Nitin Chhoda shares the advantages and disadvantages of a web-based and server-based electronic medical records. These two types of physical therapy documentation can be very useful depending on the needs of the practice.

Practices who want to adopt an EMR physical therapy documentation system find out that there are more and more options to choose from.

Many offer similar features but perhaps the interface is better or worse depending on the development.

For most physical therapy documentation and practice management professionals, the decision will take some time to make and there will be a lot of factors to weigh.

One decision you can make up front so that your field of options is narrowed is to decide whether your practice will benefit from a web-based EMR or an in-house server-based EMR.

Pros of Web-Based EMRs

Web-based EMRs offer a number of benefits that help make the decision easy for some practices. First of all, investing in an EMR that has consistency and has been road-tested feels safer and more secure.

Web-based physical therapy documentation solutions will operate from the cloud, meaning that all of the information is stored in more than one place. You never have to worry about the server going down if the EMR company offers the highest quality of services.

Additionally, the cost and headache of maintaining a system is handled by the EMR company. Your physical therapy documentation software is maintained and updated, while the servers are well taken care of by the best IT professionals of the provider.

Pros of Server-Based EMRs

On the other hand, an in-house server gives you the control and comfort of knowing that your physical therapy documentation is right where you want it to be. You can get a back-up server to protect from down time and you can probably find a reasonable IT company that can maintain your server for you. In-house servers will be faster and will never rely on the Internet to be usable.

For large practices, a server-based physical therapy documentation EMR is usually a better option, because the costs of maintaining the system are much more reasonable compared to the benefit of having a slightly faster and more capable system.

Cons of Both Systems

For a smaller office, the cost of maintaining a physical therapy documentation server in-house may seem prohibitive.

Even if you could work out a cheaper system in-house, you still have the stress and headaches of dealing with problems and ensuring that the system is secure and always working correctly.

With HIPAA and the HITECH Act, there are more and more physical therapy documentation regulations that will be enforced, which dictate exactly how secure your server must be. A small office will put in a significant investment for only minor gains with an in-house server.

But a web-based server does rely on the Internet, so there will be infrastructure choices to make. The downside of a web-based solution is that you may end up paying a monthly fee for a slightly slower service that is not as snappy.

But your physical therapy documentation staff may or may not notice the difference, and the convenience of portability cannot be undervalued. Figuring out which system is best for your practice will be the big challenge.

Physical therapy businesses are not for healthcare purposes only.  In order to easily adapt to the modern technology that private practice owners are experiencing today, Nitin Chhoda shares the importance of using the latest physical therapy software called EMR.

EMR solutions of the first software developers are being created into a simple solution to a simple problem. How can you improve communication between various entities using technology?

Much of the infrastructure already exists; you can send an email in an instant and online security has improved to a standard that can handle sensitive medical information.

But today, rather than just being able to communicate quickly and effectively, EMR solutions are much more complex.

You want to be able to improve efficiency between the medical billing department and the work of doctors or clinicians.

You want clinicians to have easy and intuitive access to patient files. You want insurance claim submission to be smoother and error-free.

What an EMR Should Be

To get all of these benefits from an EMR, the software has to be intuitive, customizable, well integrated, and portable. The best electronic medical records solutions out there can be used by clinicians holding tablet computers at the same time as the medical billing staff is receiving automatic notifications about claims that need to be followed-up.

The reception staff should be relying on the clinicians to review electronic medical records when the EMR sends an alert about the next appointment. Everyone who works in a medical facility or private practice should benefit from an EMR. Efficiency and time management can be optimized with a technological solution like a customizable EMR.

After all, the reason we use technology is so we can reduce the amount of work that the staff needs to do.

If an EMR is doing some of the simple tasks, like storing all medical records in an easy-to-access place, the staff doesn’t have to find and file records all day long.

Is it Really That Easy?

There are plenty of challenges involved in implementing a fully integrated EMR solution. One of the most obvious will be the financial challenge.

How do you budget for this kind of broad, sweeping change throughout the practice?

The good news is that you won’t be the first; others have gone before you and have learned a lot from the process of selecting and implementing medical EMR solutions.

Implementation will be a challenge and there will be an adjustment period. But those temporary inconveniences are nothing compared to falling behind when the rest of the market is moving towards digital records and information management.

Adapt to Modern Technology

If your practice doesn’t put forth an image of modernity and if your practice cannot adapt, the cost of foregoing implementation of an EMR will be much higher.

Unfortunately, healthcare today isn’t just a matter of helping people to improve their health. Healthcare is a competitive industry that is bogged down by an unfair disadvantage. The patients who receive the service your practice provides are rarely the payers.

Medical practices have to rely heavily on the healthcare insurance industry, and health insurance companies are quick to reject or deny claims. Your practice needs an edge to stay afloat, and a portable, customizable EMR solution is that kind of edge.

Nitin Chhoda describes the many uses of electronic medical record system, and how it can help streamline the entire documentation process. Starting with the patient’s first appointment, down to the compliance requirements for Medicare.

Medical records are a critical part of any medical practice. It ensure that patients are given the right medications at the right time or that a physical therapy schedule is being followed accurately.

There are very specific rules about how medical records are kept, and in that past all medical records were kept on paper.

But today more and more medical offices, from dentists to physical therapists and physicians, are using electronic medical records or EMR.

Streamline the System

Electronic medical records for physical therapy services is one way to streamline the entire system of tracking patients. Physical therapy electronic medical records is making offices more efficient by decreasing the amount of paper records being printed and the amount of storage space needed to track patient progress.

With a growing and evolving set of physical therapy documentation software options, physical therapists are able to carefully track each patient in a quick and efficient manner.

Specific Benefits of Physical Therapy EMR

One major benefit of electronic medical records for physical therapy is that it maximizes the time that physical therapists can spend focused on their patients. Physical therapy documentation software makes it quick and easy to update a patient record and can make certain documentation as quick as hitting a button or tapping a check box on a laptop or tablet.

PT documentation software is portable, as long as you have an Internet connection and a device that you can access the web from.

Another benefit that will help patients immensely when using electronic medical records is the fact that it is easy to share information between offices when using physical therapy documentation software.

As a physical therapist, this can make your job easier and more efficient. If you have a patient who is in physical therapy due to an injury and they visit their doctor, too, your office and the doctor’s office can transfer pertinent information in an instant if you both use electronic medical records.

And finally, electronic medical records for physical therapy services make compliance with programs like Medicare simple and fast.

You can incorporate all kinds of alerts and schedules into your electronic medical records system so that when it’s time to report outcomes, your “paperwork” is set and ready to go.

PT documentation software offers a lot of scheduling solutions, including billing and reimbursement reminders. Plus the federal Electronic Health Records deadline from the HITECH Act is fast approaching, and getting electronic medical records for physical therapy services is a great way to transition starting right now.

Ease of Use is Key

While there are a lot of reasons to physical therapy documentation software, including the fact that you’ll save money, if it’s not easy to use your physical therapy electronic medical records system, it will feel more like a headache than relief.

Every change requires a transition period, and it might feel difficult while your office is learning to use the PT documentation software. But in the long run, everyone wins. Patient information in an electronic medical record system setting is more readily accessible to all health care professionals who care for them, which makes it easier to do your best for your patients.

Nitin Chhoda reveals the the top ten benefits to changing over your manual system to electronic medical records. These benefits will help increase your productivity and efficiency within your practice and allow your physical therapy business to thrive.

Top Ten Benefits of EMR

Better Record Keeping
Physical therapy management and documentation software makes it incredibly simple to keep a complete record of everything that your patient has been diagnosed with.

Whether you have prescribed a rigorous physical therapy regimen to help a patient recover from a nasty fall, or whether you are simply checking on a leg, you can keep better records using occupational therapy software.

Easier to Read
Doctors aren’t known for their stellar handwriting. Rather than risk that someone (including you) can’t read your handwriting, opt for a fully digital solution. Physical therapy management of EMR makes this simple, and makes reading the patient’s information simple.

Bill Quicker
Billing is probably not your favorite part of running an occupational therapy practice. But nonetheless, it is an important part of the job. Minimize the pain by minimizing the work. Physical therapy management and billing is made easy when you use physical therapy management software.

All the necessary information is kept on hand; from what the patient’s address is, to how much they owe you, to how long it takes them to pay. EMR can even handle alerts to remind you when to bill next.

Compete Documentation
Physical therapy management documentation is critical to providing thorough care. Make sure that every thought and note about a patient’s visit is fully documented by using physical therapy documentation software that comes integrated with most complete EMR solutions. All relevant information about every patient will be properly filed and easily accessible.

Easy Patient Management
Managing patients with paper records might be easy when you only have a few, but problems will start to arise as your practice grows. Simplify your patient management system by opting for a digital physical therapy management solution.

Send Records Quickly
Electronic records are far simpler to send than paper records. With paper, you will need to send a photocopy in the mail or fax a paper copy to another facility, where it will be printed out on paper. Doing that wastes time, money, and paper. With most physical therapy management EMR systems you can send the information digitally. It is virtually free to do so, and most facilities have at least one computer in the office.

Receive Records Quickly
Speaking of transfer of medical records, you can also receive digital records instantly with EMR software. And with decent EMR physical therapy management and software, you can even add that information to your own records. EMR makes getting information quick and painless.

Don’t Lose Records 
Paper records have a bad habit of getting lost, misplaced, or damaged. Don’t let paper destroy your practice. Using physical therapy documentation software, you can keep track of every shred of information you have and store it securely online.

Scheduling Make Simple
Physical therapy management and scheduling is easy when the records are kept in the computer.

You can keep track of all your patients without worrying about the complexities of paper records.

An Integrated Practice
Physical therapy management software simply makes your physical therapy practice run more smoothly.

Look at all the benefits of running occupational therapy software! Your business will be revolutionized as everything is made more efficient with electronic medical records.

It’s not enough that your practice is switching to an electronic medical record system. The most important thing to remember when choosing a physical therapy software is that it will be able to meet your needs.

Price is not the only factor. Nitin Chhoda reviews the top five tips to choosing the right electronic medical records system for your practice.

Choosing an electronic medical records system for a physical therapy practice can be quite difficult.

There are hundreds of electronic medical records vendors, all vying for your attention.  Often there is no clear advantage of one solution over another.

But the evaluation and comparison process is worth the time.  Here are five tips to help you navigate the physical therapy electronic medical records (EMR) scene.

Choose Based on Price.  For many firms, price is an important consideration.  But sometimes the low price means bad design or fewer features. If an electronic medical record is able to successfully compete on price, then that product might just be good enough for your firm, but make sure you’re getting the features you need.

Focus on Design.  Remember: you and your team are going to have to use this electronic medical records software every day.  It should be intuitive and practical.That means no excessive clicks to get through note taking or record updates and an easy to understand interface.

The interface matters for physical therapy electronic medical records solutions, because if the program isn’t easy and fun to use, it will feel like more of a burden than a solution. A surprising number of electronic medical records vendors don’t focus on design and usability.

If nobody wants to use the electronic medical records (EMRs) software, it’s not worth buying. Oh, and watch out for the phrase “it’s only a click away!”  Every click counts.  Ideally it should already be on the page you are on.

Analytics are Important.  You will be using your physical therapy documentation software to keep track of your patients.  That also means that you need to be able to use it to get information back out.

Ideally you should be able to ask your physical therapy electronic medical records solution about your patient.  What was prescribed, how many of a given type of injury have you dealt with, how a patient is progressing.  Physical therapy documentation software is only as good as its ability to tell you that information.

Don’t Beta Test.  You need software designed for electronic medical records of physical therapy.  Don’t opt for a product that has seen enormous success in another medical field but hasn’t been tried in a physical therapy setting.

Every field is a little different, and physical therapists’ electronic medical records have different needs than more general doctors.Don’t let a salesmen talk you into PT documentation software that won’t do what you need just because either he or the software is slick.

Be Suspicious of Salesmen.  This is probably the best advice that can be offered.  The goal of a salesman is to sell you a product.  As such, they will gloss over any flaws that their software has.

This isn’t a good thing, especially if they manage to convince you to adopt a product with a user interface your team can’t use.

But we have all dealt with salesmen before.  As long as we guard ourselves against slick sales pitches and keep our eyes on the goal of finding the right electronic medical records for physical therapy, there shouldn’t be any problem.  Just remember to try the electronic medical records software and have as many members of your team test it out before you decide to invest.

Nitin Chhoda shares several strategies to simplify and streamline the decision to adopt an electronic medical records system in your practice. The objective is to reduce the learning curve and allow your staff members to take full advantage of emerging technology.

The correct balance between hardware and software will allow the entire practice to become more efficient throughout the patient treatment cycle.

You have finally decided to take the plunge: to upgrade your practice with electronic medical records (EMR).

Electronic medical records will revolutionize how you run your practice and make life simpler for everyone who works in the office, from receptionists to physical therapists, as well as for your patients.

There are several benefits of electronic medical records, and their use in a physical therapy clinic is discussed elsewhere in this blog.

Tips on EMR Implementation

Implementing an electronic medical records system can be a little frightening. After all, you will probably be paying a fair sum of money to the vendor, and you need to know that the one you have implemented is right for you. Additionally, any transition can be difficult, as everyone will need to learn new strategies and give up their old habits.

Get your team used to using hardware

Sometimes, the implementation of an electronic medical records system may fail because the team that was supposed to use the system wasn’t comfortable with computer hardware.

If you have doctors, nurses, or any staff that don’t know how to use a computer, or aren’t skilled enough to operate the piece of software that they will be interacting with on a daily basis, you have some work to do.Don’t assume that your staff is ready. Make sure that they are.

Analyze your workflow

There’s no getting around it: an electronic medical records system is going to change how you work. You need to make sure that you – and everyone else in the office – are ready for that.
Analyze how your process currently works and talk about how it will change when you implement the EMR system.

Make sure that the process makes sense and work with the software vendor’s technical staff to make sure you understand how everything is meant to work.

Input all data

PT documentation software is only as good as the users who enter the records. Unless you add all of your paper records, your new EMR software might as well not exist.

You are upgrading to an electronic medical records system for a reason.

It may take some time, but the process of including all your patient information will mean that you won’t ever have to check in the physical records.

Because if you don’t, your staff is still going to have to check the physical records to make sure that all information has been accounted for, limiting the efficiency you are gaining.

Upgrade to the necessary hardware

This is a big one. While you can usually get away with running software on underpowered machines, it isn’t a good idea. You will have very little stability when using your electronic medical records software for your physical therapy clinic, if your computers are ancient and slow.

You will want to upgrade to hardware that will run the software optimally.Unless, of course, you are considering web-based electronic medical records solutions. These are frequently less taxing on the machine than localized PT documentation software. This is one of the major benefits of an electronic medical records system, in addition to the fact that you can pull up the data from anywhere.