Published: 2011-05-20 16:15:37
Author: Brian T. Horowitz | eWeek | May 18, 2011
MacPractice, a developer of practice-management and clinical software for Apple devices, has released an application for the iPad, called Clipboard, to streamline patient registration.
Based in Lincoln, Neb., MacPractice offers practice-management applications for the Mac, iPhone and iPad in four separate versions: MD for physicians, DDS for dentists, DC for chiropractors and 20/20 for eye doctors.
By having patients electronically enter their information themselves, physician practices will be able to cut down on data-entry errors, MacPractice reports.
Clipboard also allows patients to read and sign HIPAA privacy forms on the iPad.
"This particular app is aptly described by the name: It's the clipboard," Mark Hollis, president of MacPractice, told eWEEK. "You've been handed the clipboard … and that's exactly what this product is intended to do—is to allow you to be able to fill those forms out on the iPad."
When a patient enters information, it flows automatically into a doctor's practice-management applications and EHRs (electronic health records).
"It's shared data—there's an intersection of the data that's used in the practice management that's also used in the EMR [electronic medical record]," Hollis said.
With EHR applications built into a practice-management suite, patients need only enter their name, address, date of birth and sex once, Hollis explained. Once the data is in a practice's database, the information can be used for tasks such as booking appointments, printing insurance forms or filing claims electronically.
With doctors able to carry around iPads running practice-management applications, they can replace the 3-by-5-inch cards they've often brought back and forth between offices and hospitals to keep track of patient visits, Hollis said.
The software also includes a reminder feature for staff in a doctor's office to communicate what might need to be done for a patient.
Currently, 3,600 practices use the Mac version of MacPractice's software. The company announced the Clipboard iPad version on May 11 and has rolled out a beta release on iTunes for about 100 customers, Hollis said.