went on site visits to other practices to see the systems in action," Sepich said. "We knew that to be successful, we would have to closely match a system to our specific needs."

After conducting this extensive shopping expedition, Sepich, who practices in a State College, Pa.-based private medical group with one other doctor, settled on Patient Chart Manager, a comprehensive electronic medical records system that offers appointment scheduling, charge posting, care-planning, electronic prescription management, voice recognition, dictation, digital document and image management.

The following attributes are what made the system stand out from others:

Document management capabilities: Because Sepich's practice receives many incoming documents, he knew he needed a system that could quickly and effectively turn paper documents into electronic data.

"Document management was a huge consideration. We are a primary care practice and we receive a lot of paper from other practices," Sepich said. "With a system that could efficiently handle all of this paper–and turn it into electronic data–we knew we would be able to save time and money."

With the Prime Clinical system, information from a variety of sources can be directly integrated into the system. For example, the system seamlessly obtains data from other information systems via HL7 interfaces, accepts incoming faxes and directly scans in other documents. What's more, all of this information, regardless of its original source, is then integrated into the EMR. As such, users can get all needed information from one location, instead of retrieving information from multiple locations. In addition, documents can be bar-coded, eliminating the need to manually match documents to specific electronic patient records.

The document management capabilities make it possible to create complete electronic charts from the get-go, eliminating the need to create paper charts that "shadow" electronic counterparts. As such, the practice immediately saves the $4 to $6 that it takes to create a chart and benefits from the increased efficiency associated with finding all information in one easy-to-access location.

Customizable templates: With Patient Chart Manager, physicians are free to develop individualized electronic patient charts, using the EMR's customized templates. As such, they can continue to create patient notes in much the same manner as they had with paper. The system does not limit doctors to using drop-down lists or trees but rather allows them to enter notes in whatever manner they wish.

Secure remote access to information. Being able to access the complete EMR and utilize all of its functions remotely is particularly important to Sepich's practice. As a matter of fact, Sepich and his partner do not see patients in an office but actually conduct patient visits in community hospitals, assisted living facilities and retirement communities.

"With Patient Chart Manager, we are able to get at patients' electronic records from any computer with an Internet connection," Sepich said. "Just as important, we are able to access all of the functions from remote locations. So, we can do anything that we need to do from any location."

About Prime Clinical Systems

Prime Clinical Systems Inc. is a medical software company headquartered in Pasadena, California, and regionally in Lincolnshire, Illinois and San Ramon, California. Founded in 1983, the company's proven products, stellar services and innovative advances have made it one of the fastest growing providers of health care software systems in the nation.