What to Expect From Your Front Desk Staff

What to Expect From Your Front Desk Staff

The front desk staff has a variety of critical tasks to complete that will directly affect patients and the practice. Clinicians can make the job of the front desk easier, more efficient and help grow their practice with integrated software that has the ability to automate many of the duties for which the front desk is responsible.

Perception Is Reality

The front desk staff is the first person a patient comes in contact with when they schedule an appointment and when they arrive at the office. People make snap judgments and a patient’s first impression of the practice will be dependent upon their interaction with the front desk.

The person at the front desk must be pleasant, knowledgeable and efficient. They must possess people skills and like working with the public. Not everyone has the necessary skill set for the job and clinicians shouldn’t hesitate to shift staff around to ensure the first impression a patient has of the practice is a pleasing one that makes them feel comfortable and eager to come back when they need services.

Scheduling And Patient Intake

The front desk is responsible for scheduling appointments, obtaining essential information and sending reminders. A lot of information is obtained in a very short time from patients, ranging from eligibility and identification to secondary insurance and contact information. Scheduling can be completed directly from the In Touch EMR™.

Many of those tasks can be accomplished automatically with In Touch EMR™. Eligibility can be determined online with hundreds of insurers. Payer information is built in and new companies can be added. Patient demographics come straight from the insurance company, resulting in fewer claim denials. With a single action, a patient file can be created and all the data will be transferred automatically.

In Touch EMR™ is the only EMR software that has an app specially designed to work with the iPad. Patients can take a photo of themselves with the tablet for identification and even fill out patient forms. The information received via the iPad is automatically transferred to the patient’s file.

Front Desk Marketing

A clinician’s front desk should also be doing marketing and In Touch EMR™ provides the necessary tools. When intake information is obtained, all the needed contact data is available to send reminders, greetings, newsletters and special offers.

In Touch EMR™ has built in functionalities that enable practices to contact patients via phone and email, voice and text message, along with traditional mail using built in greeting card software. In Touch EMR™ can be used with the automated Therapy Newsletter or Clinical Contact software systems.

In Touch EMR™ simplifies the entire front desk process, from intake to maintaining contact. The software helps reduce reimbursement denials, automatically creates patient files, and helps practices maintain contact with patients through reminders and newsletters. Practitioners must work harder than ever to retain patients and generate new clients. In Touch EMR™ is a single source solution to automate and market practices.

What to Expect From Your Biller

What to Expect From Your Biller

The biller is the most important person in the practice other than the clinician. It’s time that clinicians stopped accepting inefficiencies in their billing department by automating many of the biller’s tasks. The right software can help billers work better and faster, submit claims that are less likely to be denied, and increase the overall efficiency of the billing department.

Stop Manual Input

There’s no need for billers to manually enter every scrap if information. In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO are both integrated software systems that feature one-touch functionalities to input information and even send batch claims. That ability increases the biller’s efficiency, allowing them to spend more time following up on claims.

One-Touch Posting

A lot of information comes through the billing department, from claims and communications from payers to ERAs. In Touch EMR™ provides billers with one-touch posting of ERAs to patient accounts. A wide variety of information can be securely sent to patient files with a simple click of a button. Manual posting is one of the most time consuming tasks for billers and the software makes their job quicker, while assisting in quicker returns on claims.

Reporting Techniques

Billers should be able to provide clinicians with sophisticated reports about any facet of the practice. In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO both provide billers with the ability to generate reports by payer, provider and patient, along with location, ICD and CPT code, and by referral sources. Reports can be created by accounts receivable, payments made and by clinic.

In Touch EMR™ provides a depth of diagnosis that most EMR systems can’t. The software includes diagnosis pointers that allow users to produce reports that correlate CPT and related ICD codes. Reporting is available that demonstrates income by ICD code, allowing clinicians to determine which types of procedures pay the most, and which insurance companies offer the best reimbursement rates.

When billers are more efficient, so is the practice. Clinicians deserve all the help and advantages they can get and software makes the job easier for them and their billers. With In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO, billers can spend more time following through on claims and getting clinicians the money to which they’re entitled.

Cost Savings with Your EMR and Billing Software

Cost Savings with Your EMR and Billing Software

Imagine an EMR system that verifies patient eligibility, documents and provides prompts for billers to get the most out of each patient visit. That system is now available in the In Touch EMR™. In a two-physician practice that sees 100 patients per week, In Touch EMR™ can add up to more than $50,000 in savings each year.

Front Desk Savings

With In Touch EMR™, the front desk can check insurance eligibility online in seconds. The front desk can create a patient chart automatically and another click of a button schedules an appointment that automatically appears in the EMR program.

There’s no need to call insurance companies or enter information manually, for savings of at least 10 minutes per patient. If front desk staff is making $15 per hour, that’s a savings of $300-$400 per week for a two-physician practice.

Documentation Savings

In Touch EMR™ already has the patient information in the system, ready for the clinician when the client arrives for their appointment, allowing physicians to immediately begin an assessment. In Touch EMR™ has voice recognition capabilities for documentation that will save five minutes per patient. That adds up to 16-18 hours per week for a minimum savings of $300 per week.

The In Touch EMR™ allows clinicians to make custom templates that conform to the way they work, not the other way around. In Touch EMR™ is also the only EMR system with iPad compatibility that enables patients to complete much of the intake work themselves that provides further savings.

Billing Savings

When the patient visit is completed, a single button click sends the claim directly to billing. The information doesn’t have to be re-entered and billers can review, edit, add modifiers and provide secondary documentation if needed. In Touch EMR™ has an automated scrubber, provides billers with prompts for a variety of information, and notifies them of potential problems.

A single click of a button automatically creates the claim and submits it at the end of the day. No manual batching of claims is needed. ERAs are automatically sent to the patient’s record with one-click functionality and statements generated.

In Touch EMR™ prompts for notes and when certifications are about to expire. All this saves 10 minutes per patient for savings of up to $300 per week.

In Touch EMR™ is a merger between theory and practice. Clinicians know they need every minute they can get and the software is quick, easy and compliant. The In Touch EMR™ is like having another full-time employee and results aren’t linear, they’re exponential.

The savings that can be attained in a two-physician office seeing 100 patients per week amounts to $52,000 a year. That’s a significant addition to the bottom line of any practice.

Ideal Practice Workflow Part 3: Billing

Ideal Practice Workflow Part 3: Billing

Billing should be the backbone of any practice, but many vendors focus on the EMR with no billing function or view billing as an afterthought. An EMR must support billing and that’s one of the unique features of the In Touch EMR™.

In Touch EMRIt works in concert with In Touch Biller PRO and other systems to reduce denials, increase revenues and streamline the practice workflow.

Effective Billing

To be effective, billers have to enter the claim information, either manually or automatically.

In Touch EMR™ offers an array of automatic functions that make a biller’s life easier, more productive and allows clinicians to get paid faster.

In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO have built-in crosswalks that automatically verify if ICD and CPT codes match, along with the date and time of service.

A unique feature of In Touch EMR™ is that the claim can be edited if necessary to bring all data into alignment.

More importantly, the system identifies any modifiers that are applicable and attaches them if necessary.

CCI edits are automatic and the software tells the biller if they need to be added, along with a supporting diagnosis. The software conducts matching to determine if the CPT code is related to a certain ICD code.

With the right depth of diagnosis provided with In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO, clinicians minimize audits and denials, and remain more compliant.

Working In Tandem

Few EMRs have the ability to transmit data directly to billing software. In Touch EMR™ does and this is a huge innovation for streamlining practices.

After claims arrive from In Touch EMR™ to billing, it tells billers which codes are worth the most money.

The claim is scrubbed for errors before it’s ever transmitted to the clearinghouse.

ERAs automatically appear and can be posted with a single click.

It makes billing more efficient and allows clinicians to do what they like to do – treating patients.

Saving Money

In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO pay for themselves quickly.

If clinicians save just eight minutes per patient with the systems, that’s 5 hours and 20 minutes per week.

That translates into $150 in savings per week and $10,000 per year at 50 visits per week.

The three steps for the ideal practice workflow (front desk, documentation and billing) will change the way clinicians do things.In Touch EMR

Practitioners may have to drop their current billing software or service, but it’s worth the trouble.

It’s the difference between a practice that’s running out of steam and one that’s going like a speeding bullet.

In Touch EMR™ can have clients up and running in 24 hours and at a reasonable price.

Many clinicians are entrenched in the way their current system operates. They’re emotionally and financially invested in the systems, but if the software is inefficient and doesn’t work together for the benefit of the practitioner, it’s costing clinicians in wasted time and lost revenues.

Ideal Practice Workflow Part 2: Documentation

Ideal Practice Workflow Part 2: Documentation

Clinicians are hearing a lot about being more efficient in their practice and it’s essential for professionals practicing in the Obamacare era.

Reimbursements are being reduced by Medicare and insurance companies, and clinicians must evolve in the way they operate their practice if they are to maintain a viable business.

EMROne of the ways clinicians can accomplish that is through the use of EMR and billing software that works together.

In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO interact seamlessly to accomplish the three key areas to improve workflow – patient intake, documentation and billing.

Patient Intake

During the intake process, In Touch EMR™ allows the front desk to verify and obtain patient information directly from the payer, create a patient file and schedule an appointment.

The information automatically goes into the EMR system where it can be retrieved by the clinician when the client arrives for their appointment.

Automatic Documentation

The one-click documentation available with the In Touch EMR™ saves an enormous amount of time. With one click, the clinician can create a document for that patient to record everything from an evaluation to treatment notes.

One of the unique features of In Touch EMR™ is that clinicians can make progress notes and they all appear automatically anytime the patient record is opened providing them with an at-a-glance overview.

Practitioners can make changes to their notes to reflect changes within the patient and their progress.

The EMR system also alerts clinicians to G codes and other pertinent data.

One Touch Billing

In Touch EMR™ works hand-in-hand with In Touch Biller PRO to make the billing process as easy as possible.

At the conclusion of the patient’s visit, clinicians simply hit one button – finalize claim.

Patient data and documentation is automatically sent to In Touch Biller PRO where it’s ready for submission. 

EMRThe claim appears within the billing software and clinicians can designate if claims are sent individually or as batch files.

Increasing the overall efficiency of the practice workflow allows for greater accuracy, less wasted time and increased revenues.

The keys are patient intake, documentation and billing.

When those three aspects work together, it provides a better patient experience and increased revenues for the practice.

In Touch EMR™ and In Touch Biller PRO work together seamlessly to automate a variety of tasks to lessen the workload of everyone within the practice.

Ideal Practice Workflow Part One: Front Office

Ideal Practice Workflow Part One: Front Office

The current healthcare climate demands that practices become more efficient at every task. Efficiency begins at the front desk by gathering all the needed patient information and verification before scheduling the client’s appointment.

The entire process can be accomplished with the In Touch EMR™ for savings in time and reduced denials.

In Touch EMROnline Verification

In Touch EMR™ works with thousands of payers across the nation, making benefit verification a matter of a few moments.

When the payer doesn’t have the ability to verify online or they don’t offer it for certain physician types, such as physical therapists, it’s still possible to verify the old-fashioned way with a phone call.

Online verification is critical for practices to avoid health insurance fraud and theft.

Even though more people have insurance coverage through the Affordable Health Care Act, health insurance theft is a serious problem that robs practices across the U.S. of millions of dollars annually.

In Touch EMR™ has the time saving tools to quickly verify every aspect of the patient’s data.

One Click Charting

Streamlining front desk processing takes a major leap with one-click patient charting built into the In Touch EMR™.

With just one click of a button, the front desk can capture all the needed patient information (with the patient’s permission), create a chart, and schedule the client’s appointment.

There’s no need to spent time manually entering demographic information by hand.

In Touch EMR™ captures the information from the insurance company at the time of online verification.In Touch EMR

Online verification and one-click charting work together to minimize denials.

Patient enrollment and benefit information comes directly from the insurance company, eliminating spelling mistakes and incorrect contact information.

The integrated In Touch EMR™ works hand-in-hand with verification and charting, and documentation can be further streamlined with an iPad.

Manually checking patient information, creating charts and verifying eligibility is a thing of the past with the In Touch EMR™.

The integrated software system saves time, reduces denials and automatically creates patient files with the click of a button. Designed specifically for physical therapists, it allows practices to schedule more efficiently and get paid without worrying about reimbursement denials.