Family Practice Achieves Smooth Workflow with WRS EMR

Thinking about opening a solo practice? Office space? Check. Medical equipment? Check. Office furniture? Check. Hire office staff? Check. An EMR system? Check. Not so fast. An EMR that lacks an integrated practice management system and billing capabilities could presage trouble for a newbie medical practice.

A look at the experience of Dr. Rizvi, who opened his eponymous family practice in 2009 in Upland, CA opens a window on the myriad benefits of starting a medical practice with WRS fully integrated Family Practice EMR and Practice Management System.

Integrated EMR and PM Solution

When Dr. Rizvi purchased a 20-year-old practice from a physician who was retiring, his priority was to start his solo practice with an EMR. “I started looking for an EMR in late 2009. I wanted to have a fully integrated Family Practice EMR where I could do management and billing too,” said Dr. Rizvi.

Dr. Rizvi treats patients of all ages. He sees about 30 patients a day in his office and if patients become hospitalized, he treats them in the hospital.

Pointing out in his testimonial that he evaluated eClinicalWorks and Quest Labs’ Care360, Dr. Rizvi said, “I did not really like them. They did not have management or billing, or a good feeling, or a good workflow like WRS has. WRS was the only company that provided everything that I wanted. The EMR should have a good EMR and it should also have management and billing built into it. A lot of electronic health records have either just the EHR where you just do health records, but you cannot do billing, management, or scheduling, etc. through them, and that was my criteria.”

Dr. Rizvi, who also looked at Cerner, said, “For a hospital it probably works, but for a clinic it’s just too cumbersome. WRS flows. They made Cerner with hospitals in mind. I don’t think they work on the clinic side.”

I Did it My Way

Pointing out in his testimonial that prior to his own practice he was employed at Kaiser Permanente, where he used EPIC, Dr. Rizvi said, “EPIC is good for their clinics. When I opened my own practice, I wanted to have a good EMR system that would work according to my needs and that’s how I came to WRS. WRS was easy to learn.”

Web-Based is the Way To Go

Having a web-based system is crucial for several reasons. “I was looking for a web-based Family Practice EMR. A web-based system was important because it is low cost. WRS is accessible. I can access it from my home and from other places on the weekend, if I need to do anything, such as document patients. I can access it from anywhere I like. I just need an Internet connection. I can look up the chart if a patient calls me about something. If a doctor calls me and they need to know something about a patient’s history, I can log in and tell them exactly what they are asking for. In an emergency situation, it sometimes helps, to say, ‘okay this might be what it is’ and it helps a lot for another physician to make a decision,” said Dr. Rizvi.

Good EMR With An Integrated Workflow

So how does WRS get Dr. Rizvi through the day without a single glitch? “It starts at the front desk when the patient checks in. When a patient checks in, my front desk can verify their eligibility with their insurances. They can put a lot of data in, such as the patients’ email addresses and we can communicate with them. My nurse can access WRS EMR and put a lot of data in too, regarding the patients’ pharmacies and their integrated health records. When I see the patient I can go over it, I can prescribe medications through WRS, I can order tests through WRS, I can look at previous records through WRS. When I close a chart it goes to my biller and she can simultaneously bill using the codes that I did. We can be done with billing in the same day,” said Dr. Rizvi.

Cash Flow is Good

Dr. Rizvi continued his testimonial, “I‘ve seen a much better improvement in revenues, I’ve seen much better cash flow. Through the billing system, we can track which claims were rejected.  We get the electronic rejections and we can fix the problem quickly. We don’t have very many rejections. The last time, we had 99.9% accuracy,” said Dr. Rizvi.

When queried how his Office Manager rates WRS, Dr. Rizvi said, “She never complains. She can do a lot of things that previously she would have to do a different way when we were using aDOC which is Practice Management. That was old. WRS is an integrated system, so we can do everything in one place. We don’t have to do multiple tasks in multiple systems.”

Email Me

These days, Dr. Rizvi is communicating with his tech savvy patients. “Messaging is really good. The patients who are computer savvy are using it. The messaging part is very good. We can email back and forth. We use it for non emergency, basic patient questions for basic needs. We can communicate better. This frees up the staff,” stated Dr. Rizvi.

Fax Queue Gets Thumbs Up

There are ordinary fax machines. And there is WRS Fax Queue. “WRS Fax Queue works great. It keeps our regular fax machine pretty non crazy. I see a lot of patients in the hospital. We get a lot of faxes, which go directly to the EMR and then we can attach it the patients’ files pretty easily. Then it is part of the medical record directly. It reduces one step. We use the old fax for some things, but we rely on WRS Fax Queue more,” said Dr. Rizvi.

Documentation at Its Best

WRS is also enabling Dr. Rizvi to provide better documentation. “I can document more and I can bill appropriately for my time. Before that when writing it out, you can’t really write a whole lot. But with WRS Family Practice EMR you can document in more detail,” said Dr. Rizvi, adding, “I applied for Meaningful Use. WRS helped a lot. I got two year’s worth of money already. I got the reimbursement in 2011 and this year. WRS helped me meet the criteria. It was because of WRS that I received that money. I was also proactive, looking at it every other day or every other month to keep up with it. WRS has help tools that can help you out with that. That helped a lot in that way.  If I had a question, I could shoot an email to WRS and they answered all of my questions.”

Electronic Prescribing Gets High Fives

Another win/win for physicians and patients is WRS e-prescribing capability. “E- prescribing is wonderful. The Rx goes directly through the system and when the patient goes to the pharmacy the prescription is ready. Patients love it because they don’t have to take the Rx to the pharmacy and wait 30 minutes. This way they can just go and pick up the Rx. It helps me keep track of what I’m prescribing. There’s no confusion about what prescription I’m prescribing. That is very helpful. It helps me to be aware of potent drug interactions. It helps me put a red flag on certain things that can be potentially dangerous,” said Dr. Rizvi in his testimonial.

Reminders are Key

According to Dr. Rizvi, his patients benefit from receiving WRS EMR email reminders.“Patients really like email reminders because then they can know for sure they have an appointment coming up or they need to make an appointment. WRS helps us send reminders for their health check ups. It also helps patients keep track of that. The system sends reminders for mammograms, PAP smears, healthy check ups and yearly physicals, or if they are due for immunizations as well as regular appointments for diabetes and blood pressure checks and other things.

No Deciphering Handwriting

WRS also assists Dr. Rizvi in raising the bar when it comes to his referral notes. “The note is documented so clearly, the physician doesn’t have to guess on my handwriting. It’s clear and clear cut and it’s all typed in so they won’t have any difficulty reading my notes.

Dr. Rizvi is humble when he says, “Our philosophy is to take care of the patient in a full manner. We believe in giving the patient appropriate time and giving patients good access cause access is really important. Sometimes we give same day appointments and we try to accommodate them in every shape and form that we can. I also work at San Antonio Community Hospital and I take care of my patients. It’s a good idea for my patients if they would like me to continue care in the hospital, so there’s a continuity of care across the spectrum of settings.”

Finding Time to Chill

You’re probably wondering if WRS frees Dr. Rizvi to pursue work outside of the office. “It helps me a lot in managing my clinic so in the long term you could say I have a little bit more time with my family that I would not, if I did not have WRS. If I were not using the management and billing part, I would probably be working more. We have long weekend drives, we go to the beach and I have a salt water aquarium at home that I have more time to work on. I have a Queen Angel that is pretty nice looking,” he said in his testimonial.

Kudos to His Staff

When queried if there is anything special about his office, which is located about 50 miles from Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, it’s apparent that Dr. Rizvi values his staff far more than any decorative elements. “We don’t have anything special per se. It’s a regular clinic with regular stuff, but my staff is pretty special. I have a nurse, front desk staffer and Office Manager. The quality of my staff makes a big difference. My patients love them. I think they come more for them, than for me,” stated Dr. Rizvi.

Caring for Patients

When asked if he could reveal the secret for the good health of his oldest patient who is 105-years-old (that’s not a misprint), Dr. Rizvi said,“Her family is very helpful in that situation. They are on top of things. We communicate better and we have all of these things documented, so it’s a combination of team care and team work. I go to see her at the nursing home. I also get a reminder that is part of WRS system, that it is time to go see her,” said Dr. Rizvi in his testimonial.

Summing up his decision to implement WRS from the get-go, Dr. Rizvi had several factors that influenced him. “I knew WRS was created by a physician. I was pretty impressed by the quality. What sold me was the practice management and the EMR. Those were two great things that helped me decide. It was also affordable. WRS customer service is good. I use email and they get back to us pretty quickly. I do not see anything that is short of my expectations.”

Family Practice Testimonial