AAO 2023: ModMed's new initiative simplifying the charting process

Michael Rivers, MD, Senior Director of Ophthalmology at ModMed spoke with Modern Retina about their new single-screen initiative and the benefits it could have for saving time and simplifying communication within practices.

Video Transcript

Editor's note - This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Sydney M. Crago:

Hi, I'm Sydney Crago with Modern Retina, and I'm here today talking with Dr. Rivers about ModMed's new single screen initiative. Dr. Rivers, can you share a little bit about this new initiative with ModMed?

Michael Rivers, MD:

Absolutely. What we found is that more and more of our clients are seeing more and more patients that the number of patients with retinal diseases, glaucoma, cataracts continues to increase. And so there's a burden of documentation that's necessary, usually, because of MIPS, or because of compliance issues, there's certain things that have to be done. So, what we've tried to do is streamline this workflow in the clinic, so that the entire clinical care team could document more quickly and efficiently

Sydney M. Crago:

So with these efficiencies, what are some things that may benefit ophthalmologists in their practice and kind of how they are running their business?

Michael Rivers, MD:

Well, as an example, we look at the patient workflow, the patient journey very closely. So the visit starts before the patient gets there, in our workflow. Patients are able to add new medications, add new diseases that they may have, so that when the technician sees them, the technician can very quickly just confirm that those new diseases are true. And add that to the electronic health record. That helps streamline the technicians workflow. But as, as you know, every ophthalmologist has a clinical care team. Some of our retina specialists have 5 or 6 clinical technicians and scribes that helped them get through a typical day. So we looked very carefully at their workflows to make sure that they can document what they need for the exam. Once you get into the exam room, the physicians very easily can add findings.

So, as an example, if a patient has a new change, he has a new hemorrhage, we have a single textbox for the entire exam can be entered in that single textbox. You type the first 3 letters of hemorrhage, and several different findings will pop up automatically, you touch the one that you like on the iPad, and it automatically puts it into the correct part of the exam. Our system knows that a hemorrhage in the conjunctiva is different than a hemorrhage in the macula. So it helps to speed up documentation of the exam.

And then finally, with impressions and plans, we have a, an automated system, where once you pick the particular impression, "I have a patient with wet macular degeneration," you can decide what specific things are being done for the patient, and that can be teed up automatically. So if for a follow up patient for wet macular degeneration, "I always want to do an OCT, and it's likely I'm going to do an injection with a certain drug, and then I want to see the patient in a month," a couple of clicks, and that populates the chart so it helps to speed up the documentation.

Sydney M. Crago:

Fabulous. And this is a new initiative for ModMed. So when will this be available for ophthalmologists to use?

Michael Rivers, MD:

Well, it's been running out for the last couple of years. We're getting close to finishing it, but most of it is available currently.

Sydney M. Crago:

Thank you so much for your time and sharing with us today, and I look forward to hearing more about ModMed and AAO.

Michael Rivers, MD:

Thanks very much for your time today.