Eye clinic sets its sights on future with new EMR

For more than three decades, Eye Associates has been a fixture in the Nepean, ON community. The clinic has seven ophthalmologists and one optometrist, each with their own office space and reception area. Associates also share an onsite lab, which allows patients to have their visual tests on the same day.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

With the Nightingale EMR platform set to retire at the end of 2019, Eye Associates started to evaluate new EMR options in early 2018 to help the clinic continue to support its several thousand patients for years to come.

In August 2018, Joanne Taylor, Business Office Manager for Eye Associates, co-ordinated the clinic’s conversion from the Nightingale to PS Suite EMR. The implementation followed months of careful planning with a TELUS Health project manager. “We spoke every week before we integrated,” she says. “The meetings really helped ensure we were organized and ready for each phase of implementation.”

Presently, two doctors are using PS Suite to its full potential. It’s just the beginning. As new doctors join the busy clinic, the advanced, new EMR is ready to support them and take them to the next level with ongoing updates and powerful add-on tools.

EMR add-ons drive additional benefit for clinic.

A month after implementing PS Suite, Joanne added a customizable, automated patient appointment reminder tool from TELUS Health partner, Cliniconex, to increase clinic efficiency, enable better communications, and improve on the patient experience.

Staff members can now send automated reminders and pre-appointment information to patients by voice, email or text – right from the EMR. The tool helps to reduce outbound call time, manage patient no-shows, and ensure patients are better prepared for their appointments.

Best of all, this EMR add-on tool runs seamlessly in the background so staff can focus on what matters most: their patients. The end to end process from pre-sales to implementation runs smoothly. “We had a short phone call to discuss our needs, and that was it. There’s really nothing else to do.”