I’ve recently discovered that the modern ophthalmology practice runs much better – and so does my life – with modern computer support. As some ophthalmologists have been lauding the paperless office for at least a decade, I can only wish I would have taken the initiative

sooner. The move makes fundamental sense. As doctors, we deal with data all the time. Handling data is what computers do best.

About a year ago, after writing my 3,000th 1-day-post-op cataract exam, I decided that there must be a better way. Having been in an academic practice since the mid-1980s, this past fall I struck out on my own to set up a solo private practice. My new office recently converted totally to electronic medical records. I’ve come to realize that in the not-too-distant future, the kind of productivity enhancement electronic medical records offer may spell the difference between boom or bust for the solo practitioner.

In selecting a vendor, I did much of the research myself. It was a time-consuming process, but unavoidable for me. Even if a network or physician practice management company is involved in this aspect of your practice, I think it’s important for you and all the doctors involved to compare available options and have a role in the decision.

Booths at the major ophthalmology meetings were a great source for obtaining literature and making contact with sales and technical people, who are a part of the process. Many of the companies offer demo programs on CD-ROM. Advertisements in the ophthalmic publications are helpful. Younger ophthalmologists, who are probably more attuned to Internet searches and other Web-based tools than the older generation, may have an easier time lining up potential vendors and technical specifications.

I carefully evaluated systems from six different companies, and chose the CareLinc Clinical Information System, offered by CIBA Vision (I have no financial interest in either). CareLinc had experts design the hardware according to specifications I approved and let me work closely with the software developers.

The CareLinc system in my office runs on Windows NT. I have 11 PCs on a local area network. CareLinc helped to train my staff; it was not necessary for me to hire any additional help. I lease the system, which costs me about $2,000 a month for the software and $2,500 a month for the hardware.

With the system up and running, I soon came to appreciate how much time we used to spend in my practice manually writing and inputting information and generating follow-up correspondence. The computer simply makes this work faster and more accurate.

I have little nostalgia for paper charts – the ones that occasionally seem to get lost, or contain something illegible or not fully documented from the standpoint of findings or informed consent. Nor do I yearn for the coding mistakes we used to make – both outright errors and coding that doesn’t reflect documentation in the charts.

It’s too soon to calculate exactly how much time we’ve saved or how many more patients we can see. But we are seeing more patients.

And I know that I have more time for myself, my family and my patients. I’ve started to go to the gym more often to lose a little weight. I only wish I’d done it all a long time ago.