But, he has this thing of always having new newish Lexus. He’s lived here almost 10 years and has had three sets of cars. He gets two news ones at a time – one for him, one for not-working wife.

If you ask me, spending close to $70-100K on cars every three years is idiocy.

So the moral of my story is — remember that cars are a bad investment and that leasing usually isn’t a money saver!

So should we paraphrase Matthew 5: “Blessed are the Geeks, for they shall inherit healthcare?”

1.Let your consultants know why you are consulting them…..Just think if you had an EMR that would automatically write a referral note from the EMR to consultants, and also place a “message” in the doctor’s EMR que to call the specialist..
2.Don’t consult until you have done the reasonable things that precede consultation. Your note would include the medications, and also your EMR algorithm would have tests linked to the diagnosis
3. Call the ER if you are sending patients there.. Makes sense, especially if you do it in front of the patient and/or their spouse, parent, etc. Imagine also having a hospital “portal” that you could transmit information from your office visit from your EMR
4.Don’t order tests if you don’t know what you would do with the results. Even worse is the duplication of tests, and loss of results. An EMR would record the orders and the results would automatically be placed in the record.
5. Patients aren’t noncompliant to be mean to you. The EMR and Prescription writing capability will print out a summary of medication(s), doses, side effects, etc.
This is reinforced at the office visit. (they still may not do it, but you can make a quick note in the EMR and it will be documented
6. When you sign an insurance contract, don’t be surprised when the insurance company follows that contract: Your EMR and RXwriter has different formularies that can be called up by the EMR when you write the RX.
7. Always remember the cost of what you do. Ditto here….
8. Run your practice like a business. You are compassionate (to the point of being abused by the whole system.). I agree strongly here….you pay your staff to deal with these issues, so that you will make medical decisions without financial concerns. Let your attorney and accountant deal with HMOs and contracts… Your PMS should be able to calculate what you lose or gain from various procedures or tests when dealing with pre paid contracts or modified fee for services.
9. Look away from others’ cars in the doctor’s parking lot: Buy used cars…KIAs, Hyundais are great values. If you want a “cult car” buy a “SMART CAR” brand new about 10,000-12,000 dollars.
10. Prepare for change: Amen to all of this, and a good EMR/Health Information and PMS will give you all the FACTS. And as Sargeant Friday used to say (for those too young to remember this TV show he was the main character of the predesesors to CSI and NYPD.

Addendum: Be sure your EMR is CCHIT certified…so it will be compatible with the NHIN and RHIOs