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“The doctor will see you now.”

These are the words every sick patient hopes to hear as soon as possible.

But Dr. Susan Andrews’ patients can connect to the doctor with a telephone call or Internet conversation as well as an office visit.

Andrews and her husband, Dr. Randall Rickard, work together at Family Practice Partners in Murfreesboro, a small practice that has taken advantage of the time savings and efficiency offered by electronic medical records (EMR).

Their patients get better care because the practice uses EMR — and they can prove it.

When they changed from a hospital-based practice in the late 1990s, it seemed like a logical time to investigate putting electronic medical records to work. Both Andrews and Rickard had done their residencies at the University of South Carolina in Charleston, a pioneer in the use of EMR, so they were familiar with the benefits of an electronic records system.

With the implementation of EMR, “we saved money and have proof that our patients are getting the best care,” she said. As part of a national research study, the practice reports data every six months on over 50 indicators, such as innoculations, diabetes management and mammograms, and the data are compared against their own record and that of 99 other family practices across the country. “We’ve gone from the 50th percentile to one of the top practices in the country based on these statistics,” Andrews said. “For even a small practice, there are big advantages. We like to say we are everyday physicians who are practicing high tech and high touch.”

The system proved economical also, as they were able to reduce their staff by one-and-a-half employees per doctor. They spend about $4,000 to $5,000 a year on hardware, a considerable savings compared to the salaries that have been eliminated.

A national speaker and mentor for other practices implementing electronic records, Andrews has been featured several times in national publications for the state-of-the-art use of computerized records.

Family Practice Partners uses a system called TransforMED, designed to make doctor visits more patient friendly and doctors’ offices more efficient, using tools like flexible scheduling, online consultations and instant communication.

The American Academy of Family Practice considers programs like TransforMED to be the future of family practice for its 94,000 members. By implementing this project, the AAFP hopes to lead and empower medical practices, providing a new model of patient-centered care.

Electronic medical records may not be the right answer for every medical office today, but paper-based systems will become increasingly cumbersome, less secure and more time-consuming to maintain. With EMR, data can enter the system without needing to be retyped or scanned.

Andrews points out that she can answer a patient’s phone call and can, in a matter of seconds, see his or her complete record, receive e-mails from patients with charts attached, send a referral with the click of button, e-mail test results to a patient and share test results immediately after she has received them from the lab.

Patients around Family Practice Partners are aware that “things operate differently here,” Andrews asserted, and added, “We’re pretty proud of our patient care recognition and our awards.”

“We call this ‘opportunistic healthcare.’ We can use the contact we have during an office visit to check on other things besides the presenting complaint,” Andrews said, “because the computer reminds us when patients are due for mammograms, cholesterol checks or routine shots so we can order those at the time of their visit.”

With increased use of electronic records, physicians can track progress and provide automatic reminders to patients for follow-up care or tests, creating increasingly meaningful and productive patient contact without necessarily reducing the number of patients.

Electronic records are gaining acceptance. “A few years ago, 17 percent of offices were using it, but in the last two years, the number has doubled to 33 percent of practices,” she said.

Andrews grew up in Nashville and was a sophomore at Duke when a family friend, Dr. David Karzon, former head of Children’s Hospital, suggested that she consider a career in medicine. Interested, she applied to Vanderbilt Medical School, where she was chosen as one of five students in her class to hold the prestigious Justin Potter Scholarship, “an honor and a help” since the award paid for all tuition and living expenses for medical school.

When her husband graduated from Duke Medical School in 1978, they married and moved to Charleston for residency before returning to Middle Tennessee.

One of their three children, Dorsey, is a first-year resident in Med-Pediatrics at Vanderbilt, while son David works for Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., and daughter Katie is getting a master’s degree to teach French.

While Andrews was involved in the Leadership Rutherford program, she identified her strong interest in education and, when the opportunity came, ran for the Murfreesboro City School Board successfully. She has found the duty extremely rewarding and will run for re-election this year.

Somehow, Andrews finds time to keep her tennis game up to speed and also enjoys gardening with her husband, who has just been named Rutherford Clinician of the Year at Middle Tennessee Medical Center.

Andrews takes good care of her patients, but she appreciates how electronic records technology gives her the time and ability to perfect her practice.



March 2008

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