Fannett Medical Center
Practice Life
Fannett Medical Center is a rural clinic outside of Beaumont, TX mainly helping underserved patients in a family medicine setting. After taking over an established 40-year-old practice from a retiring physician, providers Daisy and Zeus Arco quickly realized the existing software system they inherited was inadequate to efficiently run the still highly paper-based practice. Another popular system was recommended but proved to be overly expensive and lacking in revenue cycle management (RCM) features. A colleague of Daisy’s recommended AdvancedMD, and the clinic adopted the entire suite, including billing/RCM and insurance eligibility, scheduling and EHR with ePrescribing. The seamless integration of the system and cloud-based delivery have proven invaluable in helping the practice run effectively, particularly during natural disasters that periodically hit their region. This integration and cloud-based software was a necessity for this newly acquired practice and was proven important when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in South Texas in late August 2017.
Fannett Medical Center was one of the few facilities that did not close because of flooding. Several area hospitals and ERs were unable to remain open, and state and national guard relief efforts were paralyzed. “People were evacuated to churches, and then even those churches had to be closed because the water was rising so fast,” said Daisy.
AdvancedMD was an important part of that quick response. “All we needed was the Internet and power and we could open AdvancedMD, cloud-based, and we were able to look up our patients’ medical records. Daisy was able to prescribe medication,” said Zeus. The clinic had prepared for this type of situation by previously installing mobile hot-spot Wi-Fi technology in the clinic.
“Many of our patients lost their medications in the flooding when they were evacuated from their homes,” said Daisy. “They were displaced to Texarkana, Dallas, Tennessee – everywhere.” These patients messaged the clinic through the AdvancedMD patient portal or the local pharmacy and requested a refill. “The NPI goes straight into our system, and we were able to refill the medication quickly, no matter where the patient was temporarily staying,” said Daisy.
“That’s the beauty of a cloud-based EHR,” said Zeus. “During a disaster, as long as you plan ahead, you can run off a generator and portable Internet and it’s not a problem at all. You can still function. You could put a tent outside with a laptop and a printer and you’re good to go. That’s all you need.”