EMR News

Medical EMR: How It can Simplify Healthcare

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Nov 30, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Software

Let’s face it. Healthcare is complicated. Nitin Chhoda explains how a good EMR system can simplify healthcare with simple and efficient data entry, better patient communication between provider and patient, and improved interaction between providers.

In this article, learn how to make scheduling, documentation, billing and even marketing simple and systematized in your practice.

Spiraling costs for clinics and tougher reimbursement standards are two of the most pressing problems facing physical therapy practices.

An integrated medical EMR offers an elegant and efficient solution to provide an enhanced level of patient care, while facilitating collections and reimbursements.

A variety of individual office systems has been available over the years, but software creators and designers have raised the bar with electronic medical records.

The Best Tool

Today’s integrated systems provide a comprehensive array of tools for billing, scheduling, communications and marketing to keep practices profitable and maintain a superior level of patient care.

EMRs are available as web-based software systems that are compatible with a wide array of tablets. Medical EMR software can also be implemented via on-site servers, but require costly hardware and practice owners are responsible for maintaining their own security and remaining HIPAA compliant.

A web-based system is extremely fast and offers computing in the cloud that can be accessed from any venue where an Internet connection is available. The portability of a web-based medical EMR allows therapists to take advantage of new opportunities to increase their stream of revenue.

Clinicians can extend their services into an array of new avenues, from corporate wellness programs, senior facilities, in-home services and even spas. Modern physical therapy treatments and associated services aren’t just for those who require extensive rehabilitation.

Medical EMR

EMRs excel as a point of billing and coding, expediting reimbursement claims and allowing funds to be deposited directly into the clinic’s account. They significantly reduce errors and mistakes that result in rejections and denials.

If a claim is questioned, additional information and documentation can be sent electronically, via medical EMR, to insurance providers and clearinghouses in a matter of moments instead of waiting weeks or even months to cycle through the postal system.

A patient portal is an important part of any integrated medical EMR. It provides the means to contact patients by phone, email, and voice and text messaging, and collect insurance information to verify eligibility before the client arrives at the office.

Patient forms can be offered online to eliminate long waits in the office, schedule appointments, post test results and offer pertinent information. A patient portal makes it easy for clients to make secure payments online.

Therapists alleviate pain and improve the quality of life for millions of clients each year and an integrated medical EMR allows clinicians to begin treatment sooner. EMRs enable therapists to access a client’s records to determine previous treatments and their success rate, along with other information pertinent to future services.

Updates Regularly

EMRs allow patient records to be updated immediately and accessed by multiple healthcare providers for the most current information available. A medical EMR is unparalleled as an advertising and marketing tool. Clinicians can easily ascertain where referrals are originating and identify patients that may self-terminate treatment or pose a financial risk to the clinic.

Marketing efforts can be tracked and monitored, and therapists can locate specific demographics on which to focus for future campaigns. An integrated medical EMR will affect every aspect of a physical therapy practice. A system designed specifically for therapy clinics allows users to customize forms and work smart, not hard.

EMRs are fast, efficient and increase the overall productivity of practices. Clinicians can begin treatment sooner for better patient outcomes, while ensuring a steady cash flow for the practice.

Healthcare: Improving the Patient Experience with Technology

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Nov 16, 2015 | Healthcare Practice Management, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

Most patients tend to embrace new technology. Technology helps the practice and improves the patients’ overall experience with the clinic.

Nitin Chhoda discusses the benefits of technology to automate and simplify patient follow up. This reduces the burden on the front desk staff and allows them to focus their efforts elsewhere, so they can do more to help market the practice.

The 21^st century client is an individual that seeks instant gratification in everything from the food they eat to the videos they view, and that holds true for patients and their healthcare needs.

Clients want treatments from healthcare practice management to begin almost immediately, they appreciate convenience and they don’t like to wait.

Therapists can significantly improve the patient experience with technology and an EMR is the ticket to achieving that goal.

Physical therapy EMR

The patient portal contained in a physical therapy EMR is the primary way clients will interact and communicate with their therapist for many of their needs. The patient experience begins when they contact the clinic for an appointment, which can be scheduled online with an integrated EMR.

Healthcare histories and an array of pre-visit forms can be offered online that patients can complete, save and update as needed. There’s no need for clients to worry about printing out paperwork to bring with them to the office.

Forms are password protected and accessible any time for patient convenience. Clients can view their test results via their own account and request medication refills.

Information Beforehand

Collecting healthcare information beforehand provides clinicians with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the patient’s history prior to their visit, eliminating long and tedious waits in the office.

Some healthcare providers routinely keep patients waiting for an hour or more past the time of their scheduled appointment.

Nothing motivates clients to change healthcare providers quicker than long waits at the office. Clinics can glean a variety of information through patient portals. The most important of those is insurance information that allows practice owners to determine the client’s insurance coverage and co-pays.

Problems can be identified and clarified prior to the office visit, allowing treatment to begin without delay. People in pain want relief and a client’s insurance coverage can significantly impact their course of treatment. A variety of payment options can also be offered online.

Integrated EMR

The modern patient is active, busy and on the go. They utilize a wide array of communication techniques, from email to Skype. An integrated EMR provides the means for therapists to contact patients via email, phone, and voice and text messaging.

It’s convenient for clients and therapists, and can be used for patient reminders, to gather additional information and send payment reminders.

With a web-based EMR, patient healthcare records are stored securely and can be accessed by multiple providers as the need arises. Therapists are no longer at the mercy of an antiquated system of paper records that can take weeks to arrive and require numerous requests from each individual provider.

The patient’s entire record is available immediately, providing access to essential information about everything from past procedures to allergies.

Modern patients demand convenience and flexibility from their healthcare providers, and an integrated EMR provides that in a variety of arenas, from scheduling appointments to paying their bills. EMRs provide the means for clinicians to manage patient healthcare for better outcomes and facilitate treatments that begin sooner.

EMR technology improves the patient experience and offers increased efficiency, productivity and enhanced reimbursements for therapists.

EMR Solution: The Importance of Its Portability and Customization

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Nov 9, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records, Physical Therapy Billing, Physical Therapy Documentation

If you are using, or about to switch to an EMR system, simplicity and portability are essential requirements.

Nitin Chhoda emphasizes the importance of flexibility in your EMR so that it can be used on any device (laptop, PC, iPad, Android device) with an internet connection

Consumers demand portability in the products they purchase to accommodate a mobile lifestyle, and physical therapists should expect the same convenience in their electronic medical records.

EMRs Should Be Flexible

An EMR that doesn’t offer flexibility and portability is even worse than being chained to a bulky computer and using old-fashioned paper records.

An EMR for physical therapy practices is designed to propel clinicians into the 21^st century. That includes the ability to customize as needed and take the system wherever it may be required.

Customization is a key element of an EMR. Physical therapy clinics have their own particular documentation needs and requirements, and an EMR should reflect that.

It should be easy to create custom documents that fit into the clinic’s normal workflow, along with other environments that includes billing and coding, patient communications, and registration. Like a one-size-fits-all garment, a general EMR may work for some clinicians, but it will lack critical features and disrupt the productivity and efficiency of every department.

HIPAA Compliant

Maintaining HIPAA compliance can also be a problem. Some clinicians have encountered difficulty with phrasing that prompts the system to produce unwanted results and is counter intuitive to providing care.

Charting a patient’s care, treatment and results shouldn’t require a call to tech support, and many EMR vendors that claim the ability for complete customization have a very strange idea of what customization entails.

EMR customization should reflect the way patients are seen and the way therapists practice their profession. It should import, export, store, save and organize data in standard document formats.

Portability is key when implementing an integrated EMR system and it should be compatible with tablet technology, allowing clinicians to take advantage of a wide range of revenue opportunities.

EMR Transition

An EMR should transition easily from the exam room to the billing department with equal ease.

Therapists provide a wide array of occupational, therapeutic, sensory and sports related services.

There is also a wealth of additional opportunities available to enterprising practice owners in the form of corporate wellness programs, senior citizen facilities, in-home care and even spas.

A portable EMR can be accessed from any location where an Internet connection exists, allowing clinicians to take their tablet on the road to a wide range of far flung venues.

Most patients think in terms of rehabilitation when physical therapy is mentioned, but the importance of therapeutic massage is gaining traction with clients. Spas and health clubs are just some of the businesses that are contracting with professional therapists to offer those services to their clients.

Portability is Always Important

A portable EMR system provides the means to capitalize on those opportunities with complete evaluations, documentation, insurance information and billing from any location.

Therapists provide essential services to assist their patients maintain or regain mobility, end pain and enhance quality of life. A portable and customizable EMR allows clinicians to accomplish those goals through increased efficiency and productivity.

An integrated EMR system will play a growing role in how therapists practice their profession, deliver services and interact with patients. It’s essential that a clinic’s EMR provide the ability to grow with the practice, while allowing clinicians to take advantage of the many income opportunities available.

Physical Therapy Billing: Using Revenue Cycle Management Software

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 1, 2015 | Physical Therapy Billing, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Management

An integrated electronic medical records system includes revenue management software that can streamline your physical therapy billing.

Nitin Chhoda explains why this type of software can be a critical component of the ‘big picture’, allow your entire physical therapy billing process to become streamlined and profitable.

The first step toward solving a problem is always acknowledging that a problem exists. In physical therapy billing, this means evaluating the revenue cycle and the staff that is responsible for billing.

Nobody likes to have their job evaluated, especially when the goal is to find inefficiencies and problems.

Revenue cycle management software allows the practice to evaluate and make the necessary changes to physical therapy billing processes at the same time as the billing staff gets exciting and powerful new tools.

Giving the Staff Reason for Optimism

Start the process of evaluation of the revenue cycle with one question in your mind: which tasks could the right software take from the billing staff?

In other words, don’t look for what the staff is doing wrong, look for the places where their jobs could be made easier if you implement physical therapy billing software that includes revenue cycle management improvements.

If the staff feels they are being evaluated, you will have a harder time identifying problems, and making improvements will be more of a challenge.

But if the staff understands that the process of evaluation is impersonal, that the hope is that their physical therapy billing job will get easier, then they will cooperate and be upfront about the problems they experience.

It will be easy to get the staff to talk about problems with duplicate entry. However, physical therapy billing staff members will be protective about admitting to error frequency and revenue recognition delays and errors. The best way to get everyone on board is to make sure they don’t feel threatened.

Revenue Cycle Management Software Solutions

There is a lot of good news in the EMR world these days. New physical therapy EMRs provide revenue cycle management solutions that are very successful at improving efficiency.

In particular, you will find that duplicate entry is eliminated and not just within the physical therapy billing department.

With a fully integrated and mobile EMR, you can reduce the entry of patient information to a single occurrence, and it will happen when the patient picks up the tablet computer and enters their information.

Streamlined Billing

Of course the real time saver will be software that handles recurring billing in a streamlined and intuitive way. Physical therapy billing staff still needs access to each claim that is being submitted, so they can review and make changes based on the actual visit.

But if the treatment plan is set and pre-approved, the entire billing schedule can be set up to generate claims automatically. The biller only has to enter the information once, and then their job is to check for errors or inconsistencies.

Changing the job of physical therapy billing staff should be a priority for every physical therapy private practice manager or owner. Even if you hire a billing company, there are incredible advantages to planning and preparing so that each time the company sends a claim, you are much more likely to receive the payment in a timely manner.

Managing the revenue cycle will bring more visibility, make compliance more simple, and make the physical therapy billing team more productive.

What to Look for in Billing Reports

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Apr 29, 2015 | Electronic Medical Records, Medical Billing, Physical Therapy Billing, Physical Therapy Documentation, Physical Therapy Marketing, Physical Therapy Software

Billing is the cash flow engine of the private practice. It should be simple, streamlined and efficient. Billing software can be used to check patient eligibility and post ERAs, along with sophisticated functions that include scrubbing claims, posting payments and billing secondary insurance with the click of a button.

Perhaps one of the most important functions is the ability to generate detailed yet simple reports. Such reports offer clinicians the means to determine if billers are being as efficient as possible and provide them with an accurate overview of the practice’s financial health.

Utilizing Metrics

An aging report provides a wealth of information. It shows therapists how much money that’s owed but hasn’t been collected. Practitioners can look up accounts receivable by payer and break it down utilizing a variety of different metrics ranging from location to procedure.

Practice owners can ascertain which payers reimburse slowly and providers that aren’t billing as much as others. Reports can be created by ICD and CPT codes to discover which procedures earn the most for the practice and which patients generate the most revenue. In Touch EMR™ has the ability to generate reports with sophisticated measures and customization options.

Data And Proofs

In Touch EMR™ provides clinicians with the ability to know exactly where their money is. They can do it themselves without waiting for the biller. Reports can be created for a week, month or even the last six months. The reports can be taken to the biller or the payer if needed. In Touch EMR™ enables practice owners to view their practice from a higher level and gives the clinician ammunition to address payment issues.

The reports provide therapists with the data needed to address biller problems and expedite the billing process. In Touch EMR™ reports show practitioners where potential problems exist and the point of origin. Therapists may find that they need to stop doing business with specific payers and providers.

It can take an average of a month to collect from insurance companies, but clinicians should be aware that it can take longer when working with Workers’ Compensation, out-of-state clients and auto accident claims. Clinics that experience a lot of these types of claims should be aware that the revenue stream may be delayed through no fault of the biller or provider.

The power and potential of In Touch EMR™ provides clinicians with valuable metrics and tools to diagnose the health of their practice and if the billing department is doing a good job. The integrated system gives practitioners the ability to create their own reports independently of the billing department. In Touch EMR™ gives practice owners the tools to run their lifestyle, not a system that runs them.

Functional Limitation Reporting in Your EMR

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 3, 2014 | Physical Therapy Management

There are a lot of myths, misconceptions and fears about functional limitation reporting. The bottom line is that clinicians who see Medicare patients after July 1, 2015 must use functional limitation codes on their documentation for the initial evaluation, at least once every 10 visits, and at the time of discharge or they won’t get paid.

All practitioners need is an EMR system that prompts them to select one of the functional limitation measures and the goal codes at the appropriate time. It’s then a simple matter of sending the claim to the clearinghouse and on to Medicare for approval and payment. Functional limitation reporting is essentially a goal-oriented process.

Clinical Judgment

The judgment of the physical therapist is critical in meeting functional limitation reporting requirements. Therapists will need to document the patient’s condition at the initial visit, the selected treatment plan, severity of the client’s limitation and the expected outcome when therapy is completed.

In Touch EMR™ provides clinicians with prompts for all the information, G-codes and modifiers needed and at the appropriate times to remain within compliance. The data automatically goes into the patient file for transmission.

Supporting Evidence

Documentation to support every decision, measure taken and treatment is critical. Therapists must maintain a record of the patient’s level of function upon their initial visit using their best clinical judgment, combined with the information obtained from the patient.

Listen closely to what the client says and observe their range of movement to accurately select the level of severity under which they’re functioning. Meticulous records are necessary to document the condition of the patient at each treatment session and when the patient is discharged from further therapy. The process begins again if further treatment is required.

The EMR clinicians choose should have the ability to prompt them at the three major checkpoints of functional limitation reporting – initial evaluation, the 10th visit, and at discharge. In Touch EMR™ provides practitioners with that functionality, making it easy to remain in compliance and get paid.