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Physicians Aggressively Pursuing I.T.


By Bill Briggs, Senior Editor September 2006
When Triangle Orthopaedic Associates started looking at electronic medical records systems in 1999 there were many new vendors offering tools to manage patient records via computers. William Mallon, M.D., was so enthralled by the idea he helped his practice's fledgling vendor design its EMR.

Many startup vendors vanished into the ether in the dot-com bust, however, and Triangle Orthopaedic's vendor was absorbed by another. But the I.T. bug had bitten Mallon, and he's still an active player in the Durham, N.C.-based practice's technology initiatives.

Since 2000, Triangle has installed three different practice management systems and Mallon is assisting a company in designing an EMR. "I'm kind of into computers and I.T. stuff," he understates.

His comment and efforts reflect a common commitment among physicians who have chosen to take on a leadership role in the use of I.T. Many of them, especially outside the hospital setting, do not have a technology title or formal I.T. duties. But they have taken on equivalent responsibilities just the same, on top of their clinical roles.

"Physicians are getting a sense of the importance of the I.T. task," says William F. Bria, M.D., chief medical information officer at Shriners Hospitals for Children, a 22-hospital delivery system based in Tampa, Fla.

"It's one of the most important 'aha' revelation points as they move from being casually involved in I.T. to physician champion to the longer term and more risky step of pursuing permanent information technology positions."

Whatever the setting, physicians who push for new information technology tools are developing skills-often on their own-and doing so in greater numbers.

"More physicians have gone from viewing I.T. as 'Oh, isn't that interesting,'-like a singing pig-to sitting in the executive board room," says Bria, who also is chairman of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems, Lake Almanor, Calif.

Many physicians who spearhead I.T. initiatives say necessity breeds their interest and curiosity brings out the scientist in their nature. Some of these innovators go looking for specific new technology, but others encounter them by chance.

At the 20-physician Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, EMR and practice management technology was in use, but there was room for improvement, Mallon says. There also were more products on the market from which to choose as vendors in the space continued to enhance their products.

Four years ago when visiting a friend practicing in Texas, Mallon came across an application from Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth Inc.

"We liked it, but had just bought another practice management system," Mallon explains. "Then we got a new CFO and in 2005 he talked about looking at athenahealth again."

Athenahealth offers Web-based practice management software and business services for a percentage of a practice's revenue. Triangle Orthopaedics went live on the practice management application in May.

The practice also is exploring options for a new EMR, an area of strength for Mallon. He has written program code for EMR systems and has seen enough applications to know what works and what doesn't. He also has designed computerized operating notes software, which athenahealth licenses.

Mallon majored in math in college, which helped him quickly pick up programming skills.

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