Specialty practices have to maintain a fast pace. They have to keep the patient flow flowing. One of the cardiologists who uses Medical Mime told me that if an EHR was going to slow him down, he would rather take a penalty because he can’t afford to have his practice slow down. Since he started with MedicalMime almost two years ago, he has achieved Meaningful Use designation and has never had to slow his practice productivity.

For our more mature physician clients, who are used to dictating clinical notes, they simply don’t want to accept sitting in front of a computer all day long. They would much rather dictate their notes with as little electronic interaction as possible, and they can focus on encounters with their patients and staff.


If you have a doctor who is 60 years old and wants to practice another eight or nine years, but doesn’t want to sit and learn how to click buttons and tabs, this is a way for the practice manager to get that doctor to qualify for Meaningful Use incentives and avoid penalties.

DOTmed News: Does it hold the potential to help hospitals save money?

DC: Studies have shown that template-based systems result in about a 20 percent slowdown in patient flow for the first three to six months after implementation. And in many cases, these doctors never rebound to optimal productivity.

If an average level-three or level-four visit is reimbursed at 100 dollars, and the doctor is used to seeing 30 patients a day, then a 20 percent drop would mean cutting 6 patients per day. That’s 600 dollars a day in revenue.

It’s tough for the physician trying to manage a practice on shrinking revenue. Plus, it’s tough for patients who are trying to get on the doctor’s schedule. So we can help by not letting them lose money.

The clinical narrative is based on the physician’s unique dictation for each individual patient, which makes the clinical record less likely to fail an audit. So they also save money by not losing audits.

The process flow and clinical documentation developed by Medical Mime "mimics" the optimal flow that physicians already prefer to use for managing patient encounters. Where physician practices are part of a group operated or owned by a hospital, Medical Mime can absolutely help save money.

Back to HCB News

More Voices