From: Nancy Guinn <NGuinn555@comcast

From: Nancy Guinn <NGuinn555@comcast.net>
Sender: IMPcohort2@yahoogroups.com
Mailing-List: list IMPcohort2@yahoogroups.com; contact IMPcohort2-owner@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:27:26 -0600
Subject: Re: [IMPcohort2] Cost per pt per month
Reply-To: IMPcohort2@yahoogroups.com

Gordon -

Speaking subjectively, I think that the information technology has given my practice a depth that it wouldn't otherwise have, but that charting is not faster than paper. If a patient has a question, I usually find the answer right then with them in the room via the internet, which is quite exciting. It means the care is data based and of higher quality. BUT it's not faster than the care they would receive from someone relying on their memory and maybe a PDA for dosing.

In a traditional practice, "someone else" does all the tasks mentioned - very inefficiently. I can do those tasks efficiently, but it would be even more "efficient" if I had someone paid to do it on my computer system while I just saw more patients. The information technology allows me to do it with a minimal staff, so again the trade is in "earning" time with my patients without sacrificing income as much as I would buy having to hire staff. I'm not advocating seeing more patients, as my brain wears out after seeing 10-12 people.

Nancy