Atlas.md EMR brings lean innovation and comprehensive solutions to small, independent practices
As patients are looking for better ways to manage their health care, doctors are seeking innovative ways to offer their services.
One such innovation comes from Dr. Josh Umbehr. As the founder ofAtlas MD atlas.md/Wichita in Wichita, Kansas, he’s leading a new movement in family medicine called Direct Care http://www.iwantdirectcare.
In “Direct Care” patients pay a doctor or group of doctors a subscription fee (typically paid monthly) in exchange for unlimited doctor visits with zero additional copays. From there, individual practices offer benefits like free procedures, wholesale medications and dispensing, discounted labs and tests, imaging services negotiations, health seminars, fitness centers and more.
EMR Industry:
You launched Atlas MD in 2010. What was managing patient records like back then?
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
It felt like the 90s. Spreadsheets with numbers everywhere, piles of patient records, lab results, filing cabinets filled with endless manila envelopes. We knew we needed help. At the time, there wasn’t anything on the market that was going to help a practice our size.
EMR Industry:
So you began developing your own software, right?
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
Exactly. We started in April, 2011 and by July, we had a useful application that my staff and I could operate on an iPads. It wasn’t perfect, but I knew how to find exactly what I needed, efficiently. The benefit we had was our agile creation. I had a vision of how I wanted to practice medicine and I had an application that only had to do what I wanted it to. The result is that over time everything that helped me stuck around. Everything that didn’t got scrapped.
EMR Industry:
It must be working pretty well. You launched a beta version of the software for the public back in December.
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
Yes, and we’re updating it constantly. Docs can sign up for a free 30-day trial of the software at Atlas.md/signup [http://www.Atlas.md/signup]. There’s nothing to download, and no hardware to order meaning docs can start using it right away. It’s browser-based and cross-platform compatible –
EMR Industry:
Cross-platform compatible?
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
It works just as easily on desktop, as a smartphone or iPad. And because it’s browser-based everything is asynchronously updated. That means a doctor can be holding his tablet, taking notes on a patient, ordering refills, etc. All of this is tracked right inside a patient profile. Then if he steps out of the office, he can quickly access the most current information right on his smartphone.
EMR Industry:
What’s your favorite feature in the app?
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
Well, I’ll be careful phrasing this. I’m actually a huge fan of the bill pay mechanics. And that sounds selfish, but I can assure you, it’s not so. I’m actually glad that we’ve built a tool so that more doctors can get paid for doing their jobs. Because Direct Care uses a subscription, patients can provide their banking information and auto-renew each month. Atlas.md EMR automatically emails patients a monthly statement that outlines exactly what they paid for.
EMR Industry:
You sound like a doctor evangelist.
Dr. Josh Umbehr:
Well, I didn’t go to med school to do paperwork, right? And since our practice is lean, I needed software that would help cut my overhead. I definitely did that. Now I want to make sure this software can help other doctors do it too.
EMR Industry:
Well, we wish you the best of luck, Dr. Umbehr.
Want to learn more about Direct Care and Atlas.md EMR? Follow Dr. Josh on his blog [http://atlas.md/blog/2013/10/