Dr. Andrew Kontos’ Productivity Skyrockets When He Switches to the Dermatology EHR System, EMA®

Innovative Dermatology and Mohs Surgery benefits from top-rated dermatology software.

Life Before The Dermatology EMR, EMA

When Dr. Andrew Kontos, a dermatologist and Mohs surgeon at Innovative Dermatology and Mohs Surgery in Lehigh Acres, Fla., implemented an EHR system into his practice, he was promised the world and was disappointed when the system couldn’t deliver. After numerous hours of time and money spent, Dr. Kontos knew he needed to make a change. “I felt very dissatisfied with my previous EHR solution. I was under the notion that the system would have built-in dermatology-specific content, but instead it required me to spend hours customizing my own templates and manually entering diagnoses. Something as common as Lupus needed to be populated. I have a family and I’m running a business, so when I have extra time I don’t want to spend it customizing my EHR,” Dr. Kontos shared.

“The main reason I chose the previous vendor was because they also offered a practice management system, and the all-in-one offering appealed to me. Unfortunately it didn’t deliver as promised. I discovered that my charges were being mixed with those of another dermatologist across the country, causing me to lose money. I couldn’t risk my practice while waiting for these issues to be fixed; I needed to find a new solution,” he said. “When I shared that I was switching to another EHR vendor, the news was handled unprofessionally and I was basically cut off. The company gave me only two weeks to access my records. My staff and I spent hours downloading charts. To make matters worse, I couldn’t access my collections and never got fully reimbursed. I don’t even think I have fully recovered yet from that bad experience.”

“I had learned about Modernizing Medicine’s dermatology EHR system, EMA, through numerous friends and colleagues that had begun using it. It became common knowledge that EMA is the number one EHR system for dermatologists and I quickly learned it had everything I was searching for. The in-depth dermatology content and diagnoses that are built into the system meant no customizing templates. Given the intuitive nature and adaptive functionality EMA presents, it was night and day compared to my previous system.”

A Dermatology EHR That Thinks Like a Dermatologist

EMA was programmed by practicing dermatologists to handle the most common diagnoses to the most complex with ease. When Dr. Kontos is performing Mohs, EMA is equipped with the specialty-specific content that allows him to effectively and efficiently treat his patients.

“Dermatology has its own specific language and terminology and only a subset of dermatologists perform Mohs, so the diagnoses are very unique. EMA has the huge advantage that actual dermatologists are behind the product. I’ve seen other EHR systems that are very basic and not as specific as EMA. My previous system had one custom template for a particular diagnosis but one patient may have a different physical finding than another. There are a variety of apples and the beauty of EMA is that it’s so comprehensive,” he said.

Worth the Switch

Dr. Kontos utilizes EMA on the native iPad application, which allows him to quickly tap and touch his way through an exam while suggested dermatology billing codes automatically generate since the system collects structured data.

“Compared to my previous EHR system, my productivity has skyrocketed. I can thoroughly document an exam quickly and I’m not spending hours after work completing my notes. Also, I no longer have to manually enter the E&M and CPT modifiers like I did with my old system. EMA automatically generates the proper codes and I don’t have to worry about it,” he shared. “EMA is the most useful system I have used and far superior program in terms of coding, documentation and managing patient information. I have to say I’m very satisfied and thankful I made the switch to the dermatology EHR, EMA.”