NextGen’s Knowledge Base Model for Ophthalmology
NextGen’s Knowledge Base Model for Ophthalmology is a comprehensive and extremely flexible set of templates, documents and configuration settings that addresses the needs of providers in an ophthalmic setting.

The templates contain the content and context you see in your practice. You won’t see family practice or pediatric exams in this Knowledge Base Model. You won’t see oncology screenings in cardiac maintenance screens. You will see ophthalmic-based interpretation templates, lensometer data input screens, fundus charting, plus much more. You will see the things you see in your practice on a daily basis. And the results will be comprehensive, discrete, searchable data that will be the basis of reports, documents, coding, billing, and other needs.

Within the templates, triggers maximize efficiency by opening appropriate picklists, generating alerts, or adjusting the workflow – all customized for the ophthalmic discipline. And with an open architecture, the flexible templates can easily be set up to exactly suit your preferences, tendencies, and methods.

NextGen EMR’s device interfacing
NextGen offers data flow directly into a NextGen EMR template by interfacing with:

	Most popular screening devices.
	Digital imaging systems (via an HL-7 connection)
	The Humphrey visual field device
	Most S-video and RGB devices, such as slitlamp cameras, a-scans and b-scans (through an image-capture program)

For instance, providers can easily flow data from auto-refractors to a phoropter to a lensometer and directly into NextGen EMR.

This type of data capture eliminates:
	The need to print or transcribe results
	The need to re-key patient demographics into a devices database
	Potential for human error
	Resources such as technicians’ time or a second technician

By capturing the information directly into a patient’s chart, you have instant results that also can be exported (along with patient demographics) back to the devices, if necessary, in future exams, or to other resources, reports, or documents.

You need to store and manage images
Images are the critical piece of your clinical workflow. You need the proper creation, manipulation and storage capabilities, and they need to be fully searchable and integrated with the appropriate patient’s electronic record.

NextGen’s image management
NextGen’s image-capture program allows most S-video and RGB devices, such as slitlamp cameras, a-scans and b-scans, to import results directly into a patient’s chart. Once imported, users can access all image-related information quickly—one click allows review of visual fields, photos, drawings and more.

Each image stored in NextGen EMR is catalogued by patient, date and title. NextGen EMR allows users to work with scanned documents, line drawings, clinical photographs and many other types of images.

The EMR supports dozens of image formats, and users are able to open existing images, modify, illustrate and save them to a patient's history.

An images toolbar, similar to those in major graphical programs, provides a large selection of options to illustrate or modify images. Users may add text, provide color, draw freehand, rotate or resize images, and much more.

You need retail management
You sell frames, lenses, or associated merchandise. You realize that a retail management system that is tied to medical records and patient demographics could streamline and simplify your practice.

Alternatively, you currently have no retail channel but would like to establish one. You will need a retail management system, and using one that integrates with your EMR and EPM is a logical choice.

NextGen’s OPTIK retail management system
Offering eye-care providers an easy solution to merchandise sales within their practice, OPTIK is NextGen Healthcare’s optic inventory and point-of-sale system for opticians, optometrists, and ophthalmology practices. Fully integrated with NextGen EPM to facilitate patient data population, order-taking and charge posting, Windows-based OPTIK gives you a unique solution to offer patients an array of eyewear and accessories as a complement to treatment.

OPTIK:
	Provides sales and orders management of lenses, frames, contacts, and accessories with no additional software vendor, installation or separate system
	Gives patients one-stop convenience for eyecare needs
	Opens a new revenue channel, or maximizes current retail revenue potential
	Creates administrative time/costs savings through automatic charge posting through NextGen EPM and patient demographic data population
	Vendor/supplier purchasing
	Paperless, searchable records of orders/sales· Lab interfaces (coming soon!)
	EMR clinical data importation (coming soon!)

Best of all, customer loyalty, appreciation and satisfaction can be ensured when patients receive end-to-end care and service from the provider they know and trust.

You would like to expand your market and need resources
Ensuring your practice’s continuing business, or expanding that business, often requires a marketing effort, be it through information dissemination, advertising, or other means.

You want to explore these opportunities and you need the ideas and resources to achieve this.

NextGen’s marketing tools
Several of NextGen’s features are valuable tools in a marketing effort.

Foremost among these tools is NextMD, a secure internet portal. NextMD is a practice-branded website that provides a potentially powerful marketing tool. Prospective patients can be directed to the site, searches can lead to the site, and links from any other organization’s or association’s website can be established. Once there, someone may learn about your practice, services, providers, and benefits of choosing your practice for their care.

One may also tout, in marketing material, the use of an EMR as a significant benefit and attraction of your practice. Research has shown that patients are impressed with a practice that uses an EMR and believe their care is better when documented with an EMR.

Within NextGen EMR itself, built-in features can provide insight and direction toward how to market your practice and where to focus your efforts.

For instance, patient demographic templates can require input of patient leads (where/how new patients learned of your practice) or patient referrals (which current patient referred the new patient to you). Totals and patterns in the results will help you plan future marketing.

Additionally, integrated reporting features from NextGen EMR and EPM can anonymously provide insight as to demographics and clinical commonalities of current patients, thereby suggesting to whom and how to market.

And with NextGen’s EMR and EPM document generation, letters can be generated for health maintenance reminders and to explore family/friend referrals.