Case Studies

Working in Multiple Locations is Easier with EMR

Dr Anita Fan is a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation who has been in practice in downtown Vancouver since 2009. She was a physiotherapist before going into medicine, which has been useful experience for her current work taking care of patients with disabilities. She implemented EMR as soon as she started her practice, having learned about it from a fellow specialist.

Advice to Colleagues

"Using EMR reduces the amount of paperwork, and will allow you to work more efficiently. The availability of patients' records anywhere and anytime on the internet helps those who work at different sites/hospitals/offices."

"For physicians who are still using paperwork, I think EMR is something they should consider. It is especially useful for physicians who work at different sites. It might be a chore having to scan their charts in to EMR when they first start using it, but the benefits EMR brings will make the efforts worthwhile."

"EMR has helped me as a physiatrist working in multiple sites," she says. "Instead of carrying charts around, all I need in each location is internet access, and all my patients' records for my clinic are readily available."

She loves the paperless system: "I can look up patients' information at home on EMR and read up on their lab or imaging results to prepare for my clinic the next day. I can check faxed reports or consult requests when I'm not physically in my office or even in Canada (on vacation for example), so I can deal with urgent matters more efficiently."

Dr Fan also finds that her EMR makes billing and filing easier and more reliable. "Billing is more efficient because the eligibility of the patient's health card status can be checked automatically as the patient's chart is created," she says. "Billing is built in to scheduling, which improves efficiency. EMR allows me to categorize information as it is faxed in, and this reduces the chance of lost information through paper filing."