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Ernie Bowling, OD MS, FAAO

Gadsden, Ala.

For the past four years, Ernie Bowling, OD, has been using drchrono software at his two-location solo practice in northeast Alabama. Having been initially impressed with the capabilities of a free, beta-test version of the software, Dr. Bowling has since become an enthusiastic customer, largely because drchrono offered a solution to his practice’s pressing need for a modern, flexible EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system.

“We had to do something in our office. The filing cabinets were overflowing,” he explained. Dr. Bowling, a veteran practitioner who had previously used some forms of EMR, had a clear idea of what he was looking for.

He said, “I did some research and had a checklist of what I needed the platform to do. It was pretty simple at the onset. I wanted an electronic medical record system, but I wanted it to be iPad-based. I liked the freedom of movement with the iPad and did not want to place a monitor in each exam room. If you’re not careful, you end up talking to the CRT screen, not the patient, and I didn’t want that.”

A key reason Dr. Bowling chose drchrono was because he wanted a Mac-based platform. “I personally feel the Mac platforms are more intuitive, and the learning curve is not as steep. I also wanted a cloud-based system. I had used an in-office server in the past but was not happy with that system.”

Having an EMR system that was easy to implement and use was a priority for Dr. Bowling and his staff. “My staff and I, we’re all long in tooth, shall we say. I wanted something they could learn quickly,” he noted.

Dr. Bowling also likes the fact that drchrono is customizable. “I didn’t want to have somebody else’s template and have to plug my data into theirs,” he said.

Now Dr. Bowling has six iPads that he and his staff use at their two practice locations that all run drchrono software. However, he and his staff don’t use all of the software’s capabilities, such as billing, patient recall, appointment confirmation, email and text messaging, although he is considering how to take advantage of some of those features.

“I am always talking with my staff about how we are still not making optimal use of all the bells and whistles the system provides. For example, it does online appointment scheduling and will notify the patients of their upcoming appointments electronically if you so choose. I do not use their electronic claims filing, but it is another one of those technologies we need to make use of.”

Dr. Bowling’s biggest concern about switching to an iPad-based system was how his patients would like it compared to the traditional paper-based medical record system they were used to.

“There were some initial hiccups but I was very surprised at how readily most of my patients adapted. There have even been comments about how high-tech we are. I found it amusing that when word got out that we were adopting electronic records many of my senior patients brought their grandkids in to help them with the process.”

akarp@jobson.com