Vice President of Healthcare Risk Services Tom Snyder speaks at multiple EMR seminars held throughout the state
NJ Physicians, a state-wide physician advocacy group, recently held three free seminars for its members which highlighted the relevance, benefits and risks of using electronic medical records (EMRs) in the ever-changing field of medicine, and specifically, in physicians’ individual practices.
The seminar series featured legislators as well as top industry experts who addressed the importance of EMRs to the future of healthcare, the current incentives for implementing EMRs and the potential penalties for not adopting the system.
Tom suggested that physicians referring patients to another physician should ensure information generated from their EMR is interpretable. Rarely do printed documents look like they do on the screen, he warned.
Princeton Insurance Vice President of Healthcare Risk Services Tom Snyder spoke at each seminar, addressing the topics of patient safety and risk management in relation to EMRs, and distributed copies of the Princeton Insurance EMR Users’ Guide. The guide was created to provide information concerning the proper use of EMRs to improve the quality and safety of patient care while decreasing potential liability risk. An addendum to the Princeton Insurance Physician Office Practice Toolkit, the guide is available to insureds on the physician-secure site located at PrincetonInsurance.com.
Tom explained that it’s wise to manage alerts in order to avoid inundating the user’s inbox with too many, thereby increasing the chance that an important alert won’t get read.
Although an essential tool and enormously helpful in streamlining the processes common to today’s physician practice, Tom warned that if not used properly, liability issues can arise after implementing EMRs in an office practice. Throughout his presentation, he offered tips and recommendations for making sure various features of EMRs are being utilized correctly.
For example, he cautioned against misusing “auto-populate” features when filling out history and physical exam forms. “It’s so easy for something to slip through the cracks when you auto-populate your forms. Rarely do patients fit a ‘standard form,’ and a failure to uncheck a box can lead to problems,” he said.
Tom also offered suggestions for doctors to consider when implementing EMRs and training staff. He said it’s important to be realistic with the amount of time it’s going to take to learn the system, and to cut back on the number of patients being seen in one day. “It’s imperative that you train everyone who’s going to be using the EMRs in any way and to anticipate and minimize disruptions to your practice as much as possible,” he advised.
For more information on patient safety and risk management in relation to EMRs, visit the website of the Princeton Insurance risk management newsletter at www.RiskReviewOnline.com or call our Risk Resource Line: 1-877-Rx-4RISK (1-877-794-7475).
For more information about NJ Physicians, visit their website at www.NJPhysicians.com.
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Capital Bank of NJ and Princeton Insurance are proud to present a seminar for physicians and medical office practice managers.
Admission is free, but registration is required:
Contact Susan Davidow at 856.457.6028 or sdavidow@capitalbanknj.com