Antonia Ross, MD

Dr. Antonia Ross’ background is as an Internist, having been in practice with Medical Associates of RI in Bristol for thirteen years.  In Dec, 2006 she took on the role of physician champion for her group (19 physicians, 92 employees) to lead their eClinicalWorks implementation.   Her focus was specifically on the physicians, to guide them in learning to record their patient encounters accurately and comprehensively, yet in a time-efficient manner.  She tried to make the process as atraumatic as possible.

The first step involved analysis of workflow, workspace and individual patterns that have bearing on a physician’s ability to adopt the EMR effectively.  She evaluated the means of communication between MDs and MAs/RNs within the practice, and devised ways to maximize the effective flow of information and delegation of responsibilities within the context of an electronic system.  The group adopted ePrescribing and started receiving their lab results through an electronic interface.  Policies and security guidelines were created, customized templates were devised, and decisions were made on how to capture data in a standardized manner to be extractable, in order to document adherence to quality measures and meet reporting needs.  It was useful to have a physician available to act as a liaison between physicians, staff, eClinicalWorks, labs, pharmacies, EHRRI and other resources.

The implementation went very smoothly and MARI has been using eCW successfully now for two years.  Dr.Ross continues to provide individualized physician training and support, leads internal user groups, and is the go-to person for working through problems with the eCW technical support team.

Dr. Ross is in the process of being EMR-certified by eClinicalWorks, and she has recently joined the team at EHRRI.  She is currently involved in assisting other groups, most notably the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center in their pre-implementation planning, leading physician workgroups to help the individual specialties customize the database to meet their needs for practice and reporting.