Rural Doctor Balances Patients and Family with EHR Support

Dr. Karen Smith and her patient, Donald Jones, use electronic health records to help manage his diabetes.

Dr. Karen Smith runs a one-physician family medicine practice in Raeford, NC. She credits her electronic health record (EHR) technology with allowing her to deliver quality care in a rural setting – and to do it so efficiently that she still has time to be a wife and mother.

Dr. Smith is also one of the providers highlighted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as a MUVer – a member of the Meaningful Use Vanguard – who has already adopted certified EHR technology. She has received a Recovery Act-funded Medicaid EHR incentive payment for converting from paper medical records to meaningfully using a certified EHR.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program is funded by the Recovery Act and administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

ONC recently talked to Dr. Smith about how she uses her EHR system to care for her patients—whether she’s working in the office, supervising laundry detail at home, or traveling out of state. See more on her interview here.

Learn more about other Department of Health and Human Services’ Recovery Act-funded health information technology (IT) stories:

• A Doctor-Patient Dialogue on Electronic Health Records
• Health IT Drives Growth for Small Software Firm
• The Tornado and a Patient’s Electronic Health Record
• One Doctor’s Transition to Electronic Health Records
• Health IT Training Creates New Careers
• Solo Doctor Champions Health IT for Patients, Peers
• NC Doctors Move Peers toward Health IT
• Health IT Careers Begin in Texas Thanks to Recovery Act Funding
• Recovery Act health IT initiatives