MEMPHIS, TN – The clinical workflows at specialty physician practices often differ from those at primary care practices. And as a result, the information technology needs can be different as well.

When Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics in Memphis, Tenn., first began researching electronic medical records in 2004, they discovered that most EMRs were not designed with specialists in mind.

“The episodic nature of care makes a specialty practice different than a primary care clinic,” said John Vines, CEO of Campbell Clinic. “Primary care clinicians have more in common with one another than specialty physicians do, and I think EMRs generally reflect that.”

Vines says EMRs often require too much data entry from physicians, and while potentially annoying to any doctor, this can be especially harmful to a specialty practice that relies on a high volume of patients flowing through exam rooms.

“If your EMR increases the doctor’s workload even just a little, it makes your practice less efficient,” said Vines. “We can’t afford that here, and most other specialty practices can’t, either.”

As an alternative to a full-fledged EMR, Campbell Clinic decided to implement clinical document management software. Document management software vendors claim that these products don’t disturb physician workflows because doctors don’t perform data-entry.

Campbell Clinic adopted the SRS Chart Manager product from Montvale, N.J.-based SRSsoft.

“We worked really hard on the front end so we wouldn’t have any reduction in patient scheduling when we implemented,” said Paige LeMay, COO at Campbell Clinic. “There were many months spent talking with doctors about how they wanted their charts organized. In the end, we chose not to convert everything in our paper records to digital format.”

LeMay explained that Campbell converts paper records to electronic records as patients in the system return for appointments. Unlike at a primary care practice, many patients do not have regular, annual appointments or visit their orthopedist throughout the year.

“While we do have many clients in primary care, our bread and butter is the larger specialty practices,” said Evan Steele, CEO of SRSsoft.

Steele claims that Campbell Clinic’s experience is common among specialty practices. He also says that for practices of more than three physicians, the total cost of a document management system like Chart Manager is one third less than a “full-blown” EMR.

“These specialty practices generally don’t want any of the downtime that’s required to work on an EMR,” he said. “As an immediate solution, document management is ideal for them.”