Physical Therapy Archives | Page 5 of 6

Physical Therapy Software Best Choices

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 13, 2012 | Physical Therapy

Before buying a physical therapy software, make sure you know what your practice needs. Nitin Chhoda shares the one question every practitioner should ask first, before they can choose the best software that is right for their practice.

Physical therapy software system affects your entire experience depending on what type of EMR you choose.

For some practices, price is a dominant factor. But cutting corners can backfire, and most cheap physical therapy software is going to cut some corners.

Before you decide what you can spend, think about what you need. If the EMR you choose doesn’t work for you, it probably won’t be worth any amount of money.

Look at Your Practice First

The first step towards choosing the right web-based physical therapy software is looking at what your practice will need. You’ve likely heard that EMRs for physical therapy software and services can increase efficiency and improve your bottom line. That’s only true if you’ve got some inefficiency that can be reduced with an EMR.

Ask yourself a few questions. Is your medical billing conducted on a regular and timely schedule? What is the percentage of rejected or denied claims you receive? Is your staff slightly overwhelmed with paperwork? How often do errors occur that upset your patients?

If you are having trouble in any of these areas, and most practices have more than one of these problems, it is very likely that physical therapy software can help. Scheduling, billing, and patient management are integrated in good PT documentation software. Does that sound like something that will reduce the number of steps each staff member has to take to do their job? Good.

Understanding the Benefits

As soon as you know what you need, you can develop some goals. These goals for your practice should be independent of whether or not you get physical therapy software.

But if you design your goals around what will improve efficiency and your bottom line, then you will be ready to ask the most important question: will this physical therapy management solution help us to meet our goals?

If billing is your main concern because you get a lot of claim rejections and denials that need to be re-filed, then make sure that the billing system is integrated and comprehensive in the physical therapy software you are considering.

If one of your goals is to improve the professionalism in your office with a sophisticated system, make sure that the system actually provides improved consistency in billing, patient care, and communication.

Choose the Best Physical Therapy Software for Your Practice

Remember that EMR implementation can be taxing and frustrating for staff. Make sure that the physical therapy software company offers training and instruction for staff, both before, during, and after implementation.

Lastly, no matter what kind of physical therapy software you choose, make sure that it is intuitive to use. The most important thing about any physical therapy software is that it will be easy for your staff to use. You want the staff to become more efficient, right? Do not sacrifice intuitive interfaces and useful tools for a better price, because you will not get the results that you want if your staff can’t use the software.

Physical Therapy Management for the New Economy

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 7, 2012 | Physical Therapy

Nitin Chhoda shares the status of physical therapy management and practice in today’s economy. Physical therapy management in the new economy represents major changes for therapists, from the treatments provided to monetary reimbursements.

President Obama’s aggressive healthcare reform program has changed physical therapy management in the new economy, the full effects of which are yet to be seen.

The new goals require physical therapists to think less like service providers and more like business owners, focusing on relating not just treating.

New Insights

To assist therapists, Chhoda offered new insights into management issues in the new economy.

“We need great physical therapy management and business systems to empower our clinical skills and retention systems to increase the number of patient visits,” said Chhoda. “Staff members need incentives to perform better and therapists need strategies to build multiple referral systems.”

Physical therapy management services encompass much more than patient care, scheduling, billing and reimbursements. It’s a total plan that maintains the highest patient care standards, builds reputations, and protects the overall profitability of the practice.

EMR Adoption

To insure those goals of physical therapy management services are met, therapists will need to adopt electronic medical records (EMR) technology, identify cost effective treatments and interventions, and help train a superior workforce for the future.

Physical therapy management in the new economy represents major changes for therapists, from the treatments provided to monetary reimbursements.

For many therapists, a large portion of their patients may be those receiving Medicare and Medicaid. Physical therapy management will require affordable access to high-quality care that still provides adequate reimbursements for the practice.

Regulations

In the new economy, therapists are facing restrictive regulations and payment policies that effectively separate them from the patients that need them the most.

Physical therapists are on the front lines of patient care, working to restore functionality, mobility and quality of life to their clients.

As reimbursements decline, physical therapy management will have to include billing and coding changes, and therapists will need to work to identify treatments that achieve the same effect in a more efficient manner.

Initiating an electronic medical records system will assist therapists manage their practice on a variety of levels. Electronic billing allows faster reimbursement recovery and greater billing flexibility.

Documentation Process

EMRs provide comprehensive documentation at a glance, allowing therapists to begin appropriate treatment quicker. An essential part of future physical therapy management will include increasing referral rates and discovering creative avenues for doing so.

Establishing closer relationships with physician practices and hospitals, and educating them about the benefits of physical therapy will help facilitate that goal. Training an efficient and knowledgeable workforce will insure a superior level of patient care.

Physical therapy management is a multi-faceted endeavor and Chhoda’s new insights provide practice owners with food for thought. Therapists can no longer be satisfied to provide superior treatment. The must identify more effective methods that meet patient needs and enables clinics to remain profitable.

Electronic Medical Records and Their Uses

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 5, 2012 | Physical Therapy

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.

Electronic Medical Records: Not Just Another Documentation Software

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | Jun 3, 2012 | Physical Therapy

Using electronic medical records system goes beyond efficiency metrics, its about managing your practice. Nitin Chhoda discusses the power of the scheduling feature, and how important it is to manage cancelled or missed appointments.

The medical world is currently undergoing a digital revolution.

Paper records that for a long time was the only way to keep track of patients, are being replaced by digital databases and electronic medical records.

But this trend is more significant than just a change in how documentation is handled. Physical therapy software that tracks every aspect of treatment—from scheduling and prescriptions to billing—will change.

Occupational Therapy Software

Occupational therapy software marks a monumental shift in how the business of physical therapy management is done by implementing electronic medical records. With occupational therapy software for electronic medical records, you are still administering your patients’ files. However, there will be a tonal shift in how everything is approached.

By adopting a digital-first approach, the documentation process becomes instant. Your patients can sign in on an iPad, and their presence is instantly recorded in your database. When you see them, you know when the appointment actually begins because it is recorded instantly. That gives you useful metrics on how efficient your practice is, and how long the wait time really is.

That’s just one benefit of having an electronic medical records. But physical therapy scheduling software for electronic medical records goes beyond efficiency metrics. The software is about managing your practice, after all. One of the most powerful features is the ability to handle cancelled or missed appointments.

Cancelled or Missed Appointments

As a physical therapist, you know the pain of having a patient cancel on you.

That slot is usually lost time, because scheduling a new appointment is usually more work than anyone has time for if you don’t use an electronic medical records yet.

Keeping track of cancellations can be incredibly difficult, and usually there is no way to manage a schedule without a single person handling every change – an almost impossible proposition. New appointments are rarely scheduled to replace the missed one, costing you money and making your practice seem more busy than it actually is.

By adopting a fully digital practice like electronic medical records, any cancellation or missed appointment is immediately logged.

Everyone looking at the calendar immediately sees the change. The second someone cancels their appointment, that time slot is available again for another patient.

New Type of Documentation Software

All that said, electronic medical records management software is an incredible type of documentation software. It makes keeping track of tests, progress, and prescriptions incredibly simple. With a quick and easy electronic query, you get all the information you have on a patient.

And if another facility also uses electronic medical records keeping, you can get their records instantly. Which brings us to perhaps the most compelling aspect of electronic physical therapy management software: the ability to send and receive patient information without resorting to the mail or the fax machine.

High-resolution images, full documents written in legible text, and all test results can be sent or received in a matter of seconds without wasting paper or needing a receptionist to man the print desk.

Electronic medical records are more than just another piece of documentation software. They will set your firm free from the tyranny of sloppy record keeping, make looking up patient information painless, and simply improve every aspect of running your practice.

Physical Therapy Management: Top Ten Benefits of EMR

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | May 28, 2012 | Physical Therapy

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.

Physical Therapy Documentation: Determining the Best For Your Practice

by Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT | May 28, 2012 | Physical Therapy

Whether web-based or server-based, your physical therapy documentation system should be helping your practice increase productivity.

Nitin Chhoda differentiates these two types of physical therapy EMR documentation, and explains that choosing the right system should not be based on the price alone.

Physical therapy documentation is sensitive and complex, requiring a lot of specific knowledge for each staff member involved in using medical records, billing payers, or reviewing reports.

Common Sense Is the Key

In the same way, each practice has to manage their physical therapy documentation in the way that makes the most sense for the staff.

If a practice consists of just a handful of people, you may be able to make a decision based on what everyone is comfortable with.

There are, of course, also the financial considerations. Can your physical therapy documentation practice afford the one-time expenses of purchasing a server, or would you be better served by paying monthly for a web-based EMR solution?

There are many questions you should ask yourself as you look into different solutions, and the specific answers for your practice will not be the same as they are for any other practice.

Dollars and Cents

The first consideration for almost every practice manager when it comes to physical therapy documentation is the cost. But the costs of each solution are not as simple as they may seem at first. On the one hand, an in-house server will cost a lot up front.

But many of the truly worthwhile web-based EMR solutions are not cheap, either, and you may end up spending the same amount of money, but over a different period of time.

For a small physical therapy documentation practice, spending money slowly is often better than spending it all at once. For a larger practice, the cost of installing an in-house server may be offset by the gains in productivity that tens or hundreds of staff members achieve with a server-based physical therapy documentation solution.

It turns out that the price difference will not be as significant as you might be lead to believe. So check your prices carefully before assuming that the “cheaper” option is the best just because it costs less right now. There may be set-up costs related to a web-based physical therapy documentation EMR, but its only because it requires that everyone has a computer and that the office has a high speed Internet connection that never goes down.

Speed and Convenience

This is another area where the decision may not be as simple as it seems. Server-based EMRs will always be a tiny bit faster, saving everyone a few seconds here and there.

That time can add up and make a difference; the last thing you want is for clinicians to be waiting for the program to load. But for a smaller physical therapy documentation practice, the time is not as significant and the benefits are not as clear-cut.

The convenience of a web-based solution is often a major selling point. With login information, anyone who needs to access the system can do so, no matter where they are, as long as they have an Internet connection.

As with every stage of the decision-making process, the best solution for your practice’s physical therapy documentation needs will be specific to your practice. There are a lot of things to weigh in making this decision, but remember that what you choose should be useful, convenient, and intuitive for the staff.