EMR News

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 Streamlined with EMR

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jul 1, 2018 | Electronic Medical Records, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

Streamlining medical management is now possible with the use of EMR. Nitin Chhoda enumerates the benefits of EMR including the efficiency of billing, scheduling and managing productivity reports.

Clinicians, practitioners, and other private practice owners that use medical management are being forced to take certain steps toward efficiency.

The financial pressures of an increasingly hostile and uncooperative health insurance industry, combined with the fact that more and more patients are unable to pay their bills, has put clinicians in an uncomfortable bind.

How can you provide the best medical care possible if you are restricted by financial considerations? The transition may be a bit rough, but it looks as though private practices are going to get some major help by adopting electronic medical records.

Electronic medical records cut down on administrative costs, making it just a bit less expensive to run the clinic. But more importantly, they can streamline medical management and help the practice to run more efficiently.

Billing and Scheduling: Efficiency Traps

It turns out that much of an clinic’s efficiency is decreased because of errors and delays in billing and scheduling. The ways that EMRs can streamline the billing aspects of medical management may be obvious to some.

A billing system that tracks unpaid bills and sets reminders for the medical management personnel responsible for billing will increase the likelihood that bills will not be forgotten.

This is true for patients as well as health insurance companies. Most medical management and health insurance companies have very particular requirements for the filing of claims. These forms can be time intensive and frustrating to complete. EMRs that are designed to streamline medical management will include options for filing the appropriate paperwork and will include reminders so the paperwork is filed in the required timeframe.

Increased efficiency in scheduling is less obvious at first, but the benefits are certainly easy to understand. When a patient cancels an appointment, that time slot is easily lost and left empty. Scheduling components of EMR programs will ensure that all empty slots are filled when possible. They also allow for re-scheduling with a few clicks of the mouse.

Reporting and Medical Management

On the other hand, medical management professionals will tell you that one of the biggest challenges to improving efficiency is the lack of useful data.

On paper, it is overwhelming to attempt to compile reports that detail how many appointments have been missed, how many bills are left unpaid or the collection percentage, and productivity as measured by the number of patients scheduled for each medical professional.

EMRs offer reporting tools and instruments for medical management systems that make evaluation of the practice quick and efficient. Imagine if you could print a referrals report with a few clicks or figure out how many visits each patient typically schedules.

More Productive and Efficient

Medical management can be more productive and more efficient if these kinds of figures can be analyzed. Without EMR and reporting capabilities, this kind of analysis is overwhelmingly challenging and presents time barriers that are insurmountable.

Rather than relying on the business to continue as usual, medical management professionals and EMR systems learn what is working at your practice and what is not working. Once you know how things are actually going, you can take action to change it for the better.

Health Care Management Overview

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

EMR reports can help assist management on deciding whether or not to add more staff. Nitin Chhoda shows managers how EMR can help uncover issues by providing reports based on the needs of the physical therapy practice.

We don’t tend to think of health care practice management as all that different from any other kind of management.

But it turns out that health care management has to adapt and change policies more quickly than almost any other field.

The business side of running a practice involves a complex billing structure, high regulation, and constant updates.

Health Care Management at its Most Basic

The most basic definition of health care management can be summed up as the role an office manager plays in a health care practice. An office manager must be aware of the tasks of every staff member; they should be able to re-assign tasks or jobs as necessary.

Often it is the health care management that keeps a practice running smoothly. A health care manager may simply be the person in the office who does not see patients or handle a easy-to-define work load, simply so that when problems arise, there is someone to take care of things.

Today, the health care management role has changed to include monitoring efficiency and making administrative changes. With the introduction of electronic medical records, electronic health records, and technology that can track financial indicators, improving efficiency is not only possible, it has been made much more simple.

Health care management is often in charge of deciding what kind of technology to invest in. Increasingly, this means conducting analysis on current systems and workflows.

The Future of Health Care Management

Health care management is not only changing in the way tasks are delegated, but it is also experiencing the same growth as every other aspect of health care. The health care industry is rapidly approaching a level of demand that has never been seen before, thanks to the baby boomers.

This means demand for skilled employees is going up, too. This is true of certified positions such as x-ray technicians and ultrasound tech, but it is also true for management positions.

As the industry becomes more and more streamlined and efficient due to technology, each added employee turns into a significant benefit to the practice. If demand for services is overwhelming, then the only way to increase capacity is to hire more staff. Health care managers have to analyze the benefit of added staff and then manage the integration of new team members.

Technology is Changing Everything

For health care management programs, technology improvements are both a blessing and a curse.

On the one hand, office managers have to be adaptive, tech savvy, and they have to know how to implement software improvements. On the other hand, the job is changing so fast that it can be hard to know what it means to be hired as the office manager.

With EMRs tracking the number of cancelled appointments that never get rescheduled as well as statistics on referrals and number of visits per patient, health care management is turning into a more technical job. Drawing up reports on efficiency can show health care management how much work needs to be done to reach the goals of the practice.

Medical EMR Solutions Give Clinicians More Power

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Dec 26, 2017 | Electronic Medical Records, Medical Billing, Physical Therapy Documentation

Clinicians who already use medical EMR know that this technology is helping them and their staff work more efficiently. Nitin Chhoda shares the many benefits that EMR can offer to your physical therapy practice, helping it succeed.

The ability of any clinician in any medical practice is limited by financial factors. If a practice doesn’t make a profit, or at least break even, nobody can continue to provide healthcare.

Because the prices of healthcare in the United States are so high, patients cannot afford to pay for their own healthcare.

The majority of U.S. citizens cannot afford to pay the average prices for healthcare. As a result, both patients and clinicians must rely on healthcare insurance companies.

Insurance companies provide a sense of financial safety to patients, and patients can better afford to make monthly payments towards healthcare than they can afford to pay a $20,000 hospital bill all at once.

About Medical EMR

For medical EMR clinicians and health care practice management, knowing that part of every bill will be covered by insurance provides some financial security, even in a market where the patients who need the services cannot pay for those services.

Medical EMR systems make everything about a healthcare provider practice run more smoothly and efficiently if implemented well. The upfront cost of a medical EMR may seem restrictive, but the benefits tend to outweigh those costs relatively quickly.

A medical EMR system can bring stability to a practice and can turn into a tool that clinicians use to better serve their patients.

Spending More Time on the Important Stuff

Most clinicians would spend a whole lot less time handling paperwork if they had the choice. The truth is that everyone who works in healthcare has to know how to fill out forms and make correct notes about their patients.

The same should be applied when it comes to medical EMR. This can even get in the way of how well a clinician can care for patients, especially in a busy practice where limited time is given for each appointment.

medical EMR clinicians Before and after each appointment, a clinician needs time to review the previous patient’s file as well as refresh their memory with information about the next patient’s medical history.

Medical EMR software makes doing these tasks faster and more intuitive. Rather than requiring that a staff member find a paper file and have it ready, the clinician can pull up the information on the computer in seconds, or even on a hand-held tablet computer.

Advanced Technology

Software is becoming more and more advanced, and not just because using computers is fun or flashy. Clinicians who use successful electronic medical records systems find that they are more efficient and can spend more time with patients when they use a medical EMR.

And of course, that staff member who used to pull files and return them to their place all day long can now spend time doing other, more important things.

Perhaps that staff member can now handle a more efficient and time-saving induction process, so that new patients’ health insurance information is more complete.

Medical EMR companies and billers benefit because they can reduce the number of rejections and denials. And patients can be better prepared for the costs that will come their way – allowing them to focus on their treatment plan.

EMR Solution Portability

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Sep 24, 2017 | Electronic Medical Records, Physical Therapy Documentation

In order to maximize the effectiveness of your EMR, use the system in a portable device like a tablet. Nitin Chhoda explains how this portable tablet device can make your physical therapy documentation much easier than using a desktop computer alone.

How does an electronic medical record turn into a truly portable EMR?

There’s really just one way to make sure that information is recorded and communicated as efficiently as possible, and that’s by adding tablet computers to your practice.

Many health care practice management professionals are very hesitant to consider this kind of technological change, but this is the change that will be coming and it’s better to get out in front than to follow in this field.

It turns out that you can get tablet computers for the staff members who need them for a big discount, as a health care provider. Additionally, since you are willing to order a larger number than the average consumer, you can also rely on a bulk discount.

While many managers consider this portable EMR too much of an investment, tablet computers do not cost as much as you might think.

Making it Easy to Bill

EMR solutions can streamline many of the tasks that are accomplished every day in a health care practice. No more pulling and re-filing of paper records. No more waiting to re-schedule a patient or to fill an empty slot recently cancelled. And most importantly, no more waiting for the details of the medical billing that must be done to get the practice paid.

The good news is that financial staff, including accountants, medical coders, and medical billers, are used to using pretty complex software to accomplish their jobs.

If they have transferred from one job to another, they know how to adjust and adapt to new software quickly.

Billing Staff Can Adjust

Medical billing staff are usually the first to hit their stride with an EMR and they are the first to start bringing in some revenue as a result of their improved efficiency and accuracy.

But to allow for this kind of efficiency and speed, the billing staff has to have access to the medical records and the clinicians notes about each visit. The way to speed up this process is to give clinicians portable EMR and tools so they can simply enter their notes and instantly save them to somewhere that the biller can access them.

Clinicians Will Adjust to the Right EMR Solution

Another concern is that clinicians will resist the change from a paper notepad to a tablet computer. Many clinicians have been working with pen and paper their entire lives and the thought of changing now is pretty intimidating.

For the younger generation of clinicians, the switch will not be so hard. But any time you try to change the way someone does something, like having EMR, you’ll come up against some resistance.

The right EMR software and solution will make the job of clinicians easier. Reviewing files that are always available at their fingertips will become the habit.

They never have to wait or dig through a lot of irrelevant information if the EMR presents their notes in an easy-to-read and logical manner. Tablet computers can organize information in the way that we think, making it easier and faster for us to do what we need to do.

EMR Solution: How to Effectively Improve Staff Productivity

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Aug 16, 2017 | Electronic Medical Records, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

When transitioning to an automated physical therapy documentation such as EMR, it is important to talk to your staff. Nitin Chhoda emphasizes the importance of open communication, and preparing your staff for the big changes that are about to come.

Communication and pre-planning will help to ensure that the documentation system you chose is the right one for your practice.

Managing a healthcare practice takes ingenuity, patience, and an ability to see the bigger picture while focusing on the details that need to be improved.

The complexity of the job is what draws a lot of smart, capable people to the profession.

But these days, you have to be competent with many forms of technology as well as with the people who you are responsible for managing. And the reason that electronic medical records solutions were developed was to help management streamline and integrate all systems within a practice.

Managing Expectations

To truly benefit from a medical EMR, your practice will need to prepare in a number of ways. One of the most crucial jobs that need to be done will be to manage the expectations of the staff.

If the staff is excited about a new EMR system and is ready to learn and be challenged, the process will go more smoothly and everyone will be able to use the EMR to improve efficiency.

But if the staff feels anxious, unprepared, and frustrated by the process, productivity will probably go down and the adjustment period will be much longer than necessary. Before you can expect your staff to get better at their jobs because of an EMR, you’ve got to train them and prepare them psychologically for the process.

That includes bringing the staff into the planning process so they feel they have a voice and their goals will be met with the EMR.

Choosing the Right EMR Software

Another crucial decision, which could make or break your experience with an EMR solution, will be what EMR you choose. This choice should not be obvious. Expect it to take some time for you to identify which EMR will help your practice to reach its goals.

Make sure that you have specific, achievable goals for productivity and efficiency before you even begin the search, and then base your decision on how well the EMR can help you to achieve those goals.

Getting staff input during this process will also be very valuable. If staff members are currently frustrated by certain aspects of their job or the way that certain systems are not integrated well enough, they can tell you what their goals will be.

The goals of individual staff members can be powerful tools, especially if the staff knows that the EMR is meant to help them to reach their individual goals.

Take Your Time

Managing the transition process will probably be stressful enough without a lot of time pressure. So don’t overdo it by setting tight deadlines and strict expectations.

Nobody needs to feel pushed too hard during the implementation process, and that includes practice management. Taking your time will also allow you to identify problems right away, while you still have access to training materials and support from the software developers. If you take your time, you will be able to do things right the first time, saving you time and money in the long run.