All this wizardry is possible because the software downloads data from practice management and clinical information systems found in hospitals and physician offices. That's not the case for a simpler, stand-alone program called PatientKeeper Personal. With that one, you have to peck in the data yourself. Still, thousands of doctors use PatientKeeper Personal, says Stephen Hau, founder and vice president of marketing and business development. It costs $39.95 through PalmGear.com( http://www.palmgear.com) and $39.50 through Handango ( http://www.handango.com). A heads-up for Pocket PC owners—PatientKeeper Personal is just for PDAs with a Palm OS.

While soloists typically opt for PatientKeeper Personal, Hau says his company sells so-called enterprise applications like Clinical Results to mostly medium and large practices. On the strength of these programs, PatientKeeper won first place in 2005 in the mobile applications category of the TEPR awards given by the Medical Records Institute.

Calculators

Cardiac output, creatinine clearance, red blood cell indices, spirometric values—you get more than 80 formulas and clinical scores with MedCalc, and the number grows each year. Most formulas are bolstered with bibliographic references and clinical tips. "It's easy to use and extremely practical," says FP Goutham Rao in Pittsburgh. "It shouldn't be left off anyone's list."

STAT Cholesterol
Source: StatCoder.com ( http://www.statcoder.com)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Primary care physicians turn to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III guidelines on detecting, evaluating, and treating high cholesterol. STAT Cholesterol helps doctors apply these guidelines at the point of care—calculating a patient's risk of dying from a heart attack during the next 10 years, for example, or determining target LDL levels based on individual risk factors.

STAT Cholesterol can run on a Pocket PC, but only if you buy another software program called StyleTap Platform for $29.95.

Charge capture and coding

STAT E&M Coder
Source: StatCoder.com ( http://www.statcoder.com)
Price: $75 for two years
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

One-third of FPs undercode on established patient visits, according to a 2001 study in The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice. That's less likely to happen if you use a program like STAT E&M to find a path through the evaluation and management maze. Just click off what you document during an encounter on input screens covering history, physical exam, and medical decision-making. STAT E&M indicates your level of documentation, provides feedback on what may be missing, tallies relative value units, and suggests a CPT code. Physicians report that the program boosts their income by as much as 20 to 30 percent. "This makes determining the level of billing a snap," says rheumatologist Peter Embi in Cincinnati.