A year ago today, from a different galaxy (EMR) I wrote a piece that is equally relevant in my new galaxy (Epic). In fact, even more so. Epic is even more click and encounter heavy than I could imagine.
I wish I could be like Captain Jean-Luc Picard and just say “make it so”. Instead, be it Epic, Intergy or eClinicalworks, I have to do a lot of things that are not medical in order to basically say yes to a request from a colleague or support staffer.
This is what I wrote:
In my EMR, when I get a message (also called “TASK” – ugh) from the surgical department that reads “patient is due for 5-year repeat colonoscopy and needs [insurance] referral”, things are a lot more complicated, WHICH THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE! For this routine task, I can’t just click a “yes” or “authorize” button (which I am absolutely sure is a trackable event in the innards of “logs” all EMRs have).
Instead, (as I often lament), I have to go through a slow and cumbersome process of creating a non-billable encounter, finding the diagnostic code for colon cancer screening, clicking on REFERRAL, then SURGEON – COLONOSCOPY, then freetexting “5 year colonoscopy recall”, then choosing where to send this “TASK”, namely the referral coordinator and , finally, getting back to the original request in order to respond “DONE”.
This is a basic, binary, programming issue as far as I understand. Yes or no, 1 or 0, stop or go, scope or nope.
I really think EMR programmers have something against doctors.
A Country Doctor Writes: 
What a waste of money that doctors are paid extremely well for clerical work. I could probably see 5 more patients per day if all I needed to say was “Make it so.”