East Coast Whirl

Mom and John just arrived in Baltimore for their annual East Coast tour.  I am glad they are back in town, as so many people have been asking about them and waiting for their arrival.  Thankfully, Mom has been totally healthy and John has overcome his own health blips this year.  For being in their seventies, they are quite spry, I'd say.

I had a bit of an East Coast whirlwind tour myself, running up to NYC on a train before 6 am on Friday to attend the eClinicalWorks Northeast Users Group Meeting.  Penn Station to Brooklyn, then at the end of the day from Brooklyn to Grand Central to Greenwich, CT.  I had a chance to stay overnight with my sister and brother-in-law and two nieces.  The turn-around was too quick, because by 6:39 am, I was back on the train to NYC Grand Central to Brooklyn.  After the conference ended, Brooklyn to Penn to Baltimore to meet Mom and John at BWI where they had flown in yesterday afternoon - all in a day-and-a-half!

The eCW Northeast Users Group Meeting was quite an encouragement as the New York City doctors are pretty far along in implementation of Meaningful Use features and the Patient-Centered Medical Home.  Thus, at the conference a lot of presentations and questions that were asked were at a more advanced level.  It is a blessing to know that, over 5 years ago when I chose to go with eClinicalWorks, I picked well.  The software company has been very forward-thinking and adaptable.  I came away from the conference with a sense that the company is truly in tune with doctors and is most focused on helping doctors in the frontlines to manage increasingly large and varying amounts of data.  In other words, eClinicalWorks has vision.  I was particularly impressed when I spotted the CEO at the back of the room during several presentations.  He was willing to field questions and did so with great respect and kindness.

I was able to meet many people from the company and share our story with them.  I am hopeful that we will be able to connect with eClinicalWorks on a more personal basis and work with them to iron out some of the wrinkles we recently experienced with our Version 9 implementation.  Most of the time, our issues have been with communication, knowing who our go-to person is, being able to reach them, and being sure the information is coordinated.  As I thought about it, our software company organizing our practice's IT pathway is much like me organizing my patient's healthcare.    Seamless transitions are the ideal, but often not the case.

Finally, it was good to have fellowship with other providers who have struggled at the forefront of electronic medical record and practice management technology.  We put in time, energy and elbow grease long before there was any promise for financial return.  The reason?  It is best for patient care.  Hopefully, like Medicare, the insurance companies will start recognizing the commitment and cost put forth in accomplishing best practices and reward practices for our work.  I know that our goal to become a Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home would not be feasible without a system like eClinicalWorks.