Tech-Savvy Docs Get More Time With Patients

A growing number of primary care doctors are opting out of hospitals and big medical groups to open up mom 'n' pop doc shops. Key to these "micropractices,"  reports the Wall Street Journal, is technology that allows doctors to schedule their own appointments, order prescriptions, and process billing and insurance claims, slashing overhead costs.

"I was able to build a Norman Rockwell practice with a 21st-century information-technology backbone," said Dr. Gordon Moore, who started his Rochester micropractice in 2001. By using his laptop to run a paperless practice, Moore is now able to spend double the amount of time with each of his patients he did in his hospital job. (More medicine stories.)