W.Va. medical practice one of first in US, first in state to use Digital Physicians Office
HURRICANE, W.VA. – Dec. 14, 2011 – Alpha Technologies announced today that one of its medical clients is one of the first practices nationwide — and the first in West Virginia — to use a new paperless Digital Physicians Office (DPO) solution by Allscripts, Cisco and EXTENSION, INC.
Spectrum Family Care of Hurricane, W.Va., adopted the DPO when it opened its doors in September and the new inte- Spectrum Family Care of Hurricane, grated digital package has kept owners Drs. Michael and Lea Famularcano and their patients in better communication. Automated appointment reminders and personalized patient welcome messages have saved Spectrum a lot of time on regular house calls, while instant access to clinical data and a cost-effecient e-prescription option have significantly cut costs on paper and storage space. “It’s awesome. It takes a lot of the time out of the tasks I would normally spend a lot of time doing,” said Dr. Lea Famularcano. “No paper charts, no tabs for every patient. It’s modeled after what you want to see.”
The DPO solution by EXTENSION, INC. is the interface bewteen Allscripts MyWay™ template-free electronic health records application and the Cisco UC-500 Series IP telephone system.
“A practice with a call load range of 300 to 400 calls per day could potentially save about $96,000 a year using the DPO,” said Holly Benac, Partner Program Manager at EXTENSION, INC. “When appointments are scheduled, EXTENSION will automatically manage what notifications need to go to what patient and when,” Benac said. “It calls patients in a ‘text-to-speech’ phone call, and can let them know, for example, if they need to bring a certain medication.” Patients are also notified of an upcoming appointment via e-mail.
Programs like Allscripts MyWay have kept things user friendly at Spectrum, Dr. Lea Famularcano said. “With medical Programs like charts, everything you ask for is there, as far as the chief patient complaints,” she said. “For subsequent patient visits, it’s much quicker.”
An advanced interface also allows phone operators at Spectrum to view a patient’s demographic information through the phone system, helping staff route incoming calls to the right person or department. This helps the practice avoid missed appointments and revenue, while keeping patients in queue for the next available appointment, and helping those on the waiting list get in quickly to see the physician. And the new phone system has also saved administrative staff a few other unexpected headaches.
“We had a pharmacy that said we didn’t phone in a prescription at a certain time,” said Angela Sizemore, Practice Manager at Spectrum. Not so, according to the new phone system. “I had the proof that I phoned that prescription in within the outgoing call directory,” Sizemore said.
Alpha Technologies, the only licensed provider of Allscripts MyWay in West Virginia, provides DPO hosting, DPO installation and training for medical staff. More information is available at www.alpha-tech.us.
Contact:
Blaine Mullins
304.201.7485 Ext. 1029