Lake Chelan Clinic
Interview With Barbara Berg, Clinic Administrator
Give us some background on the Lake Chelan Clinic:
The Lake Chelan Clinic was established in 1962. We currently have 4 doctors and 2 nurse practitioners and are actively interviewing candidates for the addition of a fifth doctor.
How has the Lake Chelan Clinic changed in the last 10 years due to changing technology?
It’s brought many exciting changes. Many of them are behind the scenes and most patients aren’t even aware of them. Everything used to be written by hand on paper. Now, we schedule appointments on computers and all of the clinic personnel has access to it instead of it being on one book at the front desk. When a patient has been checked in at the front desk, the provider’s nurse is notified via our practice management system which improves patient flow. We view most patient insurance plans on-line to determine eligibility prior to providing a service. Insurance claims and statements are transmitted electronically and we also receive some insurance payments electronically. The most influential change has come with electronic medical records. When our provider comes into the exam room, he carries a laptop with the patient’s records - Chart notes from prior visits to our clinic, medicine prescribed, drug allergies, immunization and family history so the doctor can see a much larger picture of the patient’s health and past medical history. The Lake Chelan Clinic providers utilize digital, real time dictation so if a serious problem is discovered in the exam and a referral is needed, the specialist could have our provider’s note by the time that patient arrives at the specialist’s office.
Prescriptions are ordered from the laptop and are waiting at the pharmacy when a patient arrives. Using the Chelan County PUD Fiber Optics, we have access to local, and soon to be regional, hospital records.
This means the quality of care a patient receives from all treating physicians is better coordinated and allows for faster recovery. By linking all the healthcare providers in North Central Washington together, once again,
Why did you decide to go with Clear Focus and CompleteCare?
I found out about Clear Focus in the McQuaig & Welk, PLLC newsletter. We were desperate and not functioning where we needed to be. Clear Focus came in and performed a technology audit. They fixed our network and within 12 hours we were running much better. It is so nice to know there is someone 24/7 who knows exactly what is going on. And they always have enough technicians who can help.
What advice would you give to other businesses who are struggling with utilizing their technology?
I would tell them have Clear Focus come in and do a technology audit. If you can’t afford to have your computers go down, you need to have a reliable, affordable resource to take care of your IT needs.
In my opinion, you can’t afford to not have a service like Clear Focus. I never thought there was a company like this in North Central Washington. I trust them implicitly.
How has Clear Focus helped your business?
We are able to plan better and have much better control over our IT system. No more calls to someone to help us ‘put out a fire’. Clear Focus analyzes our needs constantly and using preventives measures, we no longer have those fires. We are running like a well oiled machine. I don’t hear our doctors saying “Why is the internet down?” We are much more reliable for our patients; which is extremely important because it can be life and death here. Clear Focus has been a lifesaver for us.
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