In a recent webinar, IMO Health sat down with Sarah Weers, MD, of Family Health Care, an FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Center) based in Western Michigan, to discuss the benefits of efficient medical problem list management and clean documentation within the organization’s NextGen EHR (electronic health record).
Dr. Weers, a family medicine physician, explained how using IMO Core within NextGen’s EHR has streamlined her documentation processes, improved patient care, and supported organizational goals.
Click here to watch the full webinar or continue reading for key highlights from the conversation.
IMO Health: Can you tell us about your role and your experience with IMO Core?
Sarah Weers: “I’m a family medicine physician at Family Health Care, practicing in our White Cloud location. I’ve been here for four years and have always used IMO Core embedded in NextGen. Frankly, I’ve never experienced the ‘dark ages’ without IMO Core, and it’s been an invaluable tool in managing patient documentation efficiently.”
IMO Health: You’ve been using IMO Core for years now. Which features do you find the most valuable?
SW: “I find it helpful to be able to do a lot of my chronic problem documentation within IMO Core. I can do my HPI [History of Present Illness] and my plan on one screen—I feel like it helps me capture more documentation… it’s a lot cleaner.”
IMO Health: Dr. Weers, could you share an experience that underscores the importance of having an updated problem list for patients?
SW: “I saw a patient who had been seeing a different provider who has since retired, and she hadn’t been back into the office for over a year, and now she was coming to see me for the very first time… She’s got 12 different medications and clearly a very complex medical history, and I can tell that the provider that was seeing her before didn’t really work with the IMO Core tool to build a problem list…”
IMO Health: You’ve been a feedback partner for the upcoming IMO Core enhancements. What excites you most about these updates?
SW: “I definitely want to say it’s been a lot of fun partnering with [IMO Health]. I love how open you are to feedback… working in IMO [Core] is super important for the overall safety of our patients, but the focus on the problem list is so important.”
IMO Health: Are there any challenges you’d like IMO Core to address in future versions?
SW: “[Some EHRs] can be slow, and IMO Core isn’t immune to that. Also, cleaning up problem lists, removing acute issues or duplicates—requires multiple clicks.”
David Arco, IMO Health’s Director of Discovery, provided more insight into the upcoming changes to IMO Core:
IMO Health: What advice do you have for encouraging providers to adopt IMO Core?
SW: “…just guiding the providers to show them, ‘Look how much easier it is to get everything that you need documented in one space’… I’ve been teaching every new provider that starts with us do the documentation within IMO Core and everyone seems to love it.”
Hear more from Dr. Weers about how IMO Core helps to simplify workflows for new providers and how documentation has become more consistent and thorough across the Family Health Care team:
Dr. Weers’ insights showcase the real-world impact of IMO Core on streamlining documentation, improving clinical workflows, and ensuring better patient care. By simplifying chronic problem management and enhancing the usability of NextGen EHR, IMO Core continues to empower providers to deliver quality care efficiently.
