EMRs Cutting Doctor-Patient Time

A recent article in American Medical News "Don't let EMRs cut into your doctor-patient time" describes a situation where the interaction between a physician and his patient is diminished and less intimate because he was stuck behind a computer screen trying to document the encounter.

That's what DRT - Discrete Reportable Transcription is all about. Why force a doctor to type his or her own note or search for the right diagnosis on a computer screen. Physicians should be focused on their patients, not their keyboards. DRT allows physicians to dictate their patient visits, leaving more time to improve their patient's health. The transcribed information is delivered directly into the system as discrete data.

The Value of Discrete Data

With Discrete Reportable Transcription (DRT) a dictated note can be inserted into a patient's medical record within a practice wide EMR. The difference between DRT and a standard import feature many EMR provders offer is that a DRT solution inserts discrete data. With the data being discrete, even a dictated and transcribed portion of a patient encounter allows for the same benefits one would receive through other means of documenting such an encounter within the EMR itself. Therefore, it allows for searching or reporting on data within an EMR which has been dictated. For example, discrete data makes it easy if a Practice Manager wants to find out how many patients have a history of smoking or an Orthopaedic practice needs to find out who has been referred to a certain Physical Therapist. DRT isn't just transcription, because the data provided becomes much more valuable than words. Make sure your EMR is DRT enabled.