In December, Dr. Eugene Constantinou's internal medicine practice was the first to go live with the Alpha Version of athenaClinicals. This month, we check in to see how athenaClinicals has affected his practice.

"Clinicals has made a big difference," Dr. Constantinou said this month. "I can manage the office much better. Just ask the staff – they're able to find what they need when they need it. Any person can pick up any chart at any time and know what's going on – whether the patient needs a call from me, an appointment, test results, or a medication change."

Once we installed athenaClinicals last December (a process Dr. Constantinou described as "a very straightforward transition"), all his patients' records became available electronically. He now writes electronic prescriptions. And athenahealth routes all the paper that comes to his office – lab results, prescriptions needing authorization, and consults – to our data entry team for recording into athenaClinicals. This means that information that used to come via fax and U.S. mail to the practice now appears on athenaClinicals, so the doctor and his staff can work with a single, secure "clinical inbox." And they no longer have to deal with any paper – including faxes – coming into the office.

"In internal medicine practices like mine, we get all kinds of phone calls and messages and questions from patients," said Dr. Constantinou. "With Clinicals, I'm able to provide the kind of service I want to provide to my patients – all messages get returned, and no information gets lost. We respond to all patients rapidly and appropriately."

Besides more streamlined and responsive patient care, there have been other efficiencies as well. "With Clinicals, there has been a clear-cut time savings for staff," said Dr. Constantinou. "They're not spending time looking for charts or information on our patients. And I feel better at the end of each day – no headaches. We've defined a workflow that is efficient and streamlined. With a paper system, you just can't do that – multiple people can't be working with the same chart at the same time."

Dr. Constantinou will make some changes because of these new efficiencies. "We're going to see more patients and expand our practice hours. I'm also enjoying a better quality life – I'm not taking work home, the work is done at the end of the day. No more working on weekends. I have free time!"

An unexpected benefit of using Clinicals? "Now, the office just looks cleaner and more organized," Dr. Constantinou said. "No more charts and stacks all over the place."

Last month, Dr. Dhiren Sutaria of Woodland Internists started using the Alpha version of athenaClinicals (see the Pulse story here). Bethel Medical in Brockton, MA – a practice with multiple providers and multiple specialties including Family Practice and Pediatrics – is next. In the second quarter, athena will begin to install our proud, 200-member Beta Class with the Beta Version of athenaClinicals.

If you'd like more information about athenaClinicals, please e-mail athenaclinicals@athenahealth.com.