Contact:
Empirical Point Acupuncture
(215) 247-7100
philadelphia-acupuncture.com
Empirical Point Acupuncture Practice Secures Grant from The Merchants Fund to Implement an Electronic, Eco-Friendly Paperless Filing System
Grant Builds Upon Recent Practice Growth and Momentum; New Location Now Open in Chestnut Hill to Serve Expanding Client Base
Philadelphia – October 25, 2010 – Empirical Point, LLC, a leading Oriental Medicine and acupuncture practice, today announced that it has secured a competitive grant from The Merchants Fund to finance its transition to an electronic, paperless filing system. This new system is not only more eco-friendly and adheres to the company’s commitment to green business practices, but enables Empirical Point’s founder, Sharon Sherman, to spend more time working with her established and growing roster of patients and less time maintaining a traditional filing system. To best handle the transition to this new system, Empirical Point will also hire an office assistant to join its practice.
“I am very excited to have been selected from this year’s many submissions to achieve this grant from The Merchants Fund,” stated Ms. Sherman, M.S.O.M., D.OM., L.OM. “In order to keep up with the needs of our growing practice, my time is best spent working closely with my patients, not filing paperwork. That being said, maintaining organized and accurate patient records is of the utmost importance. This grant will allow us to do both – streamline our filing system into an eco-friendly paperless process and free up my time to spend with patients. I look forward to working with The Merchants Fund to implement this new system and, in the future, as Empirical Point continues to grow.”
The Merchants Fund selected Empirical Point’s project application based upon its ability to meet certain criteria and achieve key business goals for the project, including: to create a new job in the Philadelphia marketplace, increase revenue capacity by transitioning filing at Empirical Point to patient service space, increase security of patient records and company paperwork, increase “green” business practices and environmentally friendly systems and decrease business costs by spending less on paper, filing supplies, computer security software and tech support services.
“The smart use of technology can be one of the most effective tools for growing a small business,” said Patricia Blakely, Executive Director of The Merchants Fund. “Sharon Sherman of Empirical Point presented The Merchants Fund with a great opportunity to fund the computerization of all of her client records allowing her to eliminate space consuming file cabinets, improving her green footprint and allowing her to repurpose the space saved for an additional treatment area.”
This grant is part of Empirical Point’s overall business strategy to intelligently grow and support its business. Founded, in 2001, the practice continues to grow each year and maintains a location in Center City, Philadelphia – at 16th and Walnut – and just moved into a new location in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. This new location is in a new, LEED-certified-pending “green” building, is fully ADA-accessible and provides expanded patient space and treatment rooms.
About Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture
Chinese Medicine is one of the oldest complete medical systems practiced today – encompassing acupuncture, Chinese herbs, nutrition and other modalities – and is recognized as an effective, empirical science. Acupuncture has been in use for over 2,000 years, and is one of the most commonly used medical procedures worldwide. Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture are regularly used to safely and effectively treat a wide range of health challenges, especially the treatment of acute and chronic pain management. Today, the use of and demand for acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is increasing in the United States. Recent reports conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), USA Today, ABC News and Stanford University all point to increasing numbers of Americans using acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. The most recent CDC study found that nearly 3.3 million U.S. adults and children had used acupuncture in the previous year.
About Empirical Point, LLC
Treating patients, networking within the community and growing its business steadily since 2001, Empirical Point has the overarching mission to empower patients and to optimize their health and well being using comprehensive Oriental medicine training and expertise, including extensive acupuncture experience. Empirical Point’s founder, Sharon Sherman, has the highest level of expertise and licensure possible – an achievement rivaled by only 8% of her peers in Pennsylvania – and has logged more extensive education and continuing education hours than the vast majority of other practitioners. Ms. Sherman is also licensed in New Mexico, which has one of the most arduous licensure processes in the U.S. For more information, please visit philadelphia-acupuncture.com.
About The Merchants Fund
The Merchants Fund makes small grants to small businesses in the City of Philadelphia. We look for opportunities to help small business respond to opportunities as well as barriers to growth and profitability. In the current economic environment we know that recovery will be through the growth of small business where a modest investment can have an immediate effect. For more information, visit The Merchants Fund.
