The focus on any practice is to offer high-quality patient care, but it takes much more than that to run one successfully. Practice management software can help your practice run efficiently and provide the best experience for your patients.
Providers have a long list of administrative and compliance tasks they have to complete each and every day to ensure their patients are protected and their clinical workflow is optimized. Practice Management Software is an integral part of this strategy. When providers have quality PM software tools at their disposal, these tasks are simplified, and their practice runs more efficiently.
6 Characteristics of Quality Practice Management Software:
1) Insurance Verification
An electronic insurance verification feature in your practice management software ensures your payments are protected. Before services are rendered, your staff can verify a patient’s coverage to ensure your payment. If a patient is not covered for services, the claim may be denied and the payment responsibility falls into their lap and the provider sees a delay in payment.
2) Patient Balance Alerts
With the ability to track your patient’s balance in their practice management software, providers can optimize their patient payments. The right software enables your team to inform patients of their balance when they are in the office and send them reminders to make a payment if they are overdue. A software that provides an online payment portal offers another convenient way for patient’s to make payments and view their visit history so they stay involved in their health so you can collect more payments.
3) Appointment Scheduling
Electronic scheduling and appointment reminders are must-haves in practice management software. In order to free up the time of your front-line staff, patients should be able to schedule an appointment from their patient portal. Your management software can help your team schedule a specific time for new patients. This keeps them from going to another provider that will see them more quickly. The software should also allow you to send automated appointment reminders via text, email, or phone call to help reduce no-show appointments and long wait-times.
4) Digital Patient Intake/Registration
In the past, providers and their team had to give their patients paper intake forms that were filled out by hand and manually transcribe that information into the patient’s paper or electronic chart. This is still the reality for many providers. It causes inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the patient’s chart that hinder clinical decision making as well as delay wait times. Digital patient intake within a practice management software enables patients to input their PHI directly into their electronic chart. This equips their charts with the most accurate information and eliminates the transcription process, giving your team back their time.
5) Integrated/Interoperable
A fully integrated and interoperable software is necessary to operate at maximum efficiency and accuracy within a practice. When your practice management software is integrated with your practice billing software and Electronic Health Record, providers unlock a whole new set of capabilities. Their practice can grow and operate more effectively. When your software’s are integrated, it allows for the tracking of balances, electronic payment processing and more. Electronic Health Record integration enables scheduling, digital patient intake and communication directly from the patient portal to their chart. With seamless integration, you never have to sacrifice your clinical workflow for your financial health.
6) Paperless
With entirely paperless processes, providers can dramatically cut costs on paper spending, eliminate inaccurate transcription processes, and optimize practice efficiencies. The cloud-based capability enables automated upgrades, back-ups, and more. In a world where individuals expect a digital process or capability, the same is true for medical practice processes.
The path to a quality practice management software exists, and it offers simple implementation, integration, and more. To learn more about how your practice can grow by accessing and utilizing these 6 Practice Management features, click here.
