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Local Voices

Moving Into the Digital Age as Doctors Switch From Paper to Electronic Health Records

If you’ve been to the doctor lately you may have noticed your doctor or their assistant inputting your information directly into a computer or tablet. This is because the government is moving into the digital age when it comes to medical records. Locally, Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island (OCLI) has been transitioning from paper medical records to comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) in its patient services. EHR allows doctors and healthcare professionals to record patient information electronically instead of using paper records. The OCLI doctors are now able to view diagnostic results and images directly on computer screens instead of printing them on paper. One of OCLI’s Founding Partners, Russell Fumuso, MD, recently began examining patients using the EHR technology for the first time. “Of course there were challenges but when the benefits of EHR are explained to the patients, they are impressed,” said Dr. Fumuso. “Most of them love the ‘wow’ factor of being able to review images of their eye on a high definition 23” screen as opposed to a sheet of paper.”

 

Using EHR to integrate important healthcare information may potentially help improve the quality of patient care and safety once fully implemented. OCLI first began planning the switch to EHR in February 2012. Their first office went live with the technology in July 2012 and they expect to have it operational in all of their 9 offices by the end of 2013. “Migrating from paper to electronic meant reinventing the wheel for many of our processes at both the clinical and administrative level,” said Steven Friedman, Chief Information Officer for OCLI. “The major challenge was making the transition as smooth as possible for everyone -- doctors, staff and most importantly our patients. The doctor/patient relationship is very special, and one that we only want to improve upon. While the doctor is examining the patient, a scribe is also entering the information electronically. This way the doctor has his or her full attention on the patient the entire time.”

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