Watch: Symplast Customer Video Spotlight

Why did you choose Symplast?

I chose Symplast because I needed an EMR that was easy to use and intuitive, that if I had staff turnover or if I needed to get on it myself, I could train somebody, I could use it easily, that anyone without significant computer training could get on and really understand and easily toggle through it. I also needed something that worked for my Los Angeles location as well as my Austin location that integrated very well. I’ve had two other electronic medical records in the past, and that they could be accessed through my phone was a problem in the past. I think the fact that I can use my iPad or my phone to look at my schedule, look at my notes, edit, send in prescriptions is a God send.

What are your favorite features of Symplast and why?

There are a lot. I love that I can take photos right in the electronic medical record note, which I’ve never been able to do in the past. I typically had to use a separate, separate program to do pictures. I can do it before and afters right there in the Symplast app, which is great because, you know, patients really patients and you want to see the before and afters, you know, whether or not they are kind enough to let you post that online or put it on your website is another thing. But, you know, just for you and the patient to be able to review the before and the afters it’s surprising and eye opening how much patients really do appreciate that. I’ve always kind of done it, but like I said, I’ve always had to use a separate iPad to do it or and sometimes things are glitchy, right? So I think that having it all in one place is really convenient. I love the drag in feature that I can do my note by dictation. When my scribe isn’t keeping up, or if my scribe is sick or whatever, whatever’s going on. I think Symplast has really made my life much easier with my electronic medical records. I love that we can put in templates and then kind of edit them. I love that I can actually draw on the actual picture of the patient where I treated. What else? I love the patient app portal that they can download their pictures. They go straight to their file along with text messages. So I can always look up what’s going on. I love that I can remotely do prescriptions, which I think is fantastic. You know, I know that all of us are now mandatory to do prescriptions electronically. However, it’s always usually in a separate system. What I love, it’s integrated into my electronic medical record and I can do it from my phone, which, you know, in the past I’ve had to do on my computer. You know, when I get home, I’ll log in and do the prescription, but I can do it from the restaurant or a business meeting just on my phone without having to log into my computer.

How do you feel about the service that Symplast provides your practice?

The service has been phenomenal. I think that every single time I have a staff member that says, “Oh, I don’t know how to do this”. There’s so many resources that there’s no reason why they should not be able to troubleshoot it. And I really do end up blaming them, you know, and I always say if it’s not working, you know, it’s user error. And that’s the first thing you have to look at, you know, because I think it’s very easy for us to say, “oh, you know, the stupid watch isn’t working”, you know, “my phone isn’t working”, but the nice thing about Symplast is you have Symplast University which I could just quickly Google something within Symplast, you know, “how do I how do I enter this?” “How do I do this?” And it comes right up and then I can watch the video on instructional video, how to do it. I can also always call the 1-800 number and then there’s always my assigned Symplast team member that oftentimes I can text or call and they’re always there. So I think that the resources have been phenomenal.

What was the value of having a Symplast industry expert visit your practice?

There’s many advantages. Christine was fantastic. She came and trained our whole staff. There are so many features that I think we ran the what is it, the capacity of what we were using our EMR for. And I think it was like 10% or maybe even 9%. And now I think we’re closer to 50 or 60%. You know, it’s really amazing how much we could use our Symplast to do. I’m now, I do a little bit of insurance cases and now we’re branching out and trying to use that feature. I’ve been scared to use that feature because in the past, you know, I’ve always outsourced that. And now we’re considering bringing it in-house with the Symplast capacity. But I think that it was I mean, if I could get Christine out once a year just for a refresher, I would do it every year.

How does Symplast improve your practice?

Symplast improves my practice in many different ways. I can think of a million things, but number one, it automates a lot of the things that I used to have people do manually, which like confirm patients, remind patients. The patient reminders are great. They get a text message and then I know whether they’re confirmed or not. So it flags it if they’re confirmed,. They can interact with us. Like I said in the past before with the patient app, which is great, they have questions. They can fill out all their paper work ahead of time, their intake forms, which is, you know, extremely important, especially when you want to keep your day moving and stay on time, which is fantastic. The forms, it just streamlines everything. So streamlines my consent forms. It streamlines my consents, my intake forms, the patient reminders. I love that I get a reminder on my or a notification when a patient’s in each and every room on my Apple Watch. I think that’s really convenient. So I just know timing wise what’s going on. You know, I can I can throw something in my mouth. I can go to the bathroom, you know, I can step outside and talk to a team member if I need to. Whatever’s going on. I also know how long they’ve been waiting, how long they’ve been in the room, how long they’ve been numbing. All of those things.

Can you describe your patient’s experience with the Symplast patient app?

I feel like my older patients are very hesitant to use patient apps and the Apple Watch and the phone and all of these things. What I really love I’ve had such great feedback from my older patients that are really technologically challenged. They’re like, It’s really easy. It’s really easy to use.

How does Symplast help you grow your relationship with your patients?

I think that Symplast helps me grow my relationship with my patients because they feel like they have a portal through the patient app that they can constantly get a hold of me and send me updates with pictures. I think there are a lot of patients that are nervous and they really like the extra care and they want the extra contact with the staff as well as with me. And it takes seconds for them to take a picture to tell us what’s going on. You know, “is this normal? Is this not normal? I’m a little nervous. My medication wasn’t there when I got to the pharmacy”. Whatever the case is, they can let us know in a very HIPAA compliant medium that we can quickly interact with.