Switching to a New Specialty EMR to Enhance Podiatric Care
A passion to get people back on their feet
Dr. Kathleen Stone and Dr. Teisha Kubala of Thunderbird Footcare pride themselves on taking time to listen and work through problems with patients. Practicing in a sundrenched community of Arizona, where many retirees cherish sports—from golf to pickleball—there’s no shortage of foot and ankle problems. “Our passion is getting our patients healed as quickly as possible, so they can get back to an active lifestyle. We feel good about making them feel better quickly,” said Dr. Kubala. As a small, independent practice, getting to know patients is of the essence. When meeting with patients, the doctors focus more on engaging in a conversation and discussing a game plan for recovery, rather than asking generic questions and typing notes.
A race against time
Developing quality relationships with patients had become a race against time. Documentation and chart work consumed the day and added stress.
Problems with their EHR compounded this stress. The practice was being nickeled and dimed with hardware and software issues. Customer service from the EHR vendor was particularly painful.
“Every time there was a problem, the vendor would say this is a class IV, II, or I problem, and you have to go to the customer service rep that specifically deals with that particular classification. It could be upwards of a week before they responded. One of our staff had to be relentless in calling to resolve the issue,” said Dr. Stone.
Doctors of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery: Kathleen M. Stone, DPM and Teisha M. Kubala, DPM|
Location: Glendale AZ
Mission Statement: Our team strives to build a relationship with our patients to achieve optimal foot health
THE SOLUTION
A positive partnership with a cost-saving cloud-based solution Thunderbird Footcare began to think about getting a new EHR. This led to reaching out to NextGen Healthcare. The initial call from a NextGen Office representative set the tone for a positive and productive relationship.
“The NextGen Healthcare representative did a good job showing us how the process works,” said Dr. Stone. “Their sincere willingness to help was noticed before selecting the solution.”
Thunderbird Footcare started its partnership with NextGen Healthcare in April 2019 and began a new path toward a solution that streamlines processes and enables future expansion.
THE FIRST STEPS
Training from a friendly and intelligent team
The process of moving to a new EHR solution has hurdles and challenges. The sales and training teams have supported Thunderbird Footcare at every stage throughout the eightweek implementation of NextGen® Office for Podiatry.
Webinar training sessions were particularly helpful because instruction appealed to visual learning and enabled staff to become familiar with the solution from the convenience of their desks. Over time, certain features that were initially confusing for some clinical staff began to make sense. No detail was too small for the NextGen Healthcare team.
“We are pleased with the training as well as the friendliness and intelligence demonstrated by the NextGen Healthcare teams. It’s impressive how they manage to keep all members of the practice on the same page as we adapt to a new solution,” said Dr. Stone.
