One of the most glaring shortcoming for cardiologists and other medical/endovascular/cardiovascular specialists is the inability to use ECW itself or the “smart forms” to generate or integrate/manipulate diagnostic test results in a user friendly fashion. Workflow will be helped by the ability to automatically transferred test results into progress note and forward all documents automatically to a referring physician by fax or electronically. Studies integral to cardiovascular clinical practice such as echocardiograms, stress tests, vascular studies, pacemaker/cardiac interrogation reports, event monitor rhythm strip/implanted loop recorder report which can be remotely downloaded, cardiac and vascular angiogram/interventions, etc. cannot be charted in a user friendly way. The EMR does not interact with diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound machines. I tried to use “smart forms” a couple of years ago but gave up due to the inability to come up with any functional and user friendly templates to report even a simple echocardiogram.
Each form was going to cost $750 . By that, I mean 750 for an exercise stress test template and an additional fee for a nuclear stress test template, a Lexiscan stress test report was also considered a separate template which required another fee.
We were unable to implement any smart form that would include robust templates to generate a 2D echo report that would meet minimal reporting standards for ICAEL accreditation. Keep in mind that there is an upcoming mandate for Medicare to integrate Prior authorization/Appropriate use criteria protocol to order cardiac diagnostic studies for Medicare patients in 2019.
I reviewed the “vascular module” presented at the recent users conference. It is a step in the right direction but falls short significantly when viewed from the standpoint of what is needed now.
We have been forced to resort to the use of a separate EMR to generate study reports and procedure notes for cardiac/vascular/vein procedures. Interestingly, ecw launched a module for ambulatory surgical center procedure scheduling and reporting.
I recall discussing with the folks at the exhibition center during the user conference. The cost was in the thousands monthly. By comparison, my current software was a one-time $3000 fee with annual renewal fee of less than $1000 for ongoing support. Let me repeat that I am able to use this software to easily document and generate standardized reports that meet current procedure reporting standards required for accreditation for: Echocardiograms, carotid ultrasounds, nuclear stress test, vascular ultrasounds, certain vascular procedures,etc. One-time installation/implementation fee and nominal annual support fee. Name of software withheld because the point of this post is not to advertise for a competitor , but rather to stimulate conversation and hopefully an initiative by ECW to make similar options available for its users and importantly not to over price such a module which is available from multiple other vendors. Since most medical specialists will also have to transmit/report study results and clinical outcomes to approved databases or directly to payers, interface options also need to be included in such a module.
I am hopeful that Ecw will come up with a workable solution especially now that it appears that more and more medical and surgical specialists are utilizing the software.