Not only do the best-of-breed systems work; they work well. Optometrists utilizing a best-of-breed solution reported an average overall satisfaction of 8 out of 10, higher than the estimated national average of 6.6.

What sets these systems apart? The solutions they offer are engineered with the daily needs of optometrists in mind, offering features that increase doctor’s knowledge base, efficiency, and profitability.

Many of the top optometry EHR solutions also include functions found across integrated EHR solutions, such as patient management tools, e-prescription, file storage, and reminders. Additionally, many of these solutions include features like the ability to monitor and track changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) values over time, and integrate with existing optometry tools.

Amidst the wide variety of options available, we found three solutions that are already effectively assisting optometrists with their daily needs.

Eyefinity – examWRITER

examWRITER, created by Eyefinity, is the EHR solution in a suite of tools created for Optometrists. Eyefinity’s other solutions include OfficeMate practice management software, and Eyefinity training and education. Beyond including essential tools such as patient history and billing management, examWRITER offers ophthalmic templates and drawing tools. The ophthalmic graphic templates allows optometrists to record in-depth diagnosis records with relevant notes and highlights saved to the patient’s record for easy access. The drawing tools allow optometrists to personalize their records by editing information on the graphical displays in a way that is relevant to them and their patients.

One of the most impressive tools included in Eyefinity’s examWRITER is the equipment integration. Most optometrists already have a collection of measuring equipment for use in diagnosis. Through examWRITER’s integration with these tools, optometrists can now load reports directly into patient history, which centralizes office information.

As patients observe their medical records being stored on the examWRITER system with ophthalmic displays for accuracy, their perception of the level of service received is elevated, leading to increased patient satisfaction.

Crystal

Crystal Practice Management Software was created to be a comprehensive optometry EHR and practice management solution for offices of all sizes. Its patient and staff scheduling module allows for efficient staff member and patient appointment scheduling, with options to print the schedules in a user-friendly, take-home form.

With Crystal’s customizable records and reports, optometrists can easily adjust patient records. Its Auto-History feature makes it possible to see all previous patient data in a given field, including instant access to the progression of a patient’s prescription history.

For optometrists who sell contacts or glasses, Crystal created an inventory management system to better facilitate purchases. By utilizing the popular Frames Data CD, users can track lab orders and speed up checkouts with a barcode scanner. The inventory management module also allows optometrists to see the purchase price, blue book price, and sale price of a piece of inventory, all on one screen.

Crystal’s patient and insurance billing module also includes integrated insurance claims and patient billing in a user-friendly accounting software package. Optometrists who have felt the pain of filling out HCFA forms only to find out they bubbled in one wrong box will certainly appreciate Crystal’s auto-completed HCFA 1500 forms.

All of these modules combine to form a system that increases efficiency and decreases expenses. In fact, large officers with more than 15,000 patients experience an average annual estimated savings of $26,816. Additionally, Crystal’s practice management software and EHR solutions are created for easy and quick integration, with most practices seeing a return on investment within the first three months.

MDIntellesys, Inc.

Using a cloud-based system, MDIntellesys helps disseminate optometric best practices through a shared knowledge base. This allows professionals in similar practices to share best methods for document findings, diagnostics, and treatments.

MDIntellesys’ auto drawing module automatically generates a proposed drawing based on the findings that have already been entered into a patient chart, from which optometrists can correct inaccuracies. Additionally, MDIntellesys offers layered drawing for users to edit particular portions of drawings without having to erase everything and start from scratch – a complaint many physicians have with other systems.

MDIntellesys offers intuitive customization with adaptive template availability. This feature creates unique and patient specific templates in real-time and without doctor programming. In addition to setting appropriate defaults on a per-patient basis, MDIntellesys’ system eliminates non-relevant menu choices and drop-down lists by adapting to patient information.

These three systems are just a few of the EHR vendors that offer a diverse range of specialized solutions for Optometrists. Deciding to utilize a best-of-breed solution is just the first step to finding the right EHR solution for your practice. With an increasing number of new entrants offering innovative solutions with varying price ranges and features, it’s important to be thorough in your research when making an implementation decision. Vendors are designing the solutions that fit your needs, now you just have to find them.

Top Electronic Health Record Software Recommendations

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Such massive interest has led to a wave of statistical analysis and predictions. Fans want to know about their team, the chances of winning, how past performance affects the next game, and everything in between. As interested observers consume more information, sports journalists and analysts are finding new ways to break through the noise with unique presentations.

New trends in big data and data analysis are driving this change in information intake, and forward-thinking media outlets are showing just how useful these tools can be. By utilizing the resources available for analysis and visualization, these journalists are illustrating how data can provide new insight. Below, we’ve highlighted a few of the data-driven ways sites have covered the World Cup so far.

Mapping

One of the most shared graphics of US interest in the World Cup is a Twitter volume map of World Cup related activity after John Brooks’ 86th minute goal in the US-Ghana match. As the six-second video shows, twitter erupted in activity across the United States as fans celebrated the unexpected goal from the 19 year-old substitute. This map was created using Cartodb, a cloud-based solution for creating maps based on user data. By calibrating the map to display small dots for any tweet related to the USA-Ghana game, Michael Katz of SB Nation was able to visualize the country’s reaction in real-time. Instead of simply listing statistics or ratings, Michael was able to utilize mapping technology to show US interest in international soccer in a way never before seen.

One day before the World Cup started, the New York Daily News posted an article with a interactive map for finding the best places to watch each game in New York City, tailored to each team. By utilizing Mapbox’s open source platform, the graphic allows fans to find the name, location, and description of a selected venue. To create the popular map, The New York Daily News simply collected existing data and delivered it in a novel, useful way.

Forecasting

Fans are always looking for accurate ways to predict the outcome of a sporting event before it happens. During the 2010 World Cup, a common octopus named Paul made several accurate predictions on match winners, bringing him worldwide attention as an animal oracle. While we no longer have Paul to help us predict the winner of this World Cup (RIP), many sports journalists are utilizing predictive analytics to forecast match outcomes (and generate site traffic).

Before the start of the World Cup, bettingexpert hosted a World Cup Prediction Competition where users made picks on who would win each match and ultimately the World Cup. Bettingexpert analyzed the more than 40,000 submissions in a World Cup Prediction Stats post, where they broke down each teams odds of winning the cup based on public opinion. With relatively simple statistical analysis, bettingexpert drew in huge amounts of site traffic, along with positive press coverage.

FiveThirtyEight, a polling aggregation website and blog created by Nate Silver, has created some of the most popular and informative predictive posts regarding World Cup matches. One day before the start of the World Cup, FiveThirtyEight released a World Cup prediction post including the outcome of every previous World Cup. Performing analytics based on the Elo ratings of each World Cup team before the start of the tournament, Silver’s post shows how this prediction method would have performed compared to the actual outcome for each of the previous World Cups, along with a full analysis of this year’s prediction.

In addition to their initial predictions, FiveThirtyEight created an interactive dashboard where fans can see real time odds of their team advancing in each stage of the World Cup, including the chances of each game ending in a win, loss, or draw. By utilizing data from ESPN’s Soccer Power Index (SPI), FiveThirtyEight is able to calculate the odds of each outcome with probabilities based on 10,000 simulations. Through this post, FiveThirtyEight has made the otherwise overwhelming data accessible to fans, exemplifying the power of visualization.

Companies use these same tactics as well, albeit for different purposes. Applications such as Pentaho and QlikView specialize in predictive analytics, which help companies predict future scenarios, decrease their risk, and increase competitive insight. Pentaho helps businesses discover meaningful patterns inside data sets, much like FiveThirtyEight helps fans see the trends in past World Cup matches. QlikView offers tools for assembling data on the fly to create visualizations and analysis, which function similarly to the interactive game-odds on FiveThirtyEight.

Sporting events like the World Cup contain a wealth of accessible, interesting data. By using tools that turn such data into actionable analysis, journalists increase their competitive advantage and often attract substantial followings. In the same way that businesses can gain competitive market advantages with business intelligence, media outlets are turning towards towards data and visualization to gain their own edge.

See any examples of great data-driven journalism that we missed? Let us know in the comments.

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