Practice nets over $1 million from EHR adoption
Five years after adopting an electronic health record (EHR) system, a North Carolina ophthalmology practice saw a 41% return on investment, and netted roughly $1.2 million in revenue, according to a new report.
Asheville, NC-Five years after adopting an
“(The success) was a combination of more efficient uses of resources and eventually in productivity gains,” said Robert Wiggins, MD, of Asheville Eye Associates, NC, and lead author of the report.
While the 13-provider practice switched to an EHR in 2006, costs initially increased due to the hiring of IT staff, software maintenance, and scanning paper records, stated the report, which was published in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Asheville Eye Associates were able to pay off its initial investment in hardware and software, amounting to $500,250, in less than 3 years, according to the study.
The report went on to state that process changes driven by the EHR eventually led to efficiencies, which lowered staffing needs related to medical records, transcription, billing, check-out, and appointment schedule.
Furthermore, the system acted as an earnings driver by enabling EHR Meaningful Use incentive payments, which increased productivity in the later stages, which made claims submission faster and more accurate.
The ability of the physicians to send prescriptions electronically to the optical department produced incremental optical revenues as well, ranging from $216,000 to $385,000 per year.
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