Yes I’m HOPD and use EPIC. We now have an AI tool but I still use templates and dot phrases. I feel as though my charting is fairly efficient while still being detailed. I however chart in every room. Otherwise I would spend my entire noon hr charting frantically to get done before my 1pm injection. Sadly my entire day feels like a race against the clock
How is epic to use? I’m switching from using Athena
it's not terrible once you get used to it I suppose. I probably only know how to use a fraction of its functions but get by pretty well
you recommend filtering what you want and dont want to see straight from the bat? Wouldnt that hurt volume when he/she/they are starting?
I gave a lot of people their copay back and canceled their first consult when it became clear to me I would not want that person to darken my doorstep again. You have to protect your future self. There was a self-pay guy who showed up, opened his wallet to fat wads of cash and asked if I prescribed norco. His appointment was canceled at the front desk.
Yes I recommend that, why bring negativity into the clinic? Yes it will hurt volume when starting but prevent the practice from filling with patients that cannot be helped or malignant personalities.
fair enough. Im not super busy atm 10-20 per day so I dont have the luxury of turning anyone away at the moment. I did let one go that wanted to pay cash for norco, though.
grasshopper
Ah yes when I was getting started last year I took on a patient (now known in clinic as "butthole lady") who I still dread seeing.
When the patient provides their demographics when scheduling their new patient appt, you can screen them by looking them up on the PDMP database.
In a zero medication clinic, what's your schedule look like? I assume slightly fewer office visits per clinic day seeing as you've removed all the 60 second med refill visits. I'd also assume relatively higher procedural volume otherwise I don't know why people would be coming in at all.
yea, good luck getting referrals if you dont do any medication management.
I have no problem with referrals. 3 month waiting list. You eval the patient. Rx pt, order imaging and labs, refer to surgeons, do emgs. The other half of the schedule is shots. No haggling with patients over medications. No phone calls to the office for refills. No pharmacy crap. Occasionally I’ll do a short course of prednisone. But that’s about it. Didn’t start off that way but kind of evolved to it. Primarily a spine and ortho practice. Not a ‘pain’ practice per se
Are you saying it’s naive to think one can run an opioid free clinic? Or like rly low opioid volume <<<10%
I prescribe very little opioids, maybe 1-2% of patients, all short-term except I think 5-6 patients total I see chronically. I do prescribe adjuvant meds though. I see about 60 clinic patients a week, half of them new. About 50-60 procedures per week, including shots, rfa, scs, kypho. Ortho practice. I only see spine. Booked out 4-6 weeks for clinic.
Well its not really a true pain practice then, is it?
Yes.
What is your referral base like? Are you a solo pain practice?
Don’t manage opioids.
Hospitals have purchased nearly everybody in my area as well.
Don't eat the home-made lasagna/soup/pastry your patient brings you, no matter how nice they are.
nice. PCPs had a huge hand in starting the opioid train. Now they've jumped off just to let the train crash into the Pain station. You can't convince me why a non-pain doctor cant prescribe pain meds within guidelines and MED <20. It's not rocket science.
I just ate Alaskan salmon a patient brought me. I admit I was waiting for amebic dysentery for a few days after
I think pain docs are equally complicit and an equally proportionate number refuse to prescribe opioids despite calling themselves pain docs. There are numerous young PCPs that had nothing to do with the pain train that feel the same way you do about their local pain docs. Just look at this thread 🤣
I have a patient who brings in fish jerky he makes from rainbow trout. It’s really tasty.
