Dr. Nelson Elevates his Game with RAPID

 

THE PROBLEM

Doctor wanted a way to achieve a more professional level in notes and reporting; eliminate time-consuming paper processes.

 

THE SOLUTION

RAPID clinical notes and documentation software runs on a tablet computer that doctors carry to patient encounter; creates notes on screen in situ vs. on paper, post visit.

 

THE RESULTS

Faster, more comprehensive notes; better-organized reports generated instantly; more fulfilling patient visits; faster response to attorney requests; significant reduction in non-clinical hours.

 

 

With 10 years in the chiropractic profession at his current family health and sports medicine practice, southern New Jersey doctor Eric Nelson, D.C., reached a satisfying professional comfort level years ago with 100-130 patients per week on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule and a half-day on Saturdays.

 

A 1997 graduate of Life College of Chiropractic, Atlanta, with a B.S. from the University of Florida, Dr. Nelson established Nelson Chiropractic and Pilates Center in Atco following four years practicing in a nearby New Jersey community. He’s been a team doctor and since 2005, he has also been president of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors Sports Council, now a network of 100 doctors who include sports medicine among their practice specialties.

 

 

SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION

Two things Dr. Nelson hadn’t been comfortable with for a long time, he says, are the self-described illegibility of his own handwriting and the time it typically took to create reports.

 

The report problem could be particularly sticky in the case of personal injury cases, when a file might be dormant for months and out of nowhere would arrive a plaintiff attorney request for detailed documentation of a patient exam, the treatment and the outcome.

 

“It was often a struggle to go back to the notes and decipher them,” he says. “When a case is fresh, the combination of memory and notes would suffice, but with the passage of time memory can dim, making reliance on notes that much more tedious and time-consuming.”

 

Dr. Nelson broached the problem to a chiropractor friend at an industry seminar and his friend made a suggestion. He had just purchased the RAPID documentation solution from the Healthcare Business Division of ACOM Solutions, Inc. and was enthralled by the possibilities it offered for streamlining and simplifying the exam, SOAP notes and report process during and after patient encounters.

 

 

DOING MORE WITH LESS

The clinical component of ACOM Health's chiropractic office software suite, resides on a tablet computer that doctors carry with them to the patient encounter. The lightweight computer houses the patient’s electronic file, replacing the typical paper dossier. Doctors build out the electronic file, starting with the initial exam, by tapping checklists, images and diagrams displayed on the interactive tablet computer screen. Each display has doctor-customizable paragraphs of associated text that go directly to the patient file.

 

In addition to creating SOAP notes automatically, supplemental handwritten information can be scribed directly on the screen. Documents from external sources, such as accident reports and X-rays can be scanned into the file. All input is automatically assigned to the proper place within an advanced, context-oriented, intuitive database. The internal sophistication of the file structure enables doctors to produce reports simply by selecting the desired report format and pressing a few keys. The completed report – a final or any of more than 10 interim reports -- is generated instantly from information in the patient file.

 

The idea made sense to Dr. Nelson. He had tried to design a system on his own that was based on Microsoft Access, but never succeeded. RAPID was easy to install and easy to learn and he has now been a daily user of the clinical notes and documentation software system for more than two years, he says, adding that it has been invaluable in streamlining his diagnostic, note-taking and reporting processes.

 

 

BETTER USE OF TIME

“Typically, it would take several minutes to organize SOAP notes following a patient visit,” he says. “And time spent on paperwork can’t be devoted to patient care. Report preparation normally took at least a half hour, whether in response to an attorney request or simply to prepare a final for submission to an insurer. Streamlining this process by getting rid of paper patient files has saved a significant amount of time -- at least an hour a day – while at the same time allowing me to spend more quality time with each patient.”

 

Dr. Nelson is well positioned to increase his patient population and his per-patient revenue now that he has achieved the main objectives he had in acquiring RAPID:

• More time per patient encounter
• Fast preparation, storing and printing of SOAP notes
• Eliminating almost all of the time formerly spent preparing reports
• More professional documentation

 

RAPID is a great help in organizing the presentation of claims, the doctor says. Reports now take only a couple of minutes. And a major bonus came with the recent reversal of a New Jersey regulation prohibiting chiropractors from treating extremities.

 

“Because this is a new development, I feel that the diagnosis and treatment of these extra-spinal conditions requires especially precise documentation,” he says. “I was able to configure this in theRAPID software and while I probably over-document, it doesn’t matter because all I have to do is press a key to get my report.”

 

 

 

Next Steps

• More Information
• Show-and-Tell Demos