Serenity Update

I just wanted to give you all an update on Serenity EMR. As many of you know we received our certification in May of this year. Since that time all of our clients (including my office) have been gathering meaningful use data. I'm excited to say that this last week we received our first meaningful use check in the mail. Kind of makes it worthwhile for all the work we've put into this.

When I decided to create an EMR system, it started out as a financial practicality. Coming out of residency 14 years ago I could not afford any good systems. So I created my own. Now I'll admit that the first version was 'good enough to get the job done' but definitely had room for improvement. After a few years I decided that I could afford a system so I called a few vendors and visited with salesmen at my office.

After talking with people for about an hour I get the details: Costs will be $40-$100,000. Plus periodic updates for thousands of dollars. Installation can begin in 4-6 months (there is a waiting line). Training takes 3-6 weeks on their system. And when I really dig through the system I find out that for me to write a single progress note, it now takes 3-4 minutes LONGER per note than it did using my system or dictating. That means if I'm seeing 30 patients per day, I now have 90+ minutes of extra work per day!

Personally, I found that insulting. I was already working too hard! You are already working too hard! Do not let some EMR company create even more work for you! I decided to jump in with both feet and make a great EMR system. Now, several years later I can say that we've arrived.

Reasons Serenity EMR is Better

In my way of thinking there are several things that we do better than every other system on the market. They are:

1. Ease and speed of writing progress notes. There is no other system on the planet that allows the doctor to complete his or her work as fast as ours.
2. Ease and speed of training. When a new student comes through my office, it usually takes 15 minutes of training to get to the point where she can find everything in the chart and write a good progress note.
3. Ease and speed of updates. I am making updates to the program on a daily basis. New updates come out several times per month with dozens of new features and improvements. And Serenity checks for updates and downloads them while you're doing other work so you never even notice.
4. Ease and speed of installation. From the time your equipment is set up, we can typically install remotely and configure your system in 1-2 days then begin training. Training a typical office takes 8 - 12 hours. Not weeks.
5. Cost and Risk. You don't need a lawyer to get out of your contract! Basically the cost is $500 per doctor per month. This gives you all updates and technical support you need. If you ever find a better system you stop paying and you're done. Simple. By the way, you don't have to worry about that. So far 100% of our clients are continuing with us and very happy. We are the second, third, or even fifth EMR for some clients. But whether we are your first EMR or your seventh, we will be the last one you ever buy!
6. Created by me. Many EMR systems can say they are 'created by doctors' or have a board of physicians involved with their development. I'm different in 2 ways. First, probably half of the code written in Serenity EMR was written directly by me. Second, I care more about efficiency and workflow than almost anyone else I've met. Any of you that have been to my conferences know this is true.

I see patients 3-4 days per week. As I see patients, I have a notepad next to my computer. Every time I find something that is needed or something that can be improved I write it down. This is usually several pages per week. I spend 2-3 days per week writing changes into the program then test them in my office the next week. I know immediately what works and what doesn't. And if I miss something, my nurses are very quick to bring to my attention any problems. And by problems I mean anything that is harder or takes longer than it should (I'm sure you have nurses like that also). When it is working like it should, we deploy this release to all of our clients along with an email explaining the new features.

And unlike every other EMR company out there, I filter every change I make through one lens:

Will this allow me to get my work done quicker and more accurately?

In a series of newsletters over the next few weeks, I'm going to highlight several of these topics further. I'm hoping to include some videos of the program "in action" to show you how it does its job so well.

If you are interested in learning more, visit our website at www.SerenityEMR.com. Schedule an interactive demo so you can see the specifics of how it works and have any questions answered by one of our senior trainers. See how Serenity EMR can help you streamline your practice. My motto for the last 15 years needs to become yours: Go home earlier!