| Challenges of EHR Adoption |
Discrete Recordable Transcription (DRT)
The concept of a DRT enabled EHR is simple. Physicians that dictate their clinical note should be allowed to continue to dictate their findings and clinical assessments in their own words, but the transcribed output should be entered directly into the EHR as Discrete recordable data. Under this methodology, a physician does not have to change the way they practice medicine and change the way they interact with the patient.
Following a common protocol, a physician would review the electronic chart before entering the room with the patient – following the same workflow as today. Instead of reviewing a paper chart, the physician would review electronic clinical data that has been created via the data entry methods we mention in the prior section (data conversions, data interfaces, data entered by the patient or nurse, ICE, etc). After reviewing the information, the physician talks to the patient, performs the required physical exam, and discusses his/her clinical interpretation and clinical plan with the patient. The physician then dictates their findings and plan directly into the EHR as an electronic wave file. Once completed, the wave file is transmitted to a local or remote transcriptionist for electronic transcription.
Since 63% of the typical transcription is already gather electronically via the various data collection methodologies, the cost for the creation of the final note is cut by more than 50% - an average of $6,000 per year per physician that has elected dictation over hand written notes. More importantly, the transcription comes back into the EHR as Discrete clinical findings, thus improving clinical documentation, coding, and outcomes. Basically, via a DRT enabled EHR, physicians that have elected to dictate in the past can continue to dictate, can cut their transcription costs in half and can still generate a clinical note via the EHR.
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