I thought I’ve already heard of all the systems out there.

Apparently, not all, because I was actually shocked to hear when I heard about a doctor in Bacolod and 1 doctor in Makati using Trello (premium) as their EMR.

I personally use Trello everyday and we also use it for sprints here at SeriousMD. We’ve never even imagined Trello being used for medical records at all.

You might be wondering why I’m even bothering to make a blog post about it and promoting a possible competitor.

You see, we have no problems with competitors. People have the right to choose and doctors that are using competing system probably saw them before they saw SeriousMD or maybe even before we existed.

We are perfectly comfortable with what we are doing, with our technology, with what we are offering and we are surely confident with our service.

With that out of the day, I wanted to give Trello a try as an EMR to actually see the positives and flaws. Hopefully, by the end, it can help somebody out there to make a better decision for his or her medical practice.

The Setup

Of course, there will be multiple ways, perhaps doctors using Trello now as their EMR might consider something simpler.

For me, I’ll integrate a queue list, a patient list and a procedure list as well as the calendar power-up. I will also use Labels and a Chrome extension to really maximize the whole Trello experience.

The make believe doctor (me in this case) will have 2 clinics & 1 secretary.

Here’s my finished product. You can actually copy it if you find it useful. The board is separated to a few lists.

• List 1: General Notes
• List 2: Patient list
• List 3: Queue for Clinic 1
• List 4: Queue for Clinic 2
• List 5: Procedures list
• List 6: In-Patients list

Workflow

I will keep the workflow as simple as possible.

You have a list for all patients. 1 card = 1 patient. This includes all patient details + pictures. If there are labs, just dump it all in there. Billing is tracked within each card per patient.

There’s a queue for each clinic. My imaginary secretary moves the patients to the queue, assigns the date and can reorder the queue as needed.

Labels can be used to track certain things like HMO’s.

Due date is used to note scheduled procedures or when the patient’s appointment is. For the in-patient list, I used due date to keep track of admission date.

At the end of the day, the patients in the queue are moved back to the patient list. Same with discharged patients.

That’s literally it.

The Test

For this experiment, I brought this to 5 doctors and we tried it for a few times to identify the common pros and cons.

I will break it down to 4 sub-categories below so I can fairly judge using Trello as an EMR system and a practice management software as well.

1. Keeping Patient Records

One of the things I imagined before getting started with this was how I’ll be able to keep patient records. Well, if you’ve used Evernote before, you basically keep adding new notes, this time, you put it in the Comments box.

Click Attachment if you want to attach files and media. Add non-medical related information in the Description area and label the card as needed.

It works. It can store patient data though it’s not structured, which means it’s useless for reporting.

2. Schedule and Queueing

Queueing is simple at the start. You just move the patient card to the correct queue but it will be a mess eventually because you or your staff will have issues moving card back and forth. You’ll eventually stop adding dates, too because it’s so tedious.

3. Working with Your Staff

It’s super easy to invite. Permissions are pretty easy to control but it’s lacking.

Basically, your team/staff can either add, edit or not but they have full access to the data on the board.

4. Mobility

The Trello app was recently updated to allow offline data access. I’m not sure how much data it saves offline though if I have other active boards that have a lot of data so I’ll have to test that further.

I can definitely access it offline when moving around on the iPhone and access it on the iPad. Just make sure it syncs so you’d have your data with you when going around.

Positives

• 1 card = 1 patient
• Simple data input workflow = Open the card, input data in the comments, take pictures, close the card
• Offline use for the app is now available. Remember to sync.
• I can bring the app with me when I’m moving around

Flaws

• You would prefer to see everything in 1 board.
• The power ups can’t be used in the app at the moment.
• Labels can be hard to track. You’ll need a Trello Chrome extension to properly show you what you labels mean.
• You’ll have to keep a template card on the board at all times.
• Data is not structured, so you cannot ever run reports.
• No printing. You’ll basically be writing your prescriptions etc.
• Virtually no support for your needs because it’s not really made for medical use.
• Slows down as more cards are added to the board. You’ll start to feel the slow down when you hit around 500 active cards on older devices.
• Paying for premium doesn’t offer you something that you can use for your medical practice
• Workflow looks like it will be a lot more work for the staff and for the doctor. I outlined 1 workflow here but I thought and tried other workflows and they didn’t perform any better.
• Tracking billing is impossible without double entry
• Tracking HMO’s well, you can use labels but I’m pretty sure you won’t remember which label is which.
• Permissions are lacking, pretty sure this won’t pass the DPA if it was really strict.
• Very easy to publicly share a board, which enables your whole patient database to be accessible. (Accidents can happen. I remember we had a delete button in our app, the app asks 3-4 times to confirm the delete and accidental deletions still happened. So, we removed the function completely!) See for yourself in the image below, it takes 1 click.

The Verdict

If you want to use it for your personal use just simply to add notes and you don’t really care about the future implications, then you definitely can use this.

It’s actually better than some of the EMR’s out there right now.

At the end of the day, it boils down to one thing.

Can you survive with just Trello to be your EMR or practice management app?

My short answer is no. The long answer is it depends on how patient you are.

Though I love Trello, it isn’t really built for medical use nor is it built for the regular clinic workflow.

You won’t have the databases you need for ICD, nor for medicines, you can’t print, you can’t really do much besides keeping a picture of the patient and keeping pictures of lab results, which will be all jumbled together inside a card. You’ll end up using other apps in tandem and saving the file in the card or attaching a link like a Google Sheet link.

Just imagine this: 1 of your patients probably has a folder full of notes and lab results. Now, how can you put those inside a single Trello card and manage to find what you need? Just that alone should be enough to let you know how this will work out for you.

I’ve also seen doctors use other softwares that are built for Spas, basically handling the appointments of “facilities” – then the software just had a text box for notes. Much like Trello, those kinds of software really shouldn’t be used for medical notes nor should you expect anything more.

There are “workarounds” for software workflows… you can make some parts of an app work with what you need, but there are workarounds to just be stubborn. It’s not efficient at all when you admit it to yourself.

In the future, standards for healthcare data will be implemented and since you are keeping unstructured data in these boxes, you’ll end up with wasted time, wasted effort and of course, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to use the data you’ve inputted in such software at all.

In short, let’s just say that it isn’t future-proof.

Adding a workflow can be the detrimental part as it’s not build for it, there will be a lot of manual things, like moving patients from the queue back to another list. There are also limitations with the workflow you can implement.\

My final verdict, is a clear no.

I cannot recommend it to any doctors that want to use it as an EMR or a practice management app.

Use it instead for what it was built for, to track other projects, tracking department tasks or handling daily to-do lists.

—

Exporting from Trello and Switching to SeriousMD

Are you using Trello to keep your medical records now?

If you’re ready to actually take the leap and change to a real EMR/EHR system (ahem, SeriousMD) – contact us and we’ll help you out.

Here’s how to easily export your patient data from Trello. We don’t recommend the official Trello export as it’s not a complete export.

• Open Google Chrome
• Download this Extension
• Load your Trello Board
• Click the extension and export your data
• Sign up for a SeriousMD account
• Contact Support and send us the data there

The post Trello For Medical Records? appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

It always warms our hearts when we hear stories from both the doctors and their staff as to how SeriousMD has changed their lives.

Anyway, here are the next set of commonly asked questions from your fellow doctors.

You Said You Can Customize Your Prescription, Does It Look Like A Real Prescription Pad?

You can definitely customize it to look like what you want. We’ve had doctors put 4, and some even 6 logos on their prescriptions. Always great to see them happy when it gets printed out. To the doctors that still added a SeriousMD brand logo on their footer, we appreciate you for supporting us!

Anyway, you can make it look like a regular prescription pad. Maybe you want a minimalistic look? Maybe you want a fun, new design because you feel rebellious today? Maybe you just want to brag about your associations and put them all on the pad? It’s up to you.

You can also save multiple designs so you can pick on the fly before printing out.

We have doctors that have 2 clinics in 1 city and 2-3 other clinics in another city. He wanted to print out prescription headers that showed the addresses/schedules of his clinics in that specific city only. You can do that, too!

You can do this on your own (tutorial) or you can send us a picture of what you want and we’ll recreate it for your account.

———————————————

What’s the Initial Investment For Me To Get Started?

This varies. Many clinics I’ve visited already had the necessary things to get started. It mainly depends on your workflow.

Workflow #1 – Solo User

I’ve met doctors that mainly use the SeriousMD app on their own. For example: a doctor in Quezon City I met, he uses the app on his own, so he “stole” his wife’s old iPad Air and just started using SeriousMD the next day then he syncs (for backups) when he gets home as he has stable internet at home.

There’s another doctor in Cam Sur that I met. He’s on Android. So he uses the hospital’s internet, brings out his phone, opens Chrome and logs into Seriousmd.com

Workflow #2 – Multi-User 

This is the more common setup. For about half of the clinic visits I’ve personally done, there’s usually a laptop already on the desk of the doctor &/or secretary.

We built SeriousMD to work with what you already have. A lot of our users started off by just grabbing an old iPad lying around at home or just whipped out their phone and got started. You can always upgrade your device at a later time when you are ready. We’re not forcing you to sped anything extra.

Total Investment:

Php 0 to Php XX,XXX depending on what devices you’d like to buy. Admittedly, I’ve met doctors that used the app as an excuse to buy new gear. Can’t blame them though.

If you need to get your own internet, then it can be a minimal 30 day prepaid surfing plan. You can use your existing phone to tether or you can get a pocket wifi or one of those Globe-At-Home style routers. You can choose to get a DSL or Fiber plan installed as well. So that ranges from Php 800-1500 extra.

For the SeriousMD side, you can start using SeriousMD for free and you can upgrade whenever you are ready. You can always let us know if you need more time to decide.

———————————————

My Friend Is Using Another Software. Why Should I Use SeriousMD Over What He’s Using?

Well, it’s completely subjective but chances are, he really wants to switch over to SeriousMD, too. The most obvious thing that will hold him back is what happens to his data in the old software. We’ll, let’s just say that we have a lot of doctors using SeriousMD because we’ve imported data from all sorts of software. We’ve seen it all.

Anyway, to answer the question: it’s totally your decision, give SeriousMD a try, it’s free to sign up and try it out. Then go to your friend’s clinic, try using his software. It’s totally your decision, but we’d be happy to have you over on our side.

———————————————

Can I Track All My In-Patients as Well?

You definitely can. You can even see their room numbers so you’ll have a guide as you do your rounds.

———————————————

Do You Have Built-In Medicine Database for Drugs Specifically Sold in the Philippines?

Yup. Create a prescription, type the name of the medicine and it should be there. If it’s not, you can let us know or you can add it in your favorites so you won’t need to type it again.

———————————————

My Writing Is Bad, Can I Just Print Everything?

YES! All the notes inside SeriousMD can be printed out. It’s one of the most common a-HA moments from our doctors. Once you start printing, you’d ask yourself why you waited so long to get started.

———————————————

I’m Not an Apple User. Can I Still Use SeriousMD?

For sure. We have a lot of Windows/Android only users. Just login using Google Chrome via SeriousMD.com/doctor

———————————————

I Track Critical Data Of My Patients, Specifically, Their Lab Results. I Track It In Excel Now. Can I Do This in The App?

YUP! Go to the Vitals tab, you’ll see a table there. You can add a group for CBC, etc. This is awesome for hematologists, infertility specialists, etc. If you need help setting it up, just let us know.

———————————————

Do You Have Reports That Can Be Utilized So I Can Do Research On My Patients?

There’s a Reports module on the left side when you login to your account. If you use the SOAP regularly, then reports will be generated for you automatically. Of course, we threw in ways to optimize your input process. I could explain it here, but it won’t make sense unless you are already using the app so just ask us inside the app (contact support) if you want to know about that.

———————————————

Will I Be Able to Put My Scheduled Events in the Calendar So That I Don’t Mistakenly Schedule A Patient on That Day?

Yup! Go to the Calendar, click + and add your event. The next time you try to schedule a follow up for a patient on that day, you’ll see that there’s a warning that will pop up.

———————————————

I’ve Always Wanted A Way to Get Feedback From Patients. Can I Do This?

Of course! Via email or replies to your automated reminders or from conversations you initiate with them, you can receive feedback from your patients if you ask them to send you feedback. Of course, there’s also a way to funnel messages of patients that just want to schedule an appointment to your secretary’s account.

———————————————

Will My Staff Be Able to Use It? Will They Be Able To Help Me?

Yes. Yes. Here’s how to add all your staff. Here are some guides for them as well.

———————————————

Can I Control What My Staff Has Access To?

You definitely can! Want them to have access to your notes but not created/edit? Want to remove access to all notes? Want to restrict them from using the iOS app? Want to remove access to Billing reports? You can do it all.

———————————————

I Have a Unique Form That I Use Specific for My Specialty, Can You Do This Inside SeriousMD?

Yup. Just send us a picture, we’ll recreate the form for you.

———————————————

Can I Use It With All My Clinics?

YES! SeriousMD was built with that in mind. We know a lot of doctors in the Philippines have multiple clinics around the city and even across cities. You wouldn’t want to burden yourself by just having the records in one location, right? It’s a colossal waste of time for you and your patients, especially when they can go to a clinic that’s nearer to their location.

———————————————

Are There Any Limits Regarding How Many Devices I Can Use?

Nope. Just use it already.

Sign up for SeriousMD Today!

Ask other doctors for their opinion!

The post SeriousMD Questions From Your Fellow Doctors – Part 2 appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

A good number of them want to use an EMR for their medical practice but they want to wait for the right time, at least that’s what they told me. A majority of them have always wanted to use an EMR for years but never got started due to various reasons and fears.

Being the guy that’s offering the EMR app and platform to them, I have to understand the different “why’s” to better build and offer our products.

• Why can’t you get started?
• Why is X stopping you from using it?
• Why is it so complicated for you?
• Why do you want to use it anyway?
• Why are you waiting for the right time?

I have to ask the right questions to better understand how a prospective doctor/client thinks so we can address their fears, concerns and issues.

Over the years of doing this, we know we have a clear understanding of the overall picture.

Every single one of those concerns, we’ve already answered with how the  SeriousMD software is built.

One thing that we cannot address within the software and our processes is “the wait for the right time.”

The Real Challenge

I’ve personally sold to different people all over the world and “the wait for the right time” issue comes up the most in the Philippines for some reason.

We help you see the value, the exponential ROI, we also excite a lot of our potential users (who then became users just by being excited) simply by showing the features and possibilities for their practice.

For a good chunk of doctors that I’ve personally talked to, they already know the value, the ROI and are genuinely excited – but they still have a “wait for the right time” approach.

If you’re in the “wait for the right time” boat, don’t get me wrong, I totally understand it with your busy schedule (you have to juggle your business, family, learnings, department meetings and all that) but there’s a reason why I wanted to publish this post.

I regularly blog about personal motivation, productivity and entrepreneurship on other blogs. I love trying to push people and inspiring them to commit and take the first step into whatever endeavor because that’s the only way you’ll get started with anything in life.

The same thing applies when using software as you’re integrating something new to what you already do.

Why Wait?

Just apply 1 thing at a time.

Wanting to get started is different from actually getting started. The right time won’t come.

You are the one that determines that it’s the right time.

I could name a LOT of doctors using SeriousMD right now that started with 1 step at a time and did not try to overcomplicate things.

• They did not let their age stop them.
• They did not wait for all the hardware to be ready.
• They did not wait for their other new clinic before getting started.
• They “stole” their wife’s old iPad that was lying around to try SeriousMD.
• They simply signed up for an account and got to trying out the app.
• They got on their iPhone, downloaded it and played with it during lunch time.
• They brought their iPad along during a conference overseas and created templates on the plane.
• They turned on their old pocket wifi device and tried using 2 devices together to see that it does really sync.

They just tried it and after some practice, it became natural and super easy. The barriers that seemed insurmountable started to look realistic. You’ll start to see how it can be integrated to your existing workflow.

I’m not saying that there’s no learning curve.

Everything new has a learning curve, the actual issue is “how big” that learning curve is.

Though that learning curve will depend on what software you’re using (that’s our job to design the software with workflow in mind), the practice or time you put in is what’s actually critical.

There’s really no point for making something user-friendly, if it’s not being used, right?

As with any new thing, you’ll start to be more confident as you use or do it more.

In terms software like SeriousMD, as you start using it regularly, you’ll start to see more things that you can optimize for your workflow, find new useful features and soon you’ll notice that you are spending less time on the app and more time with your patients. Your patients will definitely let you know that they appreciate it.

At the end of the day…

“Nothing motivates you better than seeing progress.”

I literally have no idea who said that but if I translate that, it basically means “don’t wait for inspiration, just start doing.”

See you inside SeriousMD.

The post Why Wait to Use an EMR for your Medical Practice? appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

We know a lot of you reading this won’t even want to interact with us and would prefer to read things on your own, so we decided to make this into a blog post. A lot of these are in the SeriousMD Help Center but answers will be detailed further for this blog post.

If you like this format, be sure to share this post to your fellow doctors. It would let us know that we should create more content like this. So, let’s get to it.

The following were just some of the most common questions that were asked by the doctors.

How Do I Get Started with SeriousMD?

Simple, you sign up, allot time and just try it.

Without signing up, you won’t have an account and without an account you can’t try it.

You also need to allot time to actually try it. It really doesn’t take too much time though, because you’ll see a + button, that means you’re going to add something and if you are in the “Queue” then that means you’re going to add somebody on the queue. It’s really that simple if you give it a try. Hundreds of doctors used SeriousMD back then when we were starting out, with no documentation, no help center, no FAQ, no blog posts. You have access to those, videos and more today. There’s no excuse.

If they can do it, you can.

Here are 7 tips directly from doctors using SeriousMD and here is a brief guide on how to get started step by step.

Will You Hold Our Data Hostage?

Of course not. It’s your data.

You have an export button in SeriousMD. You can also export your notes one by one if you want to. If you choose to cancel your subscription, your account is downgraded to the Basic plan, which is free. Data will still be accessible to you there as well.

For us, it used to be impossible not to laugh at this notion because we can’t believe people can do this… but this is indeed serious and we have heard this story multiple times and we HAVE seen this happen recently.

The most recent one specifically is with a doctor in St. Luke’s BGC transferring over to SeriousMD. She used a software recommended there, but now they can’t even export her data after several requests. The name of the software starts with C, so I suggest that you just switch now before it’s too late.

Personally, I’m worried when things like this happen. It’s hard enough to convince doctors to use digital records and when they hear stories like this, it shines a negative light on every software out there, not just us.

Can I Import My Data from Another Provider?

You definitely can import your database from another software or vendor. We’ve imported a variety of databases already, from Practice Fusion, to Dr Chrono, local vendors, even outdated apps from iPhones, even those coming from Excel or Google Sheets.

If there’s a way to export your data from your provider, then we’ll make it work. We also have a built-in import tool if you just want to import your patient list.

Why is SeriousMD Not Free?

I outlined everything in this article as to why SeriousMD is not free but in short:

Operating SeriousMD has costs. That’s why it can’t be completely free to use.

Now, if somebody else offers you a free EMR, where do you think they’d get the money to pay the costs?

You probably have some guesses and I can tell you now that it’s not worth it.

Why is SeriousMD a Subscription?

Allow me to be straight up and to the point.

Actually, we should ask “why not” because it’s really simple.

How much is the “one-time fee” that you paid for on your last software that’s constantly used in business and is updated consistently with off shore backups and other stuff that cost money for the developers and providers?

ZERO because nobody’s doing that. They’d be shooting themselves in the foot because they’d quickly lose money and close down.

Those that do sell you the software for a 1 time fee will make you fork over hundreds of thousands of Pesos upfront and there will be no updates. You will be paying them extra for those updates/big fixes and extra for other features, that excludes the maintenance contract and the transportation costs. You’ll also be doing backups on your own.

In the tech world, we’re known as a SaaS, which stands for Software as a Service. You’re basically paying for the service and that ultimately leads to peace of mind while being affordable.

Then, if you consider your ROI, then it’s a no-brainer to use SeriousMD.

Can the Subscription be Sponsored by Another Company?

Yes. Just let them know about it, make sure the person gets approval (if he is not the decision maker) and let the contact person know that we’ll be getting in touch with them.

Once done, let us know about your sponsorship intent and let us know the company name, contact person’s name,  & mobile number.

We love to keep things simple so if it takes a long time, you’ll know who’s holding it up because it’s not going to be us.

Will SeriousMD work on My Mac?

SeriousMD works with all devices that pass security standards. For your Mac, you can use the latest Chrome, Firefox or Safari browser to load SeriousMD. If you are on an older Mac with an outdated Safari browser, just download the latest Chrome and use it there. In 2019, you’ll be able to use SeriousMD on your Mac.

I Had a Bad Experience with My Previous Provider, Can I Try SeriousMD First?

It’s free to sign up and create an account with SeriousMD. We also have a 30 Day trial for the Pro plan and you can decide to upgrade or let it downgrade to the Basic (Free) plan after 30 days. You have more than enough time in 30 days to see why SeriousMD can help you in your practice and you can continue to use it if you weren’t able to use it fully in the first 30 days.

We have a lot of users that jumped over to SeriousMD from different providers and I can definitely say that I’ve heard all sorts of stories already. Nothing will surprise me anymore.

Just talk to us, we won’t have any clue about what’s bothering you if you don’t let us know. There’s a chat button at the lower right of this screen, you can start by saying Hi!

I Encountered a Bug. Will You Offer Support?

We’ve been offering support since we started. You can check our changelogs on the App Store, it’s literally weekly or bi-weekly. It’s so long now that Apple doesn’t even show you the earlier years of updates. You can see our major updates here on the blog and you can also check our Whats New section.

We also send our newsletters for required updates (for major releases) and we send in-app messages when there are smaller patches. We also have a private doctors only community (click here) where bugs can be reported and you can also get sneak previews of what’s coming next.

I’m an Old School Doctor in the Province. I Can’t Do This.

Age is just a number. I just got off a Viber video call (my first time to use it) with a doctor that has been practicing for over 23 years and 1 day later, she’s using it.

We also have a 70 year old doctor in the province that uses SeriousMD day in and day out. She adopts the latest features on DAY 1 of release.

If you see the need, you will give it time and once you get into it, it’s super easy to forget about how you used to do things.

I Don’t Have Time to Shop for Hardware. Can You Help Me?

We built SeriousMD to work on almost any secure device, so you can basically use what you already have in the clinic, or devices lying around the house. We always suggest going this route as not everybody wants to spend more, especially when starting out.

But sometimes, you just have to get that latest device, right?

So, yes, we can definitely help. Just reach out to us if you need help and we’ll help match the hardware for you.

Why Should It Be Web Based? Why Can’t You Just Install It In My Business Location?

1 word. Costs.

Outside the obvious hardware costs that will be needed to run the system, deploying on a single location will entail more costs for maintenance, backup processes, updates and service, etc.

We can definitely deploy SeriousMD on the premises of your business. Just don’t expect it to be anywhere near the consumer pricing plan. Let us know and we’ll create a quote just for you.

Can You Integrate With the Hospital’s Labs and Pharmacy?

We definitely can. The question is, will the hospital or the vendor that you have want to?

We’re always open to partnerships that will help the doctor do their work faster & better as that will help a lot of patients in need. Integrating is one of those things that we’d definitely want to explore with all hospitals and we’re actually already doing it now with a handful of hospitals at this point of 2018.

Let us know about your intent and the decision makers that can be contacted to get this started.

Are There Forms for My Specialty?

You have more than enough templates already inside the SeriousMD app but you can create your own templates on-the-fly and you can even save images, doodle on them and label them. But if there’s really a form that you must have, then just drop us a message with a picture of the form, then we’ll have that created for you.

To see an example: If you are logged in to SeriousMD, we have a custom forms library in the Settings area that you can pick from and start using right now.

—

If you enjoyed this post format, be sure to let us know in the Private Group and by sharing this post to your peers.

We want to help you get started and make the transition as easy as possible for you so just dive right in and sign up. Give it a really good try or give it 30 minutes a day for the next 5 days just to explore the app by yourself. If you need a bit of guidance, just talk to us. We can schedule a call, a visit, an online demo, a recorded demo and so on.

What you need and what you’re looking for is already here, but getting started begins with you. Click here.

The post SeriousMD Questions From Your Fellow Doctors – Part 1 appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

But I’ve been around doctors almost every day for over 2 years now, thanks to SeriousMD.

I’ve seen a variety of personalities & attitudes. I’ve seen all these different doctors dealt with their patients.

Most of the time, doctors are engaged and in many cases, can communicate well. There are times though, when doctors might not look so into it, which may be perceived by the patient as the doctor not caring about them.

One thing is for certain: doctors DO care about their patients.

It’s just that when you do something everyday, you burn out. It’s similar to how everybody eventually feels in their own line of work.

Physician burnout happens. It’s even happening more often. A survey from last year actually shows the number of doctors reporting burnout to have gone up by 25% in just 4 years.

That’s why, if you’re a doctor, separating your professional from your personal life is a must. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you can’t help people in need outside your time of work. But it’s much easier to help people when you aren’t in urgent need of help yourself. Doctors need to take care of themselves too.

For your usual daily routine, you can take simple steps to make it clear that your professional life and your personal life are completely separate. If you’re a doctor in need of advice on this subject, try the following tiny changes.

Tips on Separating Your Personal and Professional Life

Make It Clear to Your Patients When or If You Can Be Contacted

Most doctors will give a private mobile number to their patients but many forget to mention (or are not vocal) about not being contacted unless it’s an emergency. Some will put a note in the prescription. Some will just say to text them first. Every doctor will have his or her own preference.

You just need to communicate that preference clearly to your patients.

From what I’ve seen the past couple of years, the doctors I met who are the happiest are usually the ones who made the boundary clear to patients at the start of their relationships. Make it simple and just tell the patient about your boundaries. Most of the time, they will understand… unless they actually forget, which can also happen.

Clarify Your Availability/Nonavailability on Social Media

This technically falls in the previous item, but it’s important enough to get its own section. It’s not uncommon for patients to “friend” their doctors on Facebook or to retweet them on Twitter. The problems occur when they also think consultations can happen over the social network.

Many doctors use social media for entertainment, to relieve stress, to connect with their med school buddies and to promote their advocacies. It should not be a place to get a free consult. Just remember, though: your patients won’t know unless you tell them that.

Use Time-Based Appointments & Follow Them

This may not be for everybody but try implementing a strict time-based appointment set-up. It’s to let your patients see that they need to value your time and show that you value their time as well.

It’s definitely not for everyone and it may be hard to implement. Try doing it for a day per week to get started. Get an appointment book and get used to using it!

SeriousMD itself has this built into the app, by the way.

Old habits die hard so you will have to be aware and correct it once you start to stray off the path. Arrive early or on time and monitor how much time you need per new consult or follow up. That’ll give you an idea of how many minutes you need on average depending on the type of consultation.

Once you get used to doing this, you’ll get a clearer delineation between your work hours and “off” hours. It’s important to get those “off” hours, or you will find yourself bringing work back home with you.

Consider Optimizing Your Existing Systems

By system, I mean something with a process, not just EHR software. The idea is to get your business running as efficiently as possible.

Most systems have detours that you can cut down for optimal efficiency. It’s just a question of finding the right path.

Look at other “systems” you have  running already that can be optimized, such as how you handle inventory or perhaps how you reduce no shows (if you have a process of texting patients a day before an appointment, for example). Perhaps you find yourself switching to your phone in the middle of a consult to send a message to your secretary via Viber to tell her not to charge the patient coming out?

These are things that can be optimized or automated to save time. Develop procedures for them. The more likely you are to deal with a task in your office, the more reason there is to streamline the process for it. This can cut down the amount of work you have, which means less chance of burnout.

Trim the Fat Away

Ever thought that something in your practice just never works the way you want it to? It may be time to evaluate that, since it could be a cause of burnout for you in the future.

This can be a painful process: you might have to give up something if it really won’t change. That secretary who just won’t function effectively, for instance, or that antiquated software you’ve worked with for a year. Give things a good, hard look to see if they can still be improved or fixed. If not, it’s time for a change.

No one really needs this much fat!

Take note that this means looking at yourself too. There may be things in your attitude that don’t serve you as well as you think. How often do you brush off other people’s concern when they ask you if you’re tired, for instance? How many times do you put work first at the expense of your rest and family time?

It’s time to get rid of what doesn’t help you and take on board only the things that do. It may seem sometimes as if that’s impossible, but not necessarily.

Look at the motto most physicians have, for example: put the patient first. While that helps you at the workplace, it won’t help to keep it as your motto during your “off” hours. When you’re out of the clinic, why not replace it with a different motto, like putting yourself and family first? That won’t betray your profession and is also likelier to keep you in top shape for the times when you do have to see patients.

At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: happier, healthier physicians serving their patients to the best of their abilities. Burning yourself out won’t help anyone, least of all your patients. That’s why physicians need to remember to care for themselves too.

The post About Physician Burnout: How You Can Solve and Avoid It… Coming From Somebody Who’s Not a Doctor appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

Why?

This helps me understand the needs of the doctors better, so we can continue to improve the SeriousMD system.

Like I said before, SeriousMD is not perfect. No software is.

It needs to be continually developed. Much like any product, much like your career as a doctor, much like how your patients treat their health.

Learn, develop, get better.

So, I recently visited a doctor. The doctor has a clinic in Bulacan, another in Quezon City and another in Pasig. From what I observed, there were around 15-20 patients per location.

Here’s the thing.

From somebody that’s from the outside looking in, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

There’s a saying that you can’t see the forest for the trees. I’m not the one in the trenches working and worrying about patients. That’s why I can see these things.

I’m not just saying it because I’m trying to sell the idea of using SeriousMD, well, I kinda am but hear me out first.

I truly believe that there’s always a better way of doing something that has been known as common practice.

This is especially true for something that has been done for the past century. Something that has been taught to you in school or even by your consultant.

There’s a process passed down from one generation of doctors to the next. It’s proven and tested. The problem is, it hasn’t improved over the years.

It CAN be optimized.

A majority of doctors I personally visit for demos have multiple clinics, practice locations and separate patient files/records stored in each location.

Sure, they “just” need to give their secretary a call, or get somebody to fax the records to them but in this day and age, I think that’s a little unnecessary. Things can be done faster, quicker and more accurately.

Or, in the words of Daft Punk:

Here’s an example that I’ve heard straight from another doctor.

Having multiple clinics, you sometimes have different patient encounter records for 1 single patient in both clinics.

Human error is higher and you’d need to rely a lot on somebody else to consolidate that. What if he/she is absent on that day you need it? You might not even know there’s a separate record in the other clinic.

You might end up forcing the patient to go to a specific clinic when both locations are preferable to him depending on the day of the week. Though it’s the patient’s responsibility, he might be more prone to skipping appointments or even not showing up at all.

Here’s another example from another doctor.

A patient is sick. You don’t have access to the records immediately. You check him out, you admit them ASAP.

The patient lies and doesn’t tell you about their previous diagnosis with another doctor or the previous visit in the hospital.

Long story short, next day, patient is dead. It’s definitely the patient’s fault but it could have been prevented with better access to records.

At the end of the day, there are gaps in between the process and that adds up to a big waste of time. Things can be done faster with the right frame of mind and with the right help.

That’s why I believe that you need an electronic medical records system like SeriousMD. The SeriousMD community, which are made up of other doctors like yourself, together with our team, are your support groups to help you to get started.

SeriousMD was created to save lives.

We developed SeriousMD initially because we encountered a personal matter that dealt with the loss of time due to multiple consultations, hauling a boatload of lab results and explaining the same story over and over to multiple specialists. A team of consultants were assembled in the end, but too much time already passed, which ended up with a loss of life.

That’s why I believe having a system that works for both patients and doctors is a must.

You know the doctor I visited who had 3 clinics? His files were already up to the ceiling.

He was reluctant to make a change. He’s been doing that process for the past 17 years.

BUT he decided that he wanted to do it and he jumped all-in. 

That’s all he needed.

Today, with the help of his clinic management system, he finishes clinic on schedule and gets home for dinner with the family in time. He also has the peace of mind to finally pick up golfing again.

Want another example? I visited a doctora (let’s call her Doc Tin ) and she told me that she can easily see 30 patients (from a regular of 15) now and still finish in time.

Efficient. Effective. Visible ROI. Priceless Extra Time.

How about you? Are you ready to make that jump?

The post I Visited a Doctor With 3 Clinics Who Still Uses Paper Records. Here’s What I Found Out. appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

How does that work out for a clinic in the Philippines? Let’s say for now that each appointment nets you ₱PHP 300 in revenue and you get 13 patients per day.

These are modest figures, but we might as well start with them. No-show rates vary all around the world. Generally speaking, practices will see anywhere from 20-40% no-show rates in their schedules.

Now assume a no-show rate of 30%. In this scenario, you would be losing around ₱7,200 a week just from no-shows. That’s up to ₱374,400 a year.

That is how no-shows represent potentially millions—if not billions—of pesos lost yearly by healthcare. Even in the US, they cost clinics as much as $150 billion. It’s not hard to see how the costs mount:

• After a patient misses an appointment, you now have an unproductive block of time in your day.
• The resources you spent on preparing for the appointment (medical supplies, staff labor, time retrieving and reviewing his files, etc.) have been wasted.
• The patient who missed the appointment could have gotten worse, which means more medical costs for him in the future.

But this goes beyond you and that one patient. It even affects your other patients, some of whom might be in greater need of care. Usually, you can’t fill in a no-show’s appointment slot promptly with a replacement. That represents lost hours that could have been spent helping others who require urgent attention.

Fortunately, healthcare professionals and the tech sector are working together to solve this. Medical workers are learning to use—and in some cases, even develop—new tools and practices that can help reduce no-shows.

Efficacy rates vary, of course, and techniques may not be applicable to all clinics. However, implementation may still be the better course than otherwise, as we shall see below.

Techniques Used to Drop No–Show Rates

A lot of solutions have been proposed and attempted for the no-show problem. Some have been positive (in terms of encouraging patient presence through reminders) and others have been negative or punitive (in terms of discouraging patient absence through penalty).

This list excludes methods such as double-booking or waiting lists for last-minute appointments. This is because those would fall under techniques for mitigating no-show costs, not lowering no-show rates via prevention.

Finally, note that the methods below aren’t necessarily exclusive. Indeed, a fair number of practices use combined systems.

Text Reminders

This is one of the most popular methods at present for no-show prevention. This may be due to the following reasons:

1. Text messaging systems are often present in modern practice management software.
2. Text messaging is easy to set up, even without using a system integrated into the clinic’s practice management software.
3. Most patients have regular access to cellphones.

The third item is particularly strong in recommending text reminders for Philippine clinics. While not all Filipinos yet know how to use email or bother to check it regularly, many of them do read text messages. A 2017 survey showed that 8 out of 10 check their mobile phones first thing after waking up.

For this reason, we used text messaging as the method for our own study. 15 doctors participated, using text reminders to reduce patient no-show rates. Patients would receive 1 SMS notification the day before their scheduled appointment. In order to be counted in the total appointments completed by the physician for the day, each patient had to be marked in that physician’s queue as “finished”.

An example of a text reminder sent by the SeriousMD app.

The doctors tested the notification system for 2 months. The control data for the experiment was taken from the 2 months prior to those. The average sample size for both groups was 3,000 patients (for every 2 months), granting an aggregated sample size of 6,000 for the study.

To ensure compliance with data protection laws, all patients also consented to receiving notifications upon registering in the SeriousMD system. All were given a way to opt out of notifications too.

The data was separated within each group for weekday patients and weekend ones. Weekday patients came on days from Monday to Thursday; weekend ones, Friday to Saturday. Note that there were about twice as many patients on weekends as on weekdays.

The results showed marked improvements in attendance, as may be seen in the table above. This generally agrees with most of the other studies on text messaging for improving patient attendance.

Voice Reminders

There are two general types of voice reminders:

1. one is the standard or manual phone call, which is performed at the moment of contact over the phone;
2. the second is the recorded voice message, which may be spoken before the moment of contact and is simply delivered as a saved recording.

Voice reminders bear some similarity to text reminders but require more time and effort to arrange. Text reminder creation can be largely automated. By comparison, most voice reminders have to be created individually. This makes them less desirable as a no-show reduction technique for clinics where staff hours are especially precious.

They may have their virtues, however. Voice notification systems are often seen as very effective. A meta-analysis of relevant studies published in 2016 actually found them better at improving patient attendance when compared to text notices. An older review (from 2011) came to the same conclusion, with manual phone calls showing better results than automated text reminders (39% vs. 29%).

There are hybrid models being developed as well. A 2011 study compared interactive voice response systems to traditional nurse phone calls in reducing nonattendance and ill-preparation. The results showed both methods to be equally effective.

Interactive voice messaging allows prerecorded systems to deliver an almost personal experience for patients… but may cost a lot to put in place.

Interactive voice systems may be a new twist on the voice reminder that could pay off. Still, as they still require more effort to create than their text alternatives, they remain lower on the list of options for most clinics.

Email Reminders

Email reminders may technically be the cheapest-to-implement of all the methods in this list. The two negative methods listed later in this list have potential costs associated with them, by comparison. As for text and voice reminders, you typically have to cover their costs in a phone service plan. Email, on the other hand, can be more or less free.

As mentioned earlier, email doesn’t have the same reach SMS does in the Philippines. Still, numbers are improving. The Asia Digital Marketing Yearbook showed that as many as 34% of the population were going online daily by 2012, with the top activity for users being email.

SeriousMD actually has email broadcasts (and SMS broadcasts) too. The cheapness of the medium is a definite consideration for many doctors. The relative ease of use can may be another (copy+paste and typing may be even easier than for SMS, although an option to have recurring reminders is actually built into the SeriousMD system for convenience).

Whether or not email can be effective at averting no-shows is still up in the air. Not a lot of studies have been conducted on it. One rare study did show some promising results, though: in a sample of 73 patients sent emails about their appointments, 22 professed to have known about those appointments only from the emails. This suggests that email can still be a good preventative for no-show patients.

Patient–Dropping or Termination

This is one of the punitive methods mentioned before. It refers to the practice of removing patients from your clientele as a response to repetitive no-shows by those patients.

This is not a common method for reducing no-shows. In fact, there are hardly practices in the Philippines that do it. You are more likely to find some overseas, but even there it’s rare.

There are myriad reasons for this. Perhaps the most salient is that most consider it a drastic option. It could have serious consequences for the patient and his health (especially if circumstances make your practice the most easily accessible one for him).

It can even have legal circumstances for you. If you choose to terminate a patient from your roster in the middle of his treatment, for instance, that might ostensibly count as patient abandonment. This means you may well need to have a legally-defensible policy for it ahead of time.

Another thing to consider when terminating patients is the manner in which you carry it out. A very polite and clearly worded letter is generally advisable. Anything less inoffensive (or blatantly emotional) could bring on very serious problems.

An extreme (if overseas) example of the possible trouble less-than-politic patient dismissal can bring on a doctor is in the Gallogly-Stipe incident from 2017. In this incident, a doctor came under investigation as well as public criticism following a flare-up with a patient that was caught on camera.

Of concern too is the possibility that the doctor above may have violated state law in essentially refusing treatment of the patient.

Monetary Penalties

Making patients pay for not showing up is another controversial resort. It is still unusual even in the US, in fact: not even a decade has passed by since Medicare began accepting such penalty payments. Some clinics attribute lowered no-show rates to it, nevertheless: one such practice, charging $50 per penalty, claims to have seen nonattendance down from nearly 200 to 44 per month.

Penalty prices vary. The US’s National Institute of Health claims it to often be around $35 to $50. Numbers are not yet available for the Philippines; we ourselves found no clinics imposing such penalties yet in the country.

Penalties aren’t always applied for each nonattendance either. Some clinics only impose them after two instances of nonattendance for a patient.

Efficacy of Techniques

More controlled studies comparing more of the techniques to each other are still needed. With what data is available now, however, it would seem that voice notifications and text notifications are the most effective. Both have been shown to reduce no-show incidences in various cases.

Voice reminders tend to post better no-show reduction rates than text reminders. Part of this may be due to most voice notifications still being made manually: patients thus get to interact with a living person in a direct phone call, which signifies greater social and personal investment.

Further, manual voice reminders are often handled by clinic receptionists and secretaries. This makes it feasible for the patients to reschedule appointments during the call itself.

However, voice reminders tend to have low contact rates. Text reminders have far better ones (30% to 60% vs. 97% to 99%). When contact rates are not considered a factor, text reminders appear to be the better option. At least one study showed even email to be preferable to voice reminders in that sense, with 5.9% of recipients still failing to show up (vs. 4.4% for text reminder recipients and 9.4% for phone call recipients).

The punitive or negative methods of reduction are actually the most difficult to study. So few clinics use them that reduction rates can’t yet be properly measured.

Final Notes and Recommendations

Different no-show reduction techniques have different rates of efficacy; combining them may be a good way to reap greater benefits. Many clinics are now turning to combined reminder systems, for example, such as text reminders supported by voice notifications. This may be a good way of improving no-show reduction rates as it would raise the chances of contact.

The problem with this would be the cost of implementation. Not all practices can afford to institute two notification systems in one go. When this is the case, one shall have to do. The choice of which to use shall depend on the practice’s resources again: if sufficient manpower is available for it, voice notifications may be advisable, given their high efficacy when contact is achieved. Otherwise, text notifications are very likely preferable.

As for the punitive methods of no-show reduction, they may well have their place too. But for most practices, it may be best to consider them an absolute last resort. Certain situations may also render them problematic to execute, based on legal strictures.

There are alternatives. For instance, practices might send patients a notice drawing attention to their nonattendance and requesting them to call and cancel appointments in advance instead. Supportive techniques, such as the creation of a list of patients willing to come in for impromptu appointments, might also be of worth.

The post How Practices Can Easily Reduce No-shows by Over 35% appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

1. Combining formerly disparate systems can save time when accessing them.
2. Using a single software solution for different processes lowers the costs of staff training.
3. Staff collaboration is easier as information does not have to be manually merged across different sources.
4. Inventory management becomes easier across the board.
5. Accounting becomes faster with all financials on a single resource.
6. You can generate your own reports on demand and make use of those analytics as needed.

ERP is therefore something that can benefit many a business—including, of course, medical practices. This is why we built it into SeriousMD.

In our app, you can more or less divide ERP into the following categories:

1. Catalog Management
2. Reports
3. Inventory
4. Billing Practices

Here we shall show you the basics of each category when using the SeriousMD ERP.

Catalog Management

The Catalog is where you can list your services and their prices for quick accounting later. Having them here means you can bill patients for them in just a few taps. No need to enter item, package, or service names or prices individually. Just choose them from the list you saved and you are good to go.

To start, access the Catalog tab. You need to go to the Billing module on the app for it.

Here, you can add items as well as search for and sort them based on type (services, items, or packages). You can choose to add descriptions for entries besides adding their standard retail prices (SRPs).

Note that you may also add different entries for the same thing but with varying prices based on the HMO, as in the image above. To see the entries for just one of those HMOs, you can use the drop-down filter box, as in the picture below.

The app also keeps track of which patients were billed entries in the catalog. Clicking on a particular entry (say, the “consult” service, as in the image below) will yield a detail page for it. You can then choose between the HMO Rates and Sales tabs on that page to see more information.

Reports

Now say you want an even more detailed history of your transactions. All you have to do is go the Reports tab (still in the Billing module).

Here, you will find filters that let you sort entries according to your needs, whether based on the report type, clinic, time period, or even HMO.

This puts key business figures right at your fingertips. You would be surprised how many practice owners cannot tell you how much profit they made in the past year. With SeriousMD reports, you can always answer that question in a flash.

Inventory

You can also use the app to keep track of your practice’s inventory. The Inventory tab is still under Billing and is divided into the Stocks and Transaction lists. It has filters too for advanced sorting, as well as quicksearch. It also lets you sort items by location/clinic. It even has reminders. This makes it simpler than ever to know what is going in and out of which clinics.

Adding items to it is as easy as clicking on the “plus” sign at the top right, next to the print icon. Then, simply fill out the fields (seen below).

Billing Practices

As for billing itself, you can do it right from a patient’s page. Simply choose the “Manage Billing” option.

This should take you to the Billing module’s page/records for that particular patient.

Here, you can add a bill for that patient. Note that you can actually consult your catalog on the same page (the section on the right), to make adding items easier.

Clicking a bill will take you to a detail page. You can check items to make sure everything is correct and also save bills without settling them (for those who let patients pay later). If you do save the bill without settling it immediately, all you need to do is return to the page later and click on the billing item again to access it.

Say your patient pays the bill immediately, though. You can save the bill and settle it in a flash using the module. You can also note the method of settlement, for recording purposes.

After a bill has been settled, it gets moved to the History tab in the Billing module. You can access this in two ways. First, via the patient’s page, as below:

Or you can access it from the main Billing module’s History tab (which means without having a patient selected, so you will see all entries for all patients and clinics there).

Note, finally, that the billing practice on SeriousMD allows you to only void or reissue entries once they have been committed. Why? Simple: so you have a reliable audit trail.

This should cover the basics of ERP usage on SeriousMD for now. This is only the beginning, though: we’re actually working on more, like tracking HMO receivables through the app.

For now, give the items we listed above a try. You do not need to take on all of them at once: the beauty of SeriousMD’s design is that you can choose what to use and not have to worry about the rest until you decide to include it. Remember, if you need more help with the app, just consult our FAQs. For those interested, you can also schedule time with us to learn more about the app.

The post ERP 101 for Doctors on SeriousMD appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

With SeriousMD, you can practically use any printer you have lying around. Just connect them to the computer. Some of them are already “Airprint” capable so that will work for wireless printing, directly from your iPhone/iPad.

The issue with there being so many hardware models AND brands is that there are bound to be those really bad models out there.

We sometimes get contacted by doctors about printing problems that refer to models actually 2-5 years phased out already.

What do we do? We regularly scour buy & sell groups and surplus warehouses to find these old models. We actually end up purchasing them just so we can help diagnose the issue for our users. Most recently, I personally had to beg a guy in a computer cafe to sell an old HP printer to me that I chanced upon in their back-office. He wouldn’t believe me when I told him why I wanted it.

Though hardware issues are not really part of SeriousMD’s scope, it’s in our service DNA to help as much as we can.

Over time, we have accumulated enough knowledge for printers from different brands to be able to start recommending some models that perform better than most.

That’s where this post comes in.

“What is the best printer that will give me the least headache and will work seamlessly with SeriousMD?”

If you are mainly using SeriousMD web on your computer, then any wired printer will do.

But who likes wires anyway? NOBODY!

It’s cooler if everything can be done wirelessly, right?

The Basics

Here are the 2 things that you need to know about wireless printing with SeriousMD.

1. The Printer needs to have “Airprint”

SeriousMD on iOS (iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch) will use the built-in “Airprint” technology from Apple. Many printers today already have this. If you are unsure if your printer has it, please click here to check out the official list from Apple.

NOTE: Some salespeople think “Wifi printing” is the same as the “Airprint” feature. It’s not the same. The “Wifi Printing” feature basically means that there’s a third party app you use to get this done. Airprint is built into the operating system of your iOS device and that allows you to print directly inside SeriousMD without going out and opening an external app. This enables you to instantly print from anywhere in your clinic, saving you time and making you look cool in front of your patients.

The box of the printer will usually show if it can handle AirPrint.

2. The Printer needs to be connected to the same network

Whether there’s Internet or not, the printer and device you are using just need to be in the same network. You can grab a cheap router from anywhere nowadays, even your pocket wifi router can work as well.

Why? Firstly, it keeps the data secure and second, random people won’t just be able to print using your printer.

How? Just connect your printer to your router. It’s like connected to the wifi network. Just pick the network and enter the password.

That’s pretty much it and you’ll be able to print now!

—

The Printers

Our criteria are simple.
– It should be compact enough = most clinics will have smaller space to work with.
– It should be efficient = prints fast enough, paper feed is great, ink is efficiently used and save energy
– It should be reliable = it should be a workhorse that will work day in and day out while saving you time.
– It should work with the brand’s app = this is a failsafe measure just in case Apple’s Airprint gets a buggy update. That way, you can still print using the printer brand’s app.
– Price is subjective = price will always be dependent on brand perception, quality, availability and features. We might think it’s expensive but it might be cheap for you and vice versa.
– It should be available in the Philippines = for now, I will be using Lazada links but it may or may not be cheaper. If it’s there, it’s most likely available in your local computer store or the brand’s store inside the mall.
– Note: Some printers can detect and ENFORCE a paper size on their own even if the paper inserted is not the right size. This can sometimes mess up printing. We’re not recommending them here unless we’ve fully tested them.

Canon PIXMA iP110 Wireless Portable Printer

To start off the list, I’ll be going with a portable printer that’s popular for the Canon brand. It’s highly compact and you can use a portable battery as well. It’s definitely not cheap and won’t print as much but if your use-case needs it to be portable, then this is the best one we’ve tried so far.

Retail Price: Php 12,695
Lazada Price: Php 12,150 or click here to check
Pros: Nice photo prints. Very light. Compact & highly portable
Cons: Expensive printer. Expensive cartridges. Prints a bit slower.

Canon PIXMA MX492

Personally, I think a Canon MG7520 would be better than this model but for this price, nothing comes close in terms of features. Obviously, cheap hardware usually come with some sacrifices, specifically, a weak looking build material. Only reason why I’m mentioning this is because of the price.

Retail Price: Php 3,200
Lazada Price: Php 3,911 or click here to check

Pros: Can also scan and fax. Compact. Affordable.
Cons: It feels cheaply made. Printout for photos isn’t as good as other Canon models.

Canon E480

The Canon E480 is pretty similar to the MX492 in terms of feature set but the build is definitely more solid so you won’t have the impression that it’s flimsy and might break anytime. The printing is also better for photos if you have a need for that. In terms of overall printing speed for SeriousMD, they are both practically the same.

Retail Price: Php 7,200
Lazada Price: Php 6,188 or click here to check 

Pros: Quality build. Nice photo prints. Can also fax.
Cons: Not much. It’s definitely better than the model above this. If I’m being nitpicky, I just don’t like the 2 cartridge ink style and the printer head for Canon.

————————————

UPDATE: May 2019

Canon TS 3160

It’s a pretty affordable Canon printer that has a scanner and Airprint. We’ve yet to fully maximize it as we just go ahold of one but it seems to be printing nicely.

Lazada Price: Php 3,000

Click here to see how it’s set up for Airprint

UPDATE: September 2025

Canon E4570

The Canon PIXMA E4570 is a compact, all-in-one inkjet printer with flatbed scanning and seamless AirPrint support—perfect for clinics needing wireless printing on iOS devices. While it requires a bit of setup for custom paper sizes like A5, it remains the most affordable option available (around ₱6,600 on Lazada) now that cheaper models are hard to find. Special thanks to Dr. Yusi for recommending this practical and reliable printer for clinic use.

Lazada Price: Php 6,600 – 7,800

UPDATE: Dec 2020

Epson XP-352

This is also a very common printer in the Philippines and easy to setup.

Shopee Price: 8,500

HP DeskJet Ink Advantage 3777 All-in-One Printer

We have a love-hate relationship with HP printers. The Hate part mainly comes from from models, usually from erratic Wifi connectivity and the challenging paper size detection. If we had to pick though, it’s definitely the 3777. Copy, scan, print and compact.

Retail Price: Php 4,695
Lazada Price: Php 4,290 or click here to check 

Pros: Light, compact, affordable and so far, it’s been reliable for us.
Cons: Scanning cannot handle hard materials (ID, hardbound).

HP GT5820 Deskjet Printer CIS

If you want to squeeze the cost/page of your printer, then this will definitely be the one because of the CIS feature. In terms of features though, it’s the same as the 3777 model above, this just comes with a CIS and a “screen” that usually missing in affordable HP printers.

Retail Price: Php 10,888
Lazada Price: Php 8,687 or click here to check

Pros: CIS to save ink cost. Does what you expect from a printer
Cons: Slower printing. Price VS other HP models with the same features. Particular issue with wireless services and may suddenly change default paper size.

UPDATE: January 31,2020

HP Wireless Ink Tank WL 415

Looks like this is a great deal. We’ve heard about it from a good number of other SeriousMD doctors. We’ll update this page once we’re able to get our hands on it.

Brother DCP-J105T

The J105 is one of the best performing printers we’ve tried and installed in clinics simply because it just works. Brother has a stigma for many as being not worth a long term investment but actually, this has never failed us.

Retail Price: Around Php 8,000+
Lazada Price: Php 15,595 or click here to check

Pros: Two sided printing. There’s a small screen so you can configure it. Printouts are nice and fast. Reliable Wireless Connectivity. Third party CIS available (will void your warranty but it lowers your cost/page).
Cons: Image printouts could be better. Buttons should be higher quality. Regularly goes “out of stock”.

Brother MFC-J480DW

The J480 is similar to the J105 (above) in features but this one has Fax. It’s hard to find this model nowadays but if you can find one, it’s a nice buy for it’s price.

Retail Price: Php 12,000
Lazada Price: Php 7,227 or click here to check

Pros: Two sided printing. LCD screen. Fax feature.
Cons: Buttons should be higher quality. Regularly goes “out of stock”.

Brother HL-3170CDW

First of all, if you ever wanted a cheap colored laser printer, then the 3170 might be the one for you. Laser printers can print faster than the inkjet counterparts and if you print a lot using SeriousMD and don’t mind the toners being a little bit more expensive, then by all means, this is the printer for you.

Retail Price: 17,999
Lazada Price: Php 15,999 or click here to check 

Pros: Reliable, fast printing (it’s laser!) and paper tray is nice. Build quality is also great.
Cons: Print quality isn’t the best, especially for photos.

UPDATE MARCH 2018: We found some more AirPrint printers from Brother this year! We’re adding them here for those who want more options.

DCP T510W

Equipped with built-in Wireless, direct mobile print and scan features, two-sided printing, and AirPrint capability, the DCP T510W is a nice inkjet printer for any office. It also boasts a print speed of 12/6 ipm, which is good news for those who need to cut down on time drains.

Retail Price: P9,450 from Brother

DCP T710W

Equipped with much the same features as the DCP T510W, the T710W improves on it further with multipage document scanning. It also boasts a faster speed of 12/10 ipm and a 20 page document feeder for more demanding offices.

Retail Price: P11,450 from Brother

MFC T810W

The T810W is another inkjet printer many practices would find suitable for their needs. It improves on all the features of the T710W (save for the two-sided printing) by adding fax capablities on a 14,400bps modem.

Retail Price: P13,450 from Brother

MFC T910DW

This is the one to get if you need a real workhorse for a printer: it does everything the T810W does and adds automatic two-sided printing and direct photo print. It also has LAN capabilities, like the T810W.

Retail Price: P18,450 from Brother

—

Troubleshooting

Printing does not fit. It gets cut off.
This is usually caused by a combination of the following things:

Thing #1 > The paper size set inside the printer’s settings is different. We recommend half small bond paper 8”x5.5” in size but some printers “automatically detects” the paper size based on the pre-sets inside the printer.

Solution: Check the paper tray Settings of your printer (via the brand’s app or the settings area of the printer or the embedded server) then change paper size to Letter.

Thing #2 > The wrong paper size was inserted. Many printers will be set as A4 paper size by default, hence printing on a half page bond paper will get cut-off.

Solution: If you’ve set up the paper size, just make sure to load the correct paper size

You can see a sample setup at a the latter part of the guide here for Canon.

Cannot find the printer.
This is mainly because the printer is not connected to the same network as your device. Just connect it like how you connect to Wifi. The printer should then appear and be selectable.

I want to change paper sizes, from full bond paper or A4 to Legal size to print the CF4 when using Airprint.
This is not possible to do from the SeriousMD app on iOS. Airprint doesn’t let us control the paper size on the fly. The settings is dictated by the printer.

For printers with automatic detection of paper size, just 1 full sized paper that can be set up.

If the “auto detect paper size” feature can be turned off in your model then turn it off, then put in a legal sized paper.

For printer models that can’t turn off auto detect, we suggest having a separate pre-set printer that can print with Legal sized paper or if you want to stick with the same printer, just print using a computer/laptop that’s connected via USB.

The printer sleeps and takes a while to start printing.
For some printers, they have these built-in “energy saving” features that make the printer go to sleep even if it’s plugged in. You can change the sleep timer in the printer’s settings or their app.

For brands like Brother, they take it further by having a “Deep Sleep” mode that you cannot even find in the regular settings. Here’s how to find it and turn it off.

1. Go to General Setup, press OK
2. On “Ecology” press OK
3. On “Sleep Time” press OK
4. While sleep time is in the display, push the DOWN ARROW and CANCEL (aka the Back button) at the “same time”
5. You will not see “Deep Sleep” and you can turn it off by pushing the arrow key
6. Press OK to save Deep Sleep to Off

The printers you mentioned are not available anymore
As with any hardware, the printers in the list above will get phased out or discontinued and new models will come out. As long as it says there’s Airprint in the box, it should be ok. You can always check Apple’s page if the new model is there.

Our Recommendation

We recommend to check the Apple list  to see the model you are considering is there. You can also check the box of the print, it will show the Airprint logo as well. If the seller is unsure and just says “wifi printing” – then that’s probably not an Airprint printer.

One more thing to keep in mind, all international models of printers will have a default “paper size” and usually, it’s set to A4 because that’s the standard in other countries.

When using Airprint, the paper size is dictated by the printer, not the app. It’s why when you are printing, you will notice that it gets cut off on the left side.

The fix is simple, just change the paper size settings to Letter or just use A4 paper.

Last tip: If you encounter a paper jam, as with any printer, don’t just pull out the paper with force. It will damage the head and how the printer feeds the paper.

If ever you need help with getting a printer or have questions, just reach out to us. We’d like to help you get started ASAP and get your practice into the digital age.

Still not using SeriousMD? Sign up today and get in touch with us.

We’ll hook you up and get you started as soon as possible.

1. Sign Up and Try Using the App Right Now. Add Your Family Members as Your First Patients
2. Chat With Us Inside the App (just log in and look for the support button)

The post Top 8 AirPrint Printers Available in the Philippines | SeriousMD appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.

Every doctor should be using an EMR. In fact, I think it should be required by the government just like in some other countries. I also think it should be at least introduced in medical school.

I know: coming from me, it sounds biased. But hear me out first.

I’ve seen EMR systems in action internationally, from the US, to Japan, to Singapore, heck, even to a public hospital in China where a foreigner like me got hospitalized.

I’ve also seen SeriousMD being used by Filipino doctors first-hand all over the Philippines. I saw how they could easily retrieve information and refer patients. I’ve seen how it affected the doctors, their staff and patients… positively, I might add.

But who am I anyway? I’m not a doctor, so you might prefer to hear it from your fellow doctors.

If that’s the case, it just so happens I recently got this heart-warming message from a doctor and I cannot thank her enough for it. (I’ll keep the name anonymous but you might want to join the private group to see her there.)

That statement led me to writing this article because even to this day, I still get asked “Why do I need an EMR?”

The short answer? To become a better healthcare provider. The long answer? That’s where the rest of this article comes in.

Sure, I’ve heard of the negative stuff (“Slows me down” or “It’s confusing”) and I’ve seen some sad scenarios of doctors being forced to use a hideous system by the hospital they are affiliated with.

For the record, many groups/companies invest in “EMR” systems that are not really built with the doctors’ use in mind, but more for the back-end people (billing and room management, like a system for hotels) so I understand why that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of doctors.

But not all EMRs are like that.

With that said, I think it’s time to show you what you really came here for.

25 Reasons Why You Need to Use an EMR

For obvious reasons, I’ll refer to our own EMR software here (it’s the one I know best, after all!). All of the following things can be done inside SeriousMD. Besides having an EMR / EHR at it’s core, it’s actually a complete practice management system.

1. Instant Data Retrieval

EMRs let you find the data you need in literal seconds. There’s no more waiting around for your secretary to dig through mounds of paper files: instead, either of you can just type the name of a patient and retrieve his/her info instantly.

2. Manage Your Personal Schedule and Work Calendar

A good EHR offers time management tools. More efficient time management at the clinic means more time saved for yourself and even more time for your family.

3. Take and Save Pictures

Admit it, you’ve encountered a time in your practice when you just wanted to take a picture and include it with the patient’s files but couldn’t. With this, you can take photos, import your scanned images, pre-save them and even draw on top of it!

4. Organize Your Files

The beauty of going digital is that the computer can do most of the organization for you. An EHR will sort files logically as well as automatically at the click of a button. It can also organize them by date or let you them filter just to see all your created prescriptions and more. It’s actually one of the ways EHRs seriously trump paper records.

5. Send Messages to the Next Person in the Queue

Worried about no-shows? Have a long queue? Notify your patients via SMS when it’s almost their turn! Send your patients messages to remind them of their appointments! Lower no-show rates mean higher profits for you.

6. Refer Patients

Gone is all the old brouhaha involved with arranging a referral. With a single tap, you can refer patients to other doctors.

But wait! Is the doctor not yet on SeriousMD? Send the referral anyway! They’ll get a notification via SMS and/or email. All they have to do is login to SeriousMD to access it securely.

No more writing, no more creating really long letters over and over again, no more sending a text message to notify the other doctor. SeriousMD does it all automatically. Coordinated care at it’s best, and who doesn’t want that?

7. Consult with Other Doctors

With SeriousMD Messenger, you’re able to consult with other doctors privately or even send orders to residents. Unlike regular SMS or even using other messaging apps, SeriousMD Messenger is HIPAA-compliant and that keeps your patient data and communication safe.

8. View the Patient’s Historical Lab Results

If your practice relies on you looking at a lot of lab results, then SeriousMD is your best friend. You can check a patient’s past lab results with a single tap/click and easily view the rest by swiping.

9. Communicate with Patients

Establishing rapport with patients is important for your practice. An EHR with integrated communication features can help. Try using SeriousMD Messenger, for instance. Using a single interface, you can send and receive SMS and even get email replies. Everything in one place.

10. Track Vitals Over Time

One of our favourite things to talk about is our Vitals feature. It can adapt easily to your practice and it’ll show you the data in a graph that can be used as an initial way see if the patient is improving. You can even print out the data set if you want to.

11. Automatic Patient Reminders

SeriousMD lowers no-show rates by at least 30% with the help of SMS reminders. That means less rescheduling, better time management and better patient care.

But who says you only have to use integrated SMS for appointment reminders? You can also send patients reminders for various medical purposes, including to help them remember to monitor a condition or get a lab test done.

12. Overview Reports on How Your Practice Is Doing

You have access to a reports module to easily see stats about your practice. You also get automated weekly reports on how many patients you saw and how many to expect for next week. You also get a special, over-the-top year end report.

13. Instant Grouped Medicines for Prescriptions

Ever noticed that you keep writing the same drug prescriptions over and over? With SeriousMD, all it takes is 1 tap and it loads your pre-saved meds on it’s own. Imagine this, 1 tap to load the meds, 1 tap to print and then sign it. How hard is that?

14. Instant Lab Panels

Much like with Grouped Medicines above, you’ve probably grown tired of writing lab requests over and over again. Pre-save them, then load the panel with 1 tap when you need it. Print it out and sign it. That’s it!

15. Unique Reference Databases That Actually Help You

Ever found yourself looking at reference books or perhaps other apps? Well, now you can find all that info you’re looking for from a single interface. Inside SeriousMD, you have access to a Med database, ICD 10, PhilHealth rates, medicine database AND MORE.

Best of all, it shows up when you need it. It’s all part of a process inside SeriousMD.

16. Patient History View

See past procedures, medications, allergies, immunizations, family history and so on. Scroll through, learn about the patient in one look and make the right diagnosis.

17. Efficient and Happy Staff

EHRs can do a lot of the heavy lifting staff usually cover at your practice, including file search and organization as well as rote patient communication. That means your people are less harried as they go about their workday, having more tools to help them work efficiently and quickly. During a demo visit, I literally saw a secretary crying with the amount of folders and paper files that she could barely handle. Do you really want to make your secretary cry?

18. No More Boxes of Archived Files

Tired of trying to scrape up storage space for all those old patient files you have in cardboard boxes? Are you one of those doctors with boxes inside the room because you just didn’t have enough space? Found yourself archiving files for patients in less than 2 years now instead of your usual 5+ years? Transfer all that data to digital storage and you won’t have to worry about keeping (or losing) them.

19. See Patients in Any of Your Clinics

An online EMR lets you be plugged into all your data all the time, overcoming traditional physical limitations about where you can work. You can retrieve any patient’s information wherever you are thanks to secure cloud storage, which means patients can see you even in clinics other than their regular one. Heck, you can run your clinic even without being in your clinic.

20. Easy Data Access for the Covering Doctor

One of the toughest things for physicians is ensuring covering doctors know where and how to access their patients’ data. With an EMR, that won’t be a problem anymore.

21. Let’s You Move Around In Your Clinic

For many doctors, moving around the clinic is a huge part of their job. Being able to use a mobile EMR not only cuts down time for checking files, it also lets you input data right on the spot. Imagine yourself moving around, entering notes, impressing the patient by showing a great illustration and printing prescriptions wirelessly. Then by the time you get to your table, you can just sign the prescription and you’re done!

22. Be Flexible with Your Queue

SeriousMD was built for the Filipino doctor. That means the queue is super simple. For those who want specific time appointments though, then that’s also possible. It just works.

23. Completely Track and See if Your Practice is Growing

Through the billing module, you can easily keep track of your practice’s financials. You can create different reports, keep track of products you’ve sold, know how much cash on hand there should be at the end of the day and even export everything into a single report for your accountant.

24. Organized, Systematic Work Flow

Using an EMR will help you streamline your process in the clinic, which makes your whole process more efficient. If you have new staff, you can integrate them into the system really easily.

25. Track HMO’s

For many whom I’ve talked with, having an HMO pay them is practically considered a bonus because keeping track was such a pain. Now you can actually keep track of it and get paid what’s really owed to you.

Bonus

But wait, there’s even more…

26. Free Online Visibility

Getting put in our registry of doctors/clinics practically means free publicity for your practice. You become discoverable to new patients searching for doctors with your expertise in their area… without having to pay for it.

27. Automatic Calculations

Depending on your specialty, you might sometimes find yourself calculating certain dates or using certain apps to do the calculation for you. With SeriousMD, we have those built-in. Need WHO growth charts? It’s also in there and automatically shows you the result right after you enter the information.

28. Daily Overview

Have a full view of your day. See how many patients you have scheduled for the day and you’ll see it update throughout the day as you head over to the next location. You can also have SeriousMD send you an SMS to let you know how many patients you have waiting before you even reach the location.

29. Custom Recurring Reminders

Do you have patients who need to be reminded of something regularly, like taking their medication or coming in for an important monthly checkup? Set up reminders for them using integrated SMS and Emails.

30. Lets You Work Even in Small Spaces or Clinics

EMRs can replace nearly all of your old paper documents, which means lower storage space requirements for your office. As a result, even smaller spaces become feasible locations for your practice. Some clinics will have small tables or work areas, too. With a portable device, you can practically do everything already while enabling you to move around.

I could go on and on, but you probably stopped reading halfway and didn’t see the extra ones I listed.

I was tempted to put “31. Lots of Extra Space for Potted Plants and Decors” because that’s literally what one of the doctors in Bulacan told me that she loved because her file cabinets were gone now, but I opted not to, to keep this article serious. No pun.

—

Already Using an EMR System?

Many are still using private clinic software systems that are outdated and shouldn’t really exist anymore in this day and age. These legacy systems put your data at risk, their use hurts efficiency, and they’re really ugly to look at.

Trust me, I’ve seen all of them.

I’ve even seen clinics using Microsoft Word, which is the most insecure thing you can use to keep the “private data” of your patients. I was also in a clinic where the software was fake and the patient files were already infected with malware. It’s really not worth risking patient data.

If you want to talk to us about your system and how to switch over to SeriousMD, there’s a chat bubble at the bottom right of the screen. Click that and talk to us. We won’t be able to help you if you don’t let us know.

Get Started TODAY

It’s almost a new year and there’s no better time to get started.

If you have been signed up to SeriousMD for a while now but you still haven’t started to use it, it’s about time that you do.

If you haven’t signed up yet, click here to sign up.

Just take SeriousMD to the clinic, use it for 3 straight days and see the benefits. It doesn’t cost you anything to give it a try.

2018 is right around the corner, commit to taking that first step and be ready for the new year. We’re here to make it easier for you.

Ready to Take Action? Click One of the Options Below:

• Schedule a meeting
• Schedule a call
• Get an online demo
• Start now and sign up today
• Want to see some of the doctors using the app?

The post Why You Need to Use an EMR appeared first on SeriousMD Blog.