What’s New In Atlas.md EMR?

Atlas.md EMR rolled out some new updates. Besides the improved features listed below, we also strengthened security measures to ensure better compliance with HIPAA standards.

Manage Your Shared Appointment Resources
Now your clinic can manage resources that they share in the practice facilities, such as a procedure room or a piece of equipment.

  • First, go to your Calendar page
  • Next, use the cog menu to add new resources (training facility, procedure room, portable EKG monitior, etc.)
  • Whenever you add an appointment, mark the resource you plan to use
  • Atlas.md EMR will alert you if there are any scheduling conflicts

Improved Search Feature
We built a new search engine to help you complete advanced searches, fast.

Redesigned Online Bill Pay
Now Atlas.md EMR’s Pay Online page works aesthetically with your own clinic’s logo. It also gives your patients quick access to all of their past invoices.

Universal Autocomplete Support
The autocomplete feature works wherever you enter text in Atlas.md EMR.

New “Do-Not-Refill-Before” Notices On Prescriptions
Now when you fax Rx and refills to pharmacies, your clinic will be more compliant with regulations.

To follow up on suggestions from pharmacists we’ve been talking to, now if a prescription has a DEA controlled drug and that drug can be refilled, we display a “Do not refill before MM-DD-YYYY” notice for the pharmacists.

New Medication Savings Included In Patient Invoices
Now your patients can see the value they’re saving in ordering medications from your pratice’s inventory. We use the GoodRx database, which gives accurate prices in pharmacies all over the country (see example below of what your patients will see).

More Batch Actions When Billing
Now you can use batch actions when you are billing companies, e.g. print or email a batch of invoices, or print a batch of envelope labels instead of going one by one

Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. Keep it coming so we can make Direct Care’s EMR that much better.

Women’s Health Works Better When Doctors Are Motivated To Inquire

Women are often considered drivers for healthcare in their families.

Unfortunately, Kaiser Family Foundation performed a study and found that many women face cost and logistical barriers to obtaining healthcare for themselves.

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Free Market Principles Make The Difference Between Life And Death

In Sonoma County, a man is battling more than a dozen tumors in his body.

Oh, and now he is fighting a different battle, says CBS News, with his insurance carrier, Anthem Blue Cross.

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Prescription Prices Are Too Damn High

Our nation loves prescriptions.

According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center, “Nearly 70% of Americans take one prescription drug and more than half take two.”

It gets better. Approximately 20% of Americans use at least five prescription medications. Imagine the cost savings if Direct Care doctors directly prescribed a majority of these at wholesale prices.

Prescription drug use has been increasing steadily in the U.S. for the last ten years.

So what drugs are being prescribed, and why?

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Posted by: AtlasMD

June 2, 2014

Doctors Are Talking: EHRs Destroy the Patient Encounter

KLAS, a national firm that measures EHR vendor performance, conducts an annual poll of healthcare providers, not only about the quality of their EHRs but also about make-or-break issues such as training, implementation, and support.

The gripes cover three main areas: One, EHRs have made the patient encounter far more annoying and complex than it ever was before.

Two, many physicians feel that EHRs take doctors who were trained to be independent thinkers and constrain their ability to make independent decisions, causing them to feel like data entry clerks, with a computer telling them how to practice medicine.

Last but not least, a large number of physicians feel that EHRs erode the doctor-patient relationship by creating a barrier between the two.

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Insurance-Based Primary Care Won’t Prevent Obesity

Recently, someone asked me on Twitter, “Has the change in classification of obesity as a disease affected how you treat patients presenting w/ the disease?”

The classification change in question is regarding the American Medical Association’s declaration that obesity is a disease rather than a comorbidity factor.

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Fist Bump, Doc? Handshake Ban Suggested in Health Care.

If a doctor, dentist or nurse reaches out to shake your hand, should you: (a) reciprocate and extend your hand, (b) shake at least once or twice but don’t pump or hold hands for more than five seconds, (c) make eye contact and smile while shaking or (d) recoil in horror, shove your hands deep into any available pocket and report the perpetrator to the nearest infection control specialist?

If you answered ‘d,’ then high five me. You understand the sorry state of hand hygiene in American health care and the toll it takes in spreading disease.

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Damn, Gawker. Way To Point Out The Prescription Drug In The Room.

You might think that the U.S. government’s small step towards a national healthcare system would somehow help bring the cost of prescription drugs down to reasonable levels.

“You could not be more wrong! You idiot!” writes Hamilton Nolan of Gawker.

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Over-Prescribing, Under-Prescribing, And The Fee-For-Service Catch 22

The federal government has granted itself potent new authority to expel physicians from Medicare if they are found to prescribe drugs in abusive ways, following through on a proposal issued earlier this year.

Excellent news! Now fee-for-service doctors can exist like Heller-esque protgaonists, trapped by the possibility of losing funding for over-prescribing, or losing funding by under-prescribing.

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The Medical Establishment Took The Treasury’s Keys

According to Uwe E. Reinhardt, an economics professor at Princeton, about half a century ago, organized medicine and the hospital industry in this country struck a deal with Congress.

In retrospect, it was as audacious as it was incredible: Congress was asked to surrender to these industries the keys to the United States Treasury.

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