Case Studies
Experienced MOA Says Learning Curve is Worth the Effort
Lin Beardsley is an MOA in a solo family practice in Victoria who has had a long and varied MOA career.
It seems she was fated to be an MOA – a career that she finds incredibly fulfilling on many fronts. "I was studying to become a lab tech, but my eyes disintegrated and I couldn't use the microscope anymore. The ophthalmologist who gave me the bad news actually offered me a job as his assistant!" she says.
When Lin started out as an MOA there were no formal training courses. After working in Ontario and in Colwood, BC, she took advantage of some medical leave to start her own company providing medical staff and efficiency evaluations. By identifying billing inefficiencies, she saved physicians thousands of dollars – for example by making sure they billed for hospital patients, who didn't come to the practice and therefore were never seen by the MOA. A natural next step was opening a school to train MOAs and dental receptionists.
Advice to Colleagues
"Research into the various vendor options is important. Speak to your colleagues, spend a day in the office of someone who's using the system you're considering. Take time off to research thoroughly."
"If you like knowing what's going on with the patients, and they expect you to know, talk to the physicians in your office. Find ways of staying informed, keep the lines of communication open."
"We cut the number of patient appointments by half – a 15 minute appointment, then 15 minutes to work with the EMR. We could update all the patient's info and make sure it was current, including stuff that wasn't on their paper chart. It's a terrific way of getting your charts up-to-date!"
"I would certainly encourage people to adopt EMR – the sooner you get on it the faster you'll start taking full advantage of it."
"I Love What I Do"
Lin missed getting to know patients, and the stability of a daily routine, so she returned to part-time MOA work. In 1991 she applied for a job with Dr Michael Mawdsley – they both came highly recommended to each other. "I asked the nurses at the hospital about him – they always have the scoop," she laughed. "They said he was really nice. So I applied, and he already knew me by reputation. I wanted to meet him first, so we did an interview." A few months later, she became full-time, and closed her school. "It's awesome, I love what I do," she said. "I tried to retire last Fall but I missed it too much."
Implementing the EMR
Lin and Dr Mawdsley implemented an EMR in 2010. It was a rocky road at first; Lin started using the front-desk applications a few months before Dr Mawdsley started using the clinical pieces, which Lin now thinks was a mistake. "It works so much better now that we're both using it and there's some consistency between what we're both doing," she said. "When I started, it was the only time I'd ever felt ready to quit. When he started using it too, the stress and struggle disappeared and everything made more sense."
Learning and Improving
As an experienced MOA, Lin was already running a very efficient practice. She finds that, because she's only been using the EMR for just over a year, "...some things in the EMR are less efficient than the way we ran things before – but we're trying to work it out. We need to find ways of doing things within the system we've got. For instance we're trying to make the pop-up alerts work better. Sometimes I still get stumped, but now I feel confident enough to look for the answer and try to fix it myself – I'm not scared of breaking it or losing patient data any more."
Taking time to learn the system at the beginning is important, says Lin. "The way I spend my day is completely different now, and we've got a lot to learn so we can manipulate the EMR to our advantage. It's a huge learning curve but once you get over it, it's OK."
Lin didn't spend a lot of time scanning old files into the new system, because she and Dr Mawdsley decided to work with a cut-off date – anything before the date stayed on paper, anything after it was electronic. If they need something pre-EMR, they can find it in the paper charts and scan it as needed.
Support from PITO
PITO staff were able to help with more than just funding. "The PITO rep was great," said Lin. "If I had any concerns I could call him, and it would be solved. It was good having them behind me." She is now getting more involved with PITO on different levels, offering her services as an MOA peer mentor and getting back into what she calls "teaching mode".
Is she glad they did it? "Yes," she said. "Overall it's worth it. I don't come in on Monday morning to a big stack of filing anymore. We're still learning; but I'm glad we started on it. We're still enthusiastic. I love the ease of booking appointments. I've actually written my own manual – in Canadian MOA language! – and I've sold copies to some offices. I hope it's making things easier for the MOAs using our EMR."