TouchWorks EHR

Generally, this is a pretty good platform to use. It is simple to learn, reasonably well organized, and no-nonsense. Additionally features could make this go from good software to something really excellent.

Avantages

Allscripts has a tremendous capacity to store, and organize (reasonably well), a patient's various documents. For instance, there are tabs for notes, reports, hospital documents, etc. These tabs are very easy to use, and as long as the office staff is scanning things appropriately, it is pretty easy to find a patient's records and reports UNLESS the patient is complicated and there is simply a lot of documentation. In that case, it would be nice to have a quick way to change/adjust the titles of certain documents (i.e. instead of just including "MRI XX/XX/XXXX, letting someone write in PREOP MRI MM/DD/YYYY) so physicians and users could glance quickly into the chart and retrieve things easily.

The notes feature is easy to use, and does not crash often, which is very helpful when you are busy seeing patients. The notes are also pretty clearly listed, which is helpful.

The billing features are straightforward, and it is easy to generate a consult letter.

Inconvénients

It would be helpful to be able to mark documents/results as important and to modify their titles. For instance, as a surgeon I would be thrilled if I could add PREOP MRI to a document name/title.

For some reason, Allscripts outpatient does not always import lab results from its inpatient product, Sunrise (also made by Allscripts). Occasionally, it is much easier for me to view my patient's labs in Sunrise, necessitating having both programs open. Also, the layout for the lab results leaves something to be desired. It is time consuming and tedious to scroll through the documents, and there is no trend feature or easy dashboard to use.

It would also be wonderful if I could easily import labs and results into my notes. Currently I have to go through everything manually.

Avantages

Easy lay out and easy to use. it has all the aspects of EHR like eRx, faxing, internal communications.

Inconvénients

If you want support for your equipment, you have to purchase all hardware and software through them at 3 times the cost. We were trying to upgrade and their estimate included "education and training" for 3 years. When I asked to have it either removed or brought down to 1 year since we won't need it, they refused because it's what they think is best for us. Their monthly maintenance fees are very high and any updates I can't do myself, I have to pay extra to them. We were looking to switch to cloud based version but their fee is so high which didn't work for us either. In other words, once they got you and you are stuck with them, anything you want to do will cost you a fortune.

I truly do like this program and it is a significant part of our practices day-to-day functions. When it goes down clinic is highly negatively impacted. I would absolutely recommend this program and paired with Allscripts PM. Both are EXTREMELY ESSENTIAL is helping our practice run efficiently.

Avantages

can view schedule and check in/discharge patients, holds all patients records and notes, i like the layout of individual patient's charts, the fact that you can scan in documents including insurance cards/ID's and designate where to drop them

Inconvénients

freezes frequently, organization of general layout could be better, more breakdown of ways to search for a patient chart, crashes OFTEN, LARGE ISSUE WITH ALLSCRIPTS PM CROSSING OVER TO ALLSCRIPTS CLOUD EHR!!

Charting consistently on the system over years allows for continuity of care in our office. Overall the system is efficient and allows me to meet my objectives of charting on my patients.

Avantages

It is helpful to make specific templates for each problem. This saves a lot of time which is helpful when you have a busy day of patients. Clicking on pertinent positives and negatives with the ability to add comments all build the note together nicely.

Inconvénients

Usually the only issues we have with Allscripts is that it tends to freeze. Then we get kicked out of the system which is frustrating since it wastes a lot of time. It is not always clear if this problem comes from Allscripts itself or is in part due to our internet connection.

I was able to get referrals and orders sent to other facilities a lot quicker and easier.

Avantages

The internal fax that was included in the software. It made it very easy and accessible to fax documents and records in Allscripts EHR. It wasted less paper by allowing us to fax things (ie; lab orders, diagnostic test orders, referrals) to other facilities rather than print it out and manually fax it from a fax/copy machine.

Inconvénients

There was no shortcut to find documentation. I would have to search through documents by dates to find different messages or things that were scanned in. Once I was able to find what I was searching for then it was easy to locate the document again.