Electronic Health Records (EHRs) play an essential role in keeping patients engaged in your healthcare practice. According to a study, EMRs have improved patient care and physicians’ livelihoods. Almost all patients prefer the option of contacting their independent doctors electronically.  

But how can physicians maintain patient engagement with EHR?

Before we go through it in detail, let’s first know the definition of patient engagement and its role.

What Is Patient Engagement?

Healthcare providers promote informed decision-making and behaviors with patient engagement as one key strategy. It has been widely proven that “patient engagement” reduces costs and improves patient outcomes. 

On the other hand, another term for patient engagement is “consumer engagement.” Companies, banks, and other service providers provide information, tips, and other means of communication to their customers to engage them. The goal of marketers over the decades has been to engage customers, provide better experiences, and strengthen brand relationships, all of which lead to better results. There is nothing innovative or revolutionary about this strategy, as most marketing textbooks recommend this approach.

The healthcare industry is finally catching up and realizing that patients need more access, quality, information, and accountability to grow and succeed in a competitive marketplace.

The Patient Portal Will Encourage Your Patients to Engage With Your EHR!

The majority of EHR systems include an online portal so patients can access their medical records anytime. Patient portals allow patients to access not just their medical history but also manage their healthcare in a better way through:

• Setting up appointments
• Paying online for medical bills
• Contacting their physician via email or text message
• Getting health alerts
• Requesting a prescription refill
• Searching for health topics using a keyword search
• Filling out intake forms before an appointment

By making it possible for patients to complete these tasks via a patient portal, patients can achieve two things:

• First, patients can reorder their medicines and make appointments easier. As a result, they can better adhere to their treatment regimen and achieve better health outcomes.
• Second, patients are more likely to use the portal if they can access their tasks and treatment plan online in one place. Instead of awaiting an appointment, patients can easily message their physician.

Having patients accessing the portal provides you with a good opportunity. When their medical documents are already on the screen, patients are more likely to view them. Furthermore, you can post notifications or announcements on their account that encourage them to view their records or recent results.

With the advent of the digital age, the healthcare industry has a high potential for improving patient engagement and empowering patients to take ownership of their care. Watch your patient care improve when you put your EHR software to work.

Getting Patients More Engaged

Access to electronic health information can help patients and providers collaborate on informed decisions. Patient participation is essential when managing and treating chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Here are some ways to engage your patients with electronic health records (EHRs) and how it benefits your organization:

• You can deliver detailed and accurate health information to your patients with the help of EHRs. In addition to providing clinical summaries, you can also provide reminders for follow-up care after a hospital stay or appointment and links to resources for patients for further education.

• EHRs enable you to schedule appointments electronically and send emails. If you can communicate quickly with your patients, your organization will be able to identify symptoms sooner, reach out to patients proactively, and improve healthcare quality.

• Electronic health records will allow your organization to collect and utilize patient data more efficiently. Your organization can identify and proactively engage at-risk patients by using patient lists.

Overall, patient engagement can be encouraged through the use of EHRs.

What Are The Benefits Of Patient Engagement? 

Research shows that patients who take an active role in their health have better health outcomes. Below are the significant benefits of improved patient engagement:

• Using software such as EMR/EHR programs can improve workflow by sharing information. This reduces or eliminates paperwork, ensures accurate information, and gives patients better service. 
• Thanks to technology, physicians and patients can communicate more frequently and keep each other updated about their condition.
• Patients are more confident about their conditions and diagnoses after increasing communication and receiving more information about their health.
• With better health information systems, scientists may be able to identify trends that lead to improved outcomes in public health.

Key Takeaway

Electronic health records (EHRs) are a crucial communication tool to engage patients and improve their health by giving them access to their medical records and educating them. Hence, patients are more involved in their care. Although personal meetings are still effective and essential for healthcare providers, technological options that provide electronic engagement have proved crucial for keeping patients engaged.

Choose the Top EMR/EHR Software 

Over the years, we have assisted podiatrists with EHR/EMR selection, implementation, and software usage. We can customize EMR/EHR software to meet your office’s needs. 

For more personalized information, schedule a demo or contact us through the contact form. Let’s work together to find the best software for your practice.

Do you have a favorite EHR add-on service? You are free to comment below!

Podiatrists with solo practices or that do nursing home visits need the best Podiatry EMR and EHR software to have a smooth workflow and provide their patients with the best care possible. Moreover, neither the staff nor physicians have to go through the stress of trying to use software that doesn’t align with their processes and settings.

We present you with the top 5 must-have tools and features for your Podiatry EMR and EHR software before you use and implement it in your practice.

1. Secure Messaging for Patients via Patient Portal

The National Library of Medicine study found that patient portals improved psychological outcomes, medication adherence, and preventive health care use. To encourage patients to take part in their health care, we must understand patient portals’ role as effective interventions.

Look for an EHR system with secure messaging capabilities for your podiatry practice. This patient portal feature has been shown to improve provider and patient workflow. For instance, if a patient does not appear to attend the clinic in person, he can contact you directly through the portal. It helps reduce no-shows and provides excellent interaction between the patient and provider.

Furthermore, the patient portal allows patients to view charts, vaccination records, treatment plans, diagnoses, appointment history, lab results and can refill their prescriptions, 

The importance of patient engagement in healthcare has grown with the advent of value-based care. With an end-to-end EHR system, you can provide your patients with the convenience they want and enhance the security of patient data.

2. Clinical Charting Tool

Keeping track of a patient’s medical history, visit notes, and treatment plan takes time but is essential. That’s why a reliable charting feature is a must in your podiatry EHR software. For example, in a dynamic photo charting tool, you can take pictures, upload them to the chart and add annotations. Meanwhile, a clinical charting tool in your podiatry EHR software can make your job easier and help you ensure patient records are accurate. After setting up the clinical chart to your standards, you should have no trouble navigating it.

Furthermore, you can create macro buttons to automate your notes further. Using these buttons can speed up charting and improve billing and claim accuracy.

3. Integration

For your practice to be successful, your EMR system must be able to integrate with existing systems. Almost all EHRs connect with labs so that healthcare providers can share information with other clinicians involved in the patient’s care. However, the best EHR system won’t help your podiatry practice if it doesn’t integrate with hospitals and large healthcare systems.

Consider these factors when choosing an EHR system for your podiatry practice:

• Is it capable of single-system billing?
• Can you simultaneously use a single log-in to access key performance indicators, outcomes, and patient engagement tools?
• Is it an API-dependent product?
• Are your team members required to undergo additional training? Do you have sufficient technical support to make the process easy?

System integration reduces paperwork, lowers costs, and makes it easier for you and your patients to keep results organized.

4. Built-in Templates

It is better to choose an EMR software for podiatry that offers pre-built podiatry templates for completing CPT codes, reviewing systems, facilitating prescriptions, and accommodating specific problems in podiatry. This podiatry EMR software should provide templates for conditions such as:

• Foot pain
• Ingrown toenails
• Foot Deformities
• Amputation
• Hammer Toe
• Ankle fractures
• Bunions
• Foot Ulcers
• Diabetic Foot Care

Podiatrists should utilize templates that automatically populate the correct information enabling faster, more efficient, and more secure paperwork.

5. Continuous Support and Training

Reviews of all software consistently highlight the importance of support and training. An EHR system with detailed FAQs is a trustworthy system.

Ideally, EHR systems should provide excellent responsive customer support and an easy-to-use interface in a low-cost package. Rather than troubleshooting technical issues, spend your time delivering exceptional service to your patients.

In contrast, outstanding EHR systems contribute to the growth and success of healthcare providers through an efficient onboarding process. Consider negotiating a support contract with your EHR vendor that includes free and unlimited training.

As the EHR market evolves, physicians now possess more “buying power” than ever when selecting the perfect EHR. Health care providers use the best EHR systems to improve patient care, including safety, communication, and timeliness. Moreover, they integrate patient data across multiple systems to make better clinical decisions.

Choose the Top EMR/EHR Software 

Over the years, we have assisted podiatrists with EHR/EMR selection, implementation, and software usage. The podiatry business is our expertise, and we can customize EMR/EHR software to meet your office needs. 

For more personalized information, schedule a demo or contact us through the contact form. Let’s work together to find the best software for your podiatry office.

Do you have a favorite EHR add-on service? You are free to comment below!

Practitioners always go for the best EMR and EHR systems for their practice. Whether you’re shopping for your first EHR or looking to switch from one to another, there are several features you should consider to get the most out of your experience.

If you are still uncertain, we suggest you read this article to know and figure out the best features you need for your EMR & EHR. 

Billing and Coding Software

It’s often a complex process to bill for medical services, so you need an EHR with efficient billing tools. With this billing software, clean claims will increase and reduce areas of human errors.

With an integrated billing dashboard, providers should be able to view billing reports and analytics without ever leaving their EHR. Utilize concise financial information and graphs to make real-time adjustments.

If you choose to outsource billing, you will benefit from working with your EHR vendor’s revenue cycle management department. Outsourcing billing services to a third party can help you eliminate time-consuming billing mistakes.

Meet Meaningful Use

Using a certified EHR system to demonstrate meaningful use can avoid penalties and save money.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Promoting Interoperability Programs (PIPs) require hospitals to demonstrate meaningful use by 2021 in four categories:

• Electronic Prescribing
• Health Information Exchange (HIE)
• Provider to Patient Exchange
• Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange

With that in mind, choosing an EHR system certified by the ONC-ATCB ensures that your EHR software supports meaningful use requirements. 

Simple and Easy-to-Use

Did you know that the best feature is the most simple? Doctors spend more than a third of their time using EHRs, so the design should be intuitive and easy. You can navigate the system through drag-and-drop functionality and a minimal screen with a few mouse clicks.

Such an EHR tracks the entire clinical encounter on a single screen, so it saves time and effort without reloading any pages.

Online Reporting & 24/7 Access

If you want to use an electronic medical record system, make sure you can access it anywhere and anytime – that means it’s web-based (cloud hosting) to use it from any internet-connected device (web, mobile, tablet). Also, ensure that your EHR is accessible on both a Mac and a PC. Doctors must have access to patient records, regardless of the type of digital device or the location.

On the other hand, EMRs that let you customize reports are the best. It should be able to generate reports automatically based on the data it collects, such as patient history, documents, test results, financial information, and other information.

Your EMR system should provide charts and downloadable reports about the delivery, analysis, results, and accuracy of lab tests for lab-dependent practices. Therefore, you should understand how your EMR solution’s reporting system can be customized for your needs.

Enhanced Security

Of course, you have every right to worry about safeguarding sensitive and personal information about your patients. Due to the issue of identity theft, losing privacy could be devastating for a person’s emotional health and financial security. In paper-based systems, filing cabinets and storage devices generally require locks and keys for access and are usually located in more secure locations. This involves much work, and it does little to protect patients’ records compared to using an EMR. Using an EMR, you can establish role-based access that only authorized personnel can access. 

Better Communication System

Communication with sources outside the practice is a vital characteristic of an EHR. 

With patient portals, patients can freely access their information on their medications, lab test results, appointment schedules, and education resources. Using an in-system portal or third-party software integration such as Google Health can achieve this.

Patients can use their EHR’s secure direct messaging system to communicate directly with their doctors instead of commuting. However, physicians may request an in-person visit if their patient has serious changes in their health or with medications.

EHRs offer enough scheduling functionality that many practices can get by without a separate scheduling system.

• Patient Portal
• Appointment Scheduling Tool
• Secure Direct Messaging (SDM)
• E/M Coding
• Telehealth

The EHRs Functions

Data management with EHR software improves clinical operations and consumer experience. Yet, how do EHR systems work?

Below are the steps on how to use EHR software:

1. First, the patient visits the medical facility. The check-in form asks visitors about their previous treatment, surgeries, and allergies. When patients log into their online medical accounts, they can see their visits, appointments, and prescriptions.
2. With a scheduling tool, the receptionist makes an appointment with the healthcare provider. It automatically selects the next appointment time according to the doctor’s schedule.
3. Doctors review patient specifics on an electronic chart when they receive an appointment notification. Once a visit is complete, the doctor enters the diagnosis, action plan, and prescriptions into the digital record.
4. The system sends the prescriptions to the pharmacy. Once the order has been put together, the patient will receive it.
5. The EHR platform generates the bill, which the financial department passes to the patient.
6. The system submits the insurance claim, ensuring that the format matches the insurer’s requirements.
7. The medical laboratory might also be permitted to access the EHR if a patient needs to submit lab tests. If the doctor requests, he/she can review the results.

Conclusion

By knowing this information, you’ll be better positioned to choose the best software for your practice and provide excellent care to your patients! Do you have any additional EMR/EHR guidelines to add to this list? Leave a comment!

Choose the Top EMR/EHR Software

Efficiently streamline your healthcare operations with our advanced EHR and EMR solutions, tailored to meet the specific needs of your practice.

Schedule a demo or contact us through the contact form for more personalized information. Let’s work together to find the best software for your practice!

Do you have a favorite EHR AND EMR software add-on? Feel free to comment below!

The electronic health record (EHR) system is integral to the modern medicine revolution. Similarly, EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) can help you stay on top of patient care and streamline your daily tasks. One study found that primary care clinics recovered their EHR investments within ten months after implementing them. Most likely, this is why providers took advantage of electronic processes. 

So, if your facility is converting to these EMR/EHR systems, how can you ensure the implementation process? In this blog post, we’ll provide five tips and strategies to implement EMR and EHR successfully in your medical practice.

1. Assemble an Implementation Team

It will be essential to identify the people who will lead the implementation process. Moreover, your team should have three key players:

• Lead physician: The lead physician guides the use of the system and collaborates with technical and administrative staff. Thus, consider using a tech-savvy lead physician who can embrace new processes.

• Project manager: The project manager keeps stakeholders on schedule, tracks the progress of projects, and manages day-to-day activities in conjunction with the vendor and all other staff in practice.

• Lead super user: The lead super user will function as the EHR expert. In addition, he must be able to design templates and smart workflows while also responding to problems rapidly. 

2. Set Up the Software, Hardware, and Network

As you implement your EHR, ensure security measures meet HIPPA requirements. Ensure the software you use is compliant by working with your IT vendor. In contrast, your EMR/EHR must also be compatible with your facility’s IT and computer hardware to handle increased workloads. This will ensure the system is as up-to-date and efficient as possible.

3. Transferring of Data

Next, you need to transfer data once the hardware, network, and software are in place. It is also vital to migrating your old EHR records to the new EHR.

There are three ways to do this step:

• First, assign existing or new staff to upload information into the new EHR. Hiring a temporary or additional staff member might also be helpful to upload demographics and past medical, social, family, and medication histories.
• Second, prepare a checklist of things to enter into the EHR. In this way, no critical information will be missing.
• Calculate the average patient’s timeframe for transferring information. As a result, the staff can set realistic completion dates and assign workloads appropriately.

So, better to follow these steps to ensure a smooth EMR/EHR implementation.

4. Get Rid of Adoption Barriers

It is often the psychological barriers that hold clinicians back from switching to computers. Encouraging dialogue and interaction inspire staff to form new ideas for adapting to the new system. Next, it is necessary to determine if the hardware is sufficient to support software and traffic needs.

5. Set a Budget for EHR Implementation and Forecast Your Costs

Your team and your to-do list are in place; now you can ask—How much will it cost to implement an EHR?

Even so, having a well-defined budget that includes the following factors should prevent any unexpected costs from emerging:

• The upgrading of hardware and networks
• Implementing overtime for staff and temporary employees
• Reducing productivity (some estimates as high as a 50% drop in patient throughput)
• Customizing the consultation with the EHR vendor
• Training fees for vendors
• Consultation fees
• Backing up and storing data (often included with cloud EHR costs)

Most practices can expect to spend around $6,200 per user on their software, so keep this in mind and the other factors mentioned. 

Now let’s know EMR and EHR implementation in more detail.

What is EMR/EHR Implementation?

Many healthcare organizations use an electronic health record implementation plan to prepare for and implement an EHR system. However, if a health care personnel only has experience with paper or an older EMR/EHR, adapting to a new EMR/EHR can be challenging. Security and privacy, along with thorough training, are crucial for early implementation and easy adaptation. Moreover, a thoughtful EMR/EHR implementation can benefit all patients, staff, and physicians.

How long does EMR/EHR implementation take?

It depends on the vendor you speak with and the situation. Due to the many variables that can affect the time needed for an EHR implementation, the typical time required varies by setting and product. The EMR/EHR implementation does not follow a standard timeframe. However, when implementing a new EHR, there is no uncertainty about timing. You can get solid estimates from the experts involved in the process. 

What are some of the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Best Practices?

Here are some of the Electronic Health Records best practices for hospitals and medical groups:

• Make your EHR compatible with staff workflows.

The key is to determine which aspects work best for an individual and apply them to everyone. It’s crucial to gather the opinions, recommendations, and cooperation from the staff to make the EHR a success.  

• Train employees only on the features they will use.  

All employees in your practice do not need to know the features of the EHR. Moreover, the “superusers” are the only ones who need to know them all. It’s more efficient to train each person or group on the specific features necessary for them to use.

• Identify potential failure modes of the EHR to prevent future issues.

Stakeholders should help you identify the failure points of the EHR and determine what it will take for it to succeed. “Don’t forget that you will be storing a large amount of data. Prepare enough storage and fast computers to access information quickly.

• Implement EHRs with the help of experts

Hire a specialist with experience in implementing EHR systems. A skilled EHR user can make the difference in success or failure since he is knowledgeable in that field.

What are some of the Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) Best Practices?

Below are a few of the Electronic Medical Records best practices for hospitals and medical groups:

• Automate Processes

It’s complex to maintain compliance with state and federal laws, and human error is a rare option. The automation of time-consuming processes makes centralized medical records management safer and more accurate.

• Enhance data security

Patient records must remain secure. Also, electronic records must have audit trails, while paper records should be stored in a safe room. Stored files at offsite locations should be in climate-controlled premises. After their life cycle, e-records and paper should be destroyed securely using NAID-certified methods.

• Provide a broad employee training

Cyber breaches arise mostly from sophisticated hacks, but others result from untrained employees mismanaging sensitive health records. Under HIPAA guidelines, companies must train all employees who handle health records at any point in the data lifecycle. 

Providing you with the Best

1st Providers Choice is a leading provider of the best EMR and EHR software solutions for medical facilities. We offer various EHR features. Choose only the best for your healthcare practice!

We also understand the need and expectations of our clients for a higher level of performance for billing software and EMR software. That’s why we only offer the top tailored medical billing system and best EHR features that will allow your practice to operate at its optimum potential, save time, and double your revenue. 

You can call us at (480) 782-1116 for immediate assistance, or you can schedule a free demo with our experts TODAY.

Interoperability is the future of EHRs and EMRs.  Systems must work well together, but how can we make this more beneficial? Are there any challenges ahead?

Read on more to learn about the importance, challenges, benefits, and how to improve healthcare interoperability in this article.

What is Healthcare Interoperability?

It refers to the software applications and information systems that allow communication and data exchange. In addition, it provides insight into how the overall processes work.

There are four categories of healthcare interoperability:

● Foundational Interoperability

This focuses on transferring data between information systems. Only when the user attempts to access the information can the information be interpreted.

● Structural Interoperability

This level defines the syntax for data exchange. It allows receiving information systems to understand the data in the field.

● Semantic Interoperability

In healthcare systems, semantic interoperability is one of the most significant levels. It allows for systems to communicate and interpret information. As a result, this level is in high demand as authorized users can access the patient’s data electronically.

● Organizational Interoperability

This type of interoperability adds multiple non-technical components to the system. These include social, organizational, and exchange policies. Also, these features allow interoperability to unify with workflows within the organization. Through other technical levels, data exchange between different healthcare organizations is seamless.

Importance of Interoperability in healthcare

As important as it is to speak the same language as the person you are dealing with, it is equally important that EHR/EMR systems can communicate with each other using standardized terminology that can be understood easily.

With this, patient data remains accurate, reduces patient search time, and even improves patient outcomes.

Let’s look at the three challenges in EHR interoperability.

1. Data Quality and Systematization

The 2020 HIMSS Media and Hyland Healthcare Survey states that the management of unstructured data is one of the barriers to improving interoperability. This makes sense since your system gathers so much data from various sources.

You can solve this by using standardized terminology quickly sorted and analyzed by AI-powered tools. Today’s most common EHR interoperability standard is FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources). It also offers both structural and semantic interoperability. Optimizing EHR data can be done either by yourself or a third party.

2. A Refusal to Share Data

While there is an industry initiative to facilitate patients’ access to electronic health information, some healthcare companies refuse to share EHR data. Furthermore, some facilities fear interoperability will harm their business. Closed EHRs (inaccessible to other providers) help lock down patients’ data.

3. Lack of Skill

The process of implementing EMR interoperability is very complex. For healthcare software development, experience is crucial. To make your EHR/EMR systems seamless and secure, you need a reliable team with relevant expertise.

Benefits of Interoperability

With various medical tools in the healthcare industry, interoperability also plays a huge role. It offers the potential to solve some of the industry’s most significant challenges and reduce care costs. Here are a few of its benefits:

Greater Productivity

Providers’ day-to-day productivity is critical to their success. For them, patients matter more than technology. If interoperability is lacking, productivity will suffer. Because of this, users need to have access to information from disparate systems in a streamlined manner. They shouldn’t have to spend unnecessary time waiting for the systems to communicate.

Fewer Errors

Good care must focus on patient safety. Moreover, data access at the point of care is crucial to preventing medical errors. Thus, interoperability solutions reduce these risks and improve the quality of care.

Safeguarding Patient Data

Hospitals balance the need to access patient health data with privacy concerns as the number of attacks on them grows. The best interoperability providers are even HITRUST-certified, ensuring secure and appropriate data sharing. 

Other benefits of interoperability include— better collaborations, financial stability, and improved healthcare quality.

Steps on How to Improve Interoperability

Data Center Infrastructure Management

Your IT staff can view the current state of your data center with DCIM or Data Center Infrastructure Management. Their insights help you improve the efficiency of your system while laying the groundwork for growth. In DCIM systems, space, power, and cooling are all considered.

DCIM systems help data center managers by

• Implementing technical and business goals and changes
• Cutting waste and overprovisioning
• Planning for new data center capacity
• Reducing downtime risks
• Boosting energy efficiency

Getting Ready for Audits

Under the new interoperability rules, plans (and providers) can increase and comply with the standards. Sooner rather than later, however, plans can expect to be audited on their compliance with the rules. Identify what information you will capture to support any technical and operational queries as you prepare to deal with complaints and audits. 

Managing Risks

If multiple organizations share a patient’s files, an attack (such as a hack or data breach) can strike all parties involved.

It is critical to prepare for hacks and other data breaches. However, with interoperable systems, organizations need to be more cautious due to the increased risk. 

Thus, you need a plan to defend your organization against hacking attempts, phishing, and malware attacks. A risk management plan requires the right tools to be secure against potential threats. Documentation of disaster recovery procedures is crucial.

The following steps will also lead to greater interoperability for your organization:

• Integrate all EHRs into one integrated platform.
• Put excess data and workloads in the cloud.
• Diagnose the patient using a health information exchange (HIE) system.
• Provide your hospital or clinic with robust and efficient digital healthcare software
• Invest in an EHR with expanded patient records that is content-enabled.
• Incorporate neuro-linguistic programming and voice recognition into your system.

Providing you with the Best

Looking for an EHR/EMR platform that meets industry standards and complies with local regulations? 1st Providers Choice is a leading provider of innovative health tech solutions.

We also understand the need and expectations of our clients for a higher level of performance for billing software and EMR software. That’s why we only offer the top tailored medical billing system and EHR with features that will allow your practice to operate at its optimum potential, save time, and double your revenue.

You can call us at (480) 782-1116 for immediate assistance, or you can schedule a free demo with our experts TODAY.

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Endocrinology and diabetology EHR software increases the efficiency of documenting patient medical records for physicians. In fact, using EHR software improves clinical documentation, ensures health records are safe and secure, and results in a faster and more effective retrieval process. Full-featured EHRs, like 1st Providers Choice’s IMS solution, can also make patients’ lives easier and result in better medical care overall by integrating with glucose devices and other self-monitoring tools.

Using recent advances in technology built into our IMS for Diabetology and Endocrinology EHR software, physicians can automatically download glucose meter results from patients’ portal glucose devices. All you have to do is connect the patient’s device to a laptop or PC running the EHR. You can then import results from the device into the EHR directly into the health record of the patient you select. Not only will your endocrinology practice save by having patient data automatically documented and analyzed, but patients will no longer have to manually keep track of this data.

At 1st Providers Choice, we have years of experience working with endocrinologists and diabetology practices. This has given us the experience necessary to implement highly successful EHR solutions. Our technology is tailored to the endocrinology specialty throughout the application, from documentation templates and custom forms and billing.

Aside from certified EHR software, we also offer fully integrated patient portal and practice management software. Practices that use our patient portal software, in addition to our endocrinology EHR, have the option of allowing patients to upload glucose readings themselves. Once approved by a member of your staff, this data can be added automatically into the patient’s EHR chart. When patients get involved in their care, everyone wins. Endocrinologists can ensure their patients’ health records are complete and accurate, allowing them to deliver better care.

Interested in learning more about how our EHR software for endocrinologists and diabetologists can benefit your practice? Call 480-782-1116 to contact us today.

Pain medicine experts and pain management EHR vendors alike will be descending on Phoenix, Arizona this year, from November 21 to 24, for the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine’s annual meeting. The 12th annual scientific and educational event will provide a variety of opportunities for attendees to network with other physicians while learning about new and innovative pain management practices and techniques.

Healthcare professionals attending ASRA Fall 2013 will be able to attend lectures, courses and workshops, with topics ranging from “Botulinum Toxin Injection for Headache” to “Complementary and Alternative Medicine.” Other new and Special Session workshops announced for the fall meeting include:

• Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Pain Medicine
• Pharmacologic Controversies in Pain Medicine: Pro-Con Debate
• Long-Term Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of Pain Interventional Techniques: Pro-Con Debate
• Anticoagulation and Interventional Pain Procedures

Pain management specialists will be able to select content based on their preferred learning styles and individual educational needs. In fact, many of the workshops will be hands-on and interactive, allowing participants to practice skills on live models and/or cadavers.

ASRA Fall 2013 is also set to feature an Exhibit Hall where attendees will be able to talk to pain management and anesthesiology EHR software vendors, like 1st Providers Choice, and learn about other pain medicine-related products and services. EHR software designed specifically for the pain medicine specialty can simply workflow and improve the efficiency of many clinical and administrative processes.

To learn more about the 12th Annual Pain Medicine Meeting, click here.

About ASRA: The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine is the largest subspecialty medical society in anesthesiology. Their mission is to advance the science and practice of regional anesthesia and pain medicine by addressing the clinical and professional educational needs of physicians and scientists. Originally founded in 1923, ASRA has about 4,000 active members, including pain specialists, physicians and scientists from around world.

For behavioral health organizations the advantages of switching to a mental health EHR are many. Yet, few EHR vendors have produced a tried-and-true software solution suitable for behavioral health providers. With 1st Providers Choice, psychiatrists, psychologists, professional counselors and other mental health providers have finally found an end-to-end EHR solution that meets their extensive charting needs.

Senior PsychCare (SPC) recently implemented our mental health EHR and billing modules across its various Texas locations and has achieved improved results in billing and patient care. Their more than 60 mental health providers have benefitted from simplified workflows, more efficient documentation, customized reports, and more. Following are some of the features that SPC’s behavioral health specialists have benefitted from:

Specialized content and customization: EHR systems designed with mental health providers in mind include features that are most relevant to behavioral health specialists. The systems also allow for a high level of customization in order to meet the specific needs of providers practicing within the mental health field. For SPC, this has included specialty-specific diagnoses and treatment plans, preventative care resources and psychiatric management tools, among others.

Real-time data: With mental health-specific EHR software, providers can create reports to conduct analyses of patient progress. All it takes is a few quick mouse clicks to export the data from the EHR.

Alerts and reminders: EHR software for mental health facilities allows providers to set up daily, weekly or monthly alerts. This can be useful for following up with suicidal patients or with those taking antipsychotics with potentially harmful side effects. This has been beneficial, in SPC’s case, for treating patients at Long Term Care facilities, as they need continuous monitoring and follow-up care.

Continuity of care: SPC maintains active contact with other physicians regarding changes in their patients’ mental status, diagnostic services, psychological treatments, and medications – and EHR software allows for thorough documentation of these changes. With mental health EHR software, behavioral health specialists at SPC are also able to share visit notes with other providers responsible for their patients’ care.

Learn more about our mental health-specific EHR features. Contact us today to speak with one of our expert EHR consultants or to schedule a free demo.

About Senior PsychCare: Senior PsychCare was founded by physician and specialized psychiatrist Dr. Leo Borrell, a leader in innovative care for stress and age-related problems. SPC is affiliated with Medipsych and Senior Psychological Care of Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, and employs more than 60 mental health providers in facilities throughout these major Texas cities. SPC provides independent evaluations, psychiatric management and mental health services. They also work in collaboration with mental health programs and medical providers who lack the resources of a comprehensive team of medical health specialists.

Denied claims are a large source of lost revenue for many healthcare organizations. Yet, physician practices often lack the resources to process them in a timely fashion. It is important for claims to be submitted accurately and error-free the first time around, to avoid revenue cycle setbacks and ensure timely reimbursement. One way to accomplish this is by using a medical billing or electronic claims scrubbing EMR.

Claims scrubbers analyze the data attached to a claim to ensure that all required data is present before the claims is submitted to the payer. This includes patient demographics, insurance information, procedure and diagnosis codes, and date of service. It is important to note, however, that not all claims scrubbers offer the same features and functionalities. In fact, while a basic claims scrubber might check that certain fields are filled out on the claim, it might not verify the accuracy of the entered data. Therefore, it is important to use a claims scrubbing system with advanced capabilities.

It is also helpful to rely on software that uses the same tools as the major insurance carriers, meaning that if a payer’s tool is updated your practice gets the same update as well. This allows healthcare professionals to fully identify errors that an insurance carrier might catch, thus avoiding a delay in payment.

With 1st Providers Choice’s Advanced Clinical Editing electronic claims software, not only can billing staff submit clean claims the first time, reducing denials and rejections and increasing revenue, but partially-billed procedures can also be corrected in order to ensure maximum reimbursement. Through automated alerts, staff can be notified when edits might be necessary, and they can also review any guidelines and regulations that may have triggered the alerts.

Additional features and benefits of our advanced claims scrubbing software:

• Integrate superior clinical editing features into existing claims management workflow
• Actively track, control and prevent denied claims
• Streamline claims editing with our extensive knowledgebase of coding relationships (from commercial payers to Medicare)
• View multiple claims rules on the same screen
• Increase efficiency and revenue with electronic billing

For more information about our electronic claims practice management software and how it might benefit your healthcare organization, contact us at 480-782-1116.

Though electronic health record software is relatively new to health care, voice recognition software has been around for quite some time. In the past, healthcare professionals used the software to dictate notes when charting on paper, and the notes eventually made it into patients’ charts with the help of medical transcriptionists. With EHR software, however, things have changed.

Most EHR systems, for example, now include a voice recognition feature – and its capabilities are much more advanced than they were even a few short years ago. In the past, when the software produced a block of text, it had to read carefully and edited for spelling and grammatical errors and other inconsistencies. Today’s voice recognition software, however, is much more complete. It includes medical vocabularies for multiple specialties, and it can learn speech patterns, voices and inflections.

Doctors are able to use speech recognition software to document patient data in real time, eliminating the middle man and saving time. Instead of dictating notes for a transcriptionist, for example, physicians can simply talk into a mic and see their notes in front of them on the screen, already in the patient’s chart. This helps ensure that EHR software records are kept up to date and that the most accurate information is being saved in each patient’s chart at the time of the encounter.

Aside from allowing doctors to add free text into patients’ charts, voice recognition software also allows healthcare professionals to perform other tasks. This includes selecting items from drop down menus within the EHR and navigating through other options within visit templates and EHR menus and screens. This not only makes documenting patient visit easier, but adds to the ease of use of electronic health record software.

Are you considering switching to an EHR and looking for a software system with voice recognition capabilities? Learn about the cost and time-saving benefits of medical speech recognition software by contacting us online today.