Rheumatology Practice Relieves Pain with WRS EMR

Dr. Paul Mahfood, who has been practicing since 1997, has made two major life changing decisions that he’s very satisfied with. After fulfilling a service obligation as a primary care provider for four years, he decided to leave the cold winters of Messina, NY behind and head for the year round sunny skies of Florida, where he opened Rheumatology Associates of South Florida. The second game changer was to implement Waiting Room Solutions EMR and Practice Management software to help his solo Rheumatology practice run more efficiently.

No stranger to EMRs, Dr. Mahfood used NextGen prior to opening his practice in 2010. “I didn’t like NextGen at all. Then I opened my own practice and I was looking for a Rheumatology EMR. I looked at Epic, eClinicalWorks and three other EMRs. Epic is too cumbersome. I received a referral for WRS and ever since then, I’ve liked it. WRS is very user friendly. The staff is responsive. They are very prompt with email responses. I don’t have any issues that I’m concerned about with WRS. I’m satisfied with the service,” said Dr. Mahfood in his review.

Make it Mine

Dr. Mahfood specializes in Rheumatology and he also provides some Internal Medicine services. He sees 12 to 16 patients a day and is associated with St. Lucie Medical Center. His forte is non interventional pain management, including conservative measures for pain control, pain medications, muscle relaxants and injections.

“I also have an X-ray suite in my office that is similar to the type found in hospitals that is digitally operated. I do X-rays of all the joints of the body and read the X-rays on the spot for patients. I also do muscular ultrasounds, looking at the joints and nerves that pass by the joints, the tendons, and ligaments and show the patients if there is any swelling or ganglion cysts of the wrist, elbow, shoulders, etc. I do a total comprehensive evaluation of the patients. I do a detailed analysis of the patient’s history. I put all of that (information) together and make some recommendations after I review all the types of management that are in existence,” said Dr. Mahfood.

Suit Yourself

With such a varied array of services and treatments that he performs, it is no wonder that Dr. Mahfood was intent on finding a web-based Rheumatology EMR that would allow him to incorporate Rheumatology templates and edit them to suit his practice style.

“In the beginning, when I started with WRS, I told them what I wanted. I use Visit2 as my templates. They modified the template for me for my own practice. It’s not a typical template you will find that other physicians will use. Whatever I recommend to WRS they have been willing to consider and modify,” said Dr. Mahfood.

Dr. Mahfood continued in his review, “The Physical Examination is crucial. I added joint anatomy, muscle anatomy and service anatomy (drawings) to the Physical Exam, which is unique to the system. I added these things to my system which will be applicable to any Rheumatologist in the country. I wanted to have a comprehensive template. When I see patients I not only talk with them, I do the old time physical exam. The visit is detailed. I submitted charts of what I wanted and WRS was able to modify most of the template. I wanted my neurological template to have more components, including a motor (responses) component and a sensory component. Overall, I think the template is superior to others I’ve seen.”

Making Changes on the Spot

What happens if Dr. Mahfood wants to modify a template at a particular moment? “One of the things I like about WRS Rheumatology EMR is that I can modify my templates on the spot, as I go. I can’t do that with Epic or eClinicalWorks. That was something I wanted to do. I can add any components under a category to my template that is fixed by the developer. For example, if I look on the muscular skeletal for head and neck, spine, pelvis, etc., under those subcomponents I can open up the window and add different parts. For head and neck, I can add, are there trigger points? I can add certain tests. I can talk about the post elements. I can actually detail the components of that aspect of the muscular skeletal system and when I click on that I have my own verbiage that is now entering in the chart, whereas with eClinicalWorks you can’t do that unless you go through the developer. I didn’t like that. With WRS I have the freedom to make changes on the spot, and that is good.”

The Right Way to Bill

Acknowledging in his review that his staff needed training in billing, Dr. Mahfood said, “We worked very nicely with Patti at WRS on that issue and they were very helpful in working things out for us. We don’t have any issues now in billing. WRS has increased the speed of reimbursements on revenues. WRS is very helpful in billing. Our billing has been enhanced compared to the paper drops and mails that were previously used. I think that it’s helpful that the coding gives some guidance as to whether or not you are under billing or over billing. These things are very helpful. The structure is set up nicely. I actually like the smoothness with which I can do the claims. On the same day ( that I see the patient) I submit the codes into the system on the procedure and system template and then my staff pulls it up and they see that the form is populated.They make sure it’s correct; they scrub it nicely and they submit the claim. I’m getting paid much more quickly. I’m in the top 1% of (claims) denials. My practice is superior to the national practice average of claims and denials in reimbursement,” he said.

Meaningful Use Made Easy

Noting in his review that WRS EMR e-prescribing capability is convenient for patients and that it’s faster than writing paper Rxs, Dr. Mahfood said that using e-prescribing enabled his practice to easily quality for Meaningful Use financial incentives. “The government requires e-prescribing to qualify for MU, so every time I use e-prescribing it is recorded and that is in my favor as far as the government is concerned. I’ve already received the first MU payment,” said Dr. Mahfood.

Lightening the Workload

How can a busy Rheumatologist lighten his office staff’s heavy workload so that they can focus more of their attention on patient care? “WRS Appointment Reminders and WRS Scheduling are working fine. It helps the staff,” said Dr. Mahfood.

Dr. Mahfood is also a regular user of another efficiency booster, WRS Fax Queue. “I think the Fax Queue is pretty efficient. It’s fast and it does a good job. The Fax Queue is a record of faxes that are being sent.”

Sunny Days

When reflecting back on his career, it appears that Dr. Mahfood is very pleased with his decisions. “When my service (in Messina, NY) was done they didn't want me to leave. I said, 'Unless you change your weather, I’m not staying,'” said Dr. Mahfood chuckling. In a more serious tone, he added, “All I want to do is simply serve patients. WRS Rheumatology EMR makes it easier to handle because I don’t have to sift through too many complicated processes to really get to what I need to do.”

First Impressions are Lasting

Finally, when summarizing his reasons for selecting WRS Rheumatology EMR, Dr. Mahfood offered this praise,“The first thing I liked about WRS was that it is user friendly. I can modify my templates to some degree as I go along. I like the comprehensiveness of all the templates. I can go through the demographics, the exam and the billing. WRS has training videos that are available. There are many things about WRS that I like that I would recommend.”

Rheumatology Testimonial