Computers have a home in the field of medicine.

October 12, 2007 | By valmg |

I went to see the eye doctor today for a regular check up and contact lens exam. I had never seen this doctor before or gone to this office. I was surprised to see parts of the exam were handled by computer. All the eye doctor had to do was interpret them as opposed to administer them. Now I’m not a young girl, so I remember when doctors used real reference books and real appointment books. Now for many reasons physicians offices are moving to electronic medical records and practice management software. It’s definitely the way to go. Electronic records are accurate and cost effective, they reduce liability and provide better reporting, and they take up a lot less room than the real thing and they last a lot longer too. The radiologist I used to work for needed a system like this. They really could have used a well known EMR consultant such as VirMedice to come in and convert their paper records to electronic ones. VirMedice services not only convert the records but include EDI services so the office can bill electronically. As a biller myself, I can tell you billing electronically is the way to go. One other service they offer is e-Prescribing, which is the use of computer hardware and software to write prescriptions. This saves time and money and is much safer for both doctor and patient than writing prescriptions by hand.