Electronic Medical Records Healthcare Practice Management

Health Care Management at Its Best

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Mar 7, 2019 | Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

Producing reports for health care management in order to monitor efficiency of therapists and staff are now possible.

Nitin Chhoda explains how physical therapy EMR changes the productivity and efficiency of physical therapy practice by reviewing the number of patients who have been treated during a certain period of time.

With an incredible array of technological tools at the ready, there is no reason why health care practice management can’t undergo a renaissance.

In a small practice, the office manager can also serve as patient relations, interpersonal coach, HR manager, and accountant.

But with electronic medical records, the health care manager may become the financial analyst as well. In fact, analyzing efficiency, strengths, and weaknesses of the practice may be the top priority for the health care management field.

How Reporting Improves Efficiency

Both internally and with patients, an EMR can improve efficiency just by virtue of eliminating the majority of paperwork. Communication is streamlined and things like medical billing and coding can be handled more quickly and with fewer mistakes. But for health care management, EMRs are introducing tools that change the way we think about managing a practice.

An EMR with reporting capabilities can tell health care management professionals a lot about how the practice is doing. Outcomes and performance of clinicians and patients can be compared with a few clicks.

In the past, it would have been almost insurmountable to extract data on visits per referral and visits per day for each clinician. With the new practice management technology, those reports can be run quickly and simply.

In fact, there are a whole host of important indicators that are being monitored by the software solutions designed for health care management. Most of these indicators can help office managers to see where the lags in efficiency are hiding.

Inefficiencies degrease profitability, and decreased profitability is bad for everyone. The information gathered can be shared with staff members and solutions can be discussed with health care management.

If used appropriately, technological management tools can help turn a practice that is just getting by into a profitable enterprise. From changing the way that medical billing is handled to using proven techniques to speed up recovery and improve outcomes, health care management tools are going to go a long way towards revolutionizing the business side of medicine.

Educational Experience

With an increased emphasis on technology, more and more individuals who want to pursue a career in health care management are going back to school.

The job has no educational requirements, but a bachelor’s degree and even a master’s degree are not uncommon.

There are specific programs now that will education students about the pitfalls and advantages available to adaptable health care management.

As the job market widens, these are the professionals that will be handling health care management jobs. And because the role of health care management professionals is changing so quickly, there is a lot of room for improvement in most health care practices.

The office manager has the job of ensuring that things run smoothly and if there are problems, the office manager needs to work with staff to find solutions. A health care management professional who understands the benefits of current technology will have more tools for finding solutions than ever before.

Physical Therapy Management for Physical Therapy Practices

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jan 16, 2019 | Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Management

Manual physical therapy documentation can be time consuming. The trend has been for physical therapists to focus on the admin side instead of providing quality care to patients.

Nitin Chhoda says that it’s about time to use physical therapy software so that practitioners can maximize their time treating patients and increase productivity.

For most private practices especially physical therapists who see patients two to three times a week, managing physical therapy billing, dealing with medical billing and coding can be a challenge.

Having a Physical Therapy Software

With physical therapy management software, you can simplify the business side and spend more time doing what you really love, which is working with patients.

You probably are accustomed to using paper records. Perhaps you believe that there is a price barrier to adopting an electronic medical records keeping solution. But the truth is: using physical therapy management software will actually save you money.

Lets ignore the cost of office supplies for a second. Paper records take up lots and lots of space. With that much paperwork, pulling up the information on any given client is a slow and tedious process.

Even if you have a small practice, physical therapy management software can drastically cut back on the time it takes you to locate a patient file and make updates to it. You can also access the records from anywhere, meaning that you can look up a record when not in the office without bothering whoever you have tasked to maintain your records.

Everything is Digitized

Digital records are also more likely to be accurate and read accurately, since you no longer have to rely on handwritten notes. Being able to read the records means better care for patients. That is a great physical therapy management plan.

Physical therapy management systems can even include full digital check-in for the patient, logging when they arrive and leave. This can be done from any computer or iPad, meaning that you can use the physical therapy management system for house calls, too.

Simply by pulling up an online or on-the-computer record, you have quick access to the history and details of any patient you are about to see. Paperless physical therapy management is elegant and straight-forward.

Solid physical therapy management and scheduling software even simplifies the more complicated aspects of running a physical therapy firm, like managing no-shows and cancellations, and filing paperwork with other offices, insurance companies, and healthcare services.

Proper physical therapy management software makes it easy to delete a cancelled appointment, file Medicare updates for patients, and never get rejected for claims because of technicalities. Physical therapy management systems streamline your business processes and help you to care for more patients, more efficiently. A program that saves you time will save you money.

Integrated Billing

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of a physical therapy management system is the integration of billing tools.

High quality systems offer a complete physical therapy billing tool that is built into the management tools, so that no matter what you need it is right at your fingertips.

You can include a suite of analysis tools to help you manage payment better. You can figure out how quickly your average patient pays their bills, for example. These tools are critical to helping you run your business as smoothly and as financially responsible as possible.

If you have a physical therapy practice, you need an electronic medical record system. If you start now you can get everything set for the 2014 HITECH Act deadlines. Computers and the Internet have revolutionized how business is done. Embrace that fact and let it make your practice better. Have the best physical therapy management plan.

Health Information Defined

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Oct 28, 2018 | Electronic Medical Records, Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Management

Health information sounds like a vague and ambiguous term. It means different things to different people. In this article, Nitin Chhoda ‘breaks it down’ and defines health information in a manner that makes it meaningful for a private practice owner.

Nitin also highlights the implications of health information (and its privacy) for your practice.

As a general term, health information can be any information that relates to health. However, in a medical information management context, health information has a more specific meaning.

Health information refers to medical records, health records, and communication regarding patients that is sent between hospitals, doctor’s offices, health insurance companies, and anyone else in the health care industry, physical therapy management practice included.

Health Information and Technology

As technology improves, health information that must be transferred between clinics, or even between a clinician and nurses in the same practice, is traveling faster.

That means that we now can send sensitive and personal information with a single keystroke.

The technological improvements that are coming to all medical clinics are making communication simpler, faster, and more efficient, but some worry that health information will not be managed as well as before. A paper document is somewhat cumbersome when compared to electronic medical records or electronic health records.

Due to concerns about security and privacy, an entire industry has grown up around health care information management. But the management of health information didn’t start as a technological career – health information management has been around in the United States since the late 1920s. It is now possible to earn a degree or certificate in health information management.

The Skilled Professionals

Naturally, with improvements in technology there has been an increase in the need for skilled health information professionals who are also technologically savvy. In fact, many information health professionals are in favor of moving to entirely electronic systems to manage medical records and health records.

Medical records are used internally, within a single clinic or practice, but often must be accessed by more than one person. Nurses and clinicians, as well as receptionists, may need to know what is going on with a patient so that the proper tests are scheduled and performed.

Having an electronic medical records system allows for quick and easy access for everyone charged with caring for a patient. The same can be said for electronic health records, and many health information managers will say this is an area where electronic records are even more beneficial.

Electronic Health Records

Health records that must be passed from a surgeon to a primary care provider, or from a doctor to a physical therapist, can be more easily, efficiently, and securely transported using electronic health records.

Health information can also refer to the various forms and paperwork that is passed back and forth between a healthcare provider and a health insurance company.

For every insurance claim, healthcare providers must fill out certain paperwork and ensure that there are no mistakes.

This form of health record can cause problems when it is not filled out correctly, as an insurance company can reject a claim even if a small mistake is made.

Health information professionals often encourage healthcare providers to use electronic systems because electronic health records tend to be more accurate and are less likely to be filled out incorrectly than paper records.

HITECH Act Explained

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jul 22, 2018 | Electronic Medical Records, Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

HITECT Act was created aside from the pre-existing HIPAA laws to strictly implement the patients’ security of information. Nitin Chhoda explains the difference between the two, and how they are connected to each other.

HITECH Act Protections for Patients

HITECH Act or the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act expands on the already existing HIPAA regulations protecting patient health information.

The result is that healthcare practice management providers must take certain steps when privacy issues arise.

If sensitive and personal health information has been stolen or possibly viewed, HIPAA covered hospitals or medical facilities must notify their patients within 60 days.

Within the HITECH Act, the term breach is used to mean

“unauthorized acquisition, access, use or disclosure of protected health information which compromises the security or privacy of such information, except where an unauthorized person to whom such information is disclosed would not reasonably have been able to retain such information.”

A breach of patient health information not only requires the medical clinic to report to the patients, but also to a major media outlet and to the Secretary of the Dept of Health and Human Services.

The HITECH Act even outlines what must be included in the notice, including the date of the breach as well as the date of discovery of the breach along with a description of what happened. Other information that must be included:

Steps that patients can take to avoid potential harm.
Description of what was stolen or viewed.
Description of what is being done by the medical clinic to minimize damage, investigate what happened, and avoid a similar incident in the future.
Contact information so patients can call, email, review, or write to the company for more information or if they have questions.

While some of the information in the HITECH Act may be familiar because it relates to pre-existing regulations from HIPAA, the major difference will be enforcement.

HIPAA is thought to provide these protections, but it is also considered to be very poorly enforced.

The HITECH Act puts enforcement as a top priority and includes hefty fines for what has been termed “willful neglect”, a very imprecise term that will be defined by cases in the future.

Additionally, the HITECH Act puts more pressure on “business associates” of healthcare providers. HIPAA allows these business associates to have access to information via contracts.

But now they will be held responsible for breaches in a more comprehensive way. Providers of EMR or EHR systems are considered business associates and will have to consider HIPAA security and privacy rules when designing EHR or EMR systems.

Incentives for Healthcare Providers

The HITECH Act isn’t all focused on procedure, however, and as it is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), there are also some incentives for healthcare providers.

Most of the incentives focus on promoting the use of electronic medical records and electronic health records. Because electronic records cut down on long term costs, but require an initial investment that many clinics don’t want to make, ARRA and the HITECH Act offer financial benefits if you make the switch.

HITECH Act : Economic Stimulus for EMR Adoption

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jul 15, 2018 | Electronic Medical Records, Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

Nitin Chhoda reveals a few ways that the HITECH Act can help a private practice switch to an electronic medical records system using a limited budget. He also shares the requirements needed so that the practice can qualify with the HITECH Act incentives.

While the HITECH Act may help improve the safety and security of electronic medical records keeping systems, the aspects that clinicians and healthcare providers are excited about is the incentives.

The HITECH Act provides financial encouragement to clinicians, hospitals, and medical practitioners for the “meaningful use” of electronic medical records. A total of $19 billion has been allocated for incentives.

Financial Benefits

There are some great financial benefits to switching to electronic medical records anyway, but the HITECH Act makes things even easier. Physicians could qualify for as much as $44,000 for electronic health record implementation and use over the five years that the Act is funded.

The incentives only apply to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, but they can only get incentives through one program at a time. This means that they can also accrue incentives through one program and then when that runs out, they can accrue the same amount through the other program.

The incentives were also meant to encourage providers to adopt EMR systems for HITECH Act as soon as possible. One deadline was for 2012, and next year the incentives will be lower than they are this year.

And after 2015, medical practices will start to incur penalties if they have not switched to an EMR, starting with a 1% Medicare fee reduction. After 2017, that fee reduction is increased to 3%, an after 2019 the fee reduction will be increased to 5%.

Regional Extension Centers

In addition to financial incentives for adoption of EMR, the HITECH Act also funded 70 regional extension centers that can provide administrative help and guidance for health care providers attempting to make the switch to EMR.

Specifically, these regional extension centers will help “providers select the highest-value option, defined as that which offers the most favorable cost of ownership and operation, including both the initial acquisition of technology, cost and implementation, and ongoing maintenance and predictable needed upgrades over time.”

However, there is no requirement that health care providers use the regional extension centers unless they need help implementing an EMR.

Qualifying for HITECT Act Incentives

The most important requirements for qualifying for HITECH Act incentives for EMR adoption are the proper selection of an EMR system and understanding “meaningful use”.

There are a total of 25 meaningful use criteria, and health care providers must demonstrate 20 out of those 25. Fifteen criteria are pre-determined by the HITECH Act, and out of the final ten, you must choose five. The criteria are measured in three stages over five years.

The first stage of HITECH Act requires that you use a certified EMR system and document set percentages of criteria electronically.

You will also be required to use the reminders and warnings systems that certified EMR systems have, share patient information, and report public health information and quality measures.

The second state of HITECH Act requires that you also send and receive lab results and other information using the EMR.

The third stage of HITECH Act requires that you also enroll patients using public health records, access patient data, improve population health, and report on national high priority conditions. Other criteria may be added in the future.

Medical Management: Defined

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jul 8, 2018 | Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

Medical management in today’s world is not as simple as it was decades ago. Many practitioners believe they need to extend their education in order to properly manage their clinic. Nitin Chhoda defines medical management practice in the 21st century.

Clinicians and other healthcare practice management professionals spend a lot of time getting a thorough education. Unfortunately, their medical knowledge is not supplemented with quite enough business and medical management study.

Private Practice Trends

Some clinicians opt to get an additional degree in business or medical management so they can comfortably run a private practice. However, that is the exception and not the rule.

There has been a recent trend in private practices where clinicians are finding themselves in financial trouble due to mismanagement of expenses, billing, and health insurance companies refusing to pay for the provided care.

In some ways, the problems of private practice physicians in medical management are not their own fault at all. Insurance companies change their policies frequently, and what was billable one week may not be billable the next.

Additional Education

In response, new degrees and a new career path have been forged so clinicians or their staff can be educated about dealing with the particular challenges of running a medical practice. A medical manager is also often called the healthcare administrator, health services manager, or healthcare executive.

For those interested in medical management careers, you must complete at least a bachelor’s degree in business or a related field, and a master’s degree is highly recommended. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that medical management is growing more rapidly than many other fields due to projections of an increase in demand for medical services over the next decade.

Medical management combines strategy, information management, and leadership for building and managing a successful health care practice.

Components

One of the major components of being able to manage a medical practice is having an understanding of the laws and requirements that health care providers must adhere to, such as HIPAA and the HITECH Act.

Clinicians are usually concerned with being able to do their job and take care of their patients as best they can.

What a medical management professional can bring to a private practice should include everything else, from understanding how to implement an EMR and EHR system to reporting to government agencies and ensuring that the practice is eligible for tax breaks and HITECH Act incentives.

The health care industry is changing rapidly and clinicians who run a private practice are starting to pay for inattention to administrative and management duties which they do not really have the time to handle.

There are medical management systems that attempt to streamline the way that medical clinics handle administrative tasks, such as billing, scheduling, and health insurance filing.

In fact, most EMR systems are equipped to handle medical management tasks as well as medical records. EMR and EHR systems will include scheduling and billing organization and reminders so that the clinic can be more efficient.

They can also ensure that the proper paperwork is filed for Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance companies. Claims are often rejected due to illegibility or errors in the paperwork, and EMRs attempt to do away with those kinds of mistakes and rejections.