About The Cat Doctor

Dr. Diane Eigner is a Past-President of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and owner and founder of The Cat Doctor. The hospital was established in 1983 in the Art Museum area of Philadelphia and has served the community for over twenty years, providing excellent comprehensive and compassionate care. The Cat Doctor received 4 year American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) accreditation, ensuring that the practice complies with veterinary care standards and that patients are receiving the best possible care using the latest procedures and technology.

What Prompted a Change in Software?

Dr. Eigner had been using the same practice management software in her facility for almost 20 years. It seemed time for an upgrade and her software vendor promised updates. After what seemed to be “years of waiting” she ­finally received a new beta version of her old system to review. Dr. Eigner says, “It was slow, cumbersome, and not at all what I was hoping for.” After a discussion with some close friends and evaluation of systems, Dr. Eigner made the switch to VIA.

Since then there has been no turning back. She needed to upgrade computer hardware as well so Dr. Eigner purchased VIA’s optional turn-key solution including both the practice management software and the network equipment she needed. She also selected VIA’s optional hardware and network support. “I decided I wanted everything supplied from the same company to avoid any finger pointing in the future.”

Almost Immediate Success

Change, no matter what it is, can be difficult. Contributing to the level of difficulty, Dr. Eigner was traveling almost two weeks per month. But to stay on top of things she was able to use remote access capabilities to log on to VIA from wherever in the world she was. Nevertheless, Dr. Eigner decided to go paperless using VIA’s SOAP note generator over the course of a weekend.

“As expected, we were like a deer in headlights the first day,” she recalls. However, and to her surprise, the second day went very well and they were off and running. “VIA really is that easy to use. It allows my staff to multitask and keep in close communication with each other through both the templated notes and extensive digital white boarding capabilities,” states Dr. Eigner. “I can just pinch myself. The staff now documents everything in VIA!”

The Benefi­ts of Documentation

Dr. Eigner’s staff has seen not only an improvement in communication but also an increase in productivity. They take full advantage of VIA’s customizable template-based SOAP notes to capture charges and generate detailed medical records. Being an AAHA accredited hospital, Dr. Eigner worked with her staff  to customize their SOAP note templates to meet AAHA compliance through the diagnostic codes, addition of pain and nutrition scores to the physical exam, speci­fic history questionnaires, and different treatment plan options. By using this automated, yet highly customized piece of the software, not only does The Cat Doctor’s staff populate each section of the SOAP with very little time spent in front of the computer, they also create invoices simultaneously which help them to eliminate missed charges.

“Productivity numbers have increased in the practice because now the staff  simply rationalizes taking items off the preconfi­gured treatment plan instead of building a new plan from scratch every time,” states Dr. Eigner. “VIA has truly made us work smarter, not harder”.

 

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