Why You Only Need One Practice Management Solution

Tired of Navigating Disconnected Systems? Here Are the Top Reasons to Integrate to One 

A digital practice management solution touches nearly every area of your office. Each day in healthcare administration involves securely storing patient information, processing payments, delegating tasks to staff, and much more. 

Switching from paper-based systems to digital platforms may have been caused by the need to improve workflow efficiency or the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many healthcare providers to reconsider their accessibility to important data. Regardless of what led you to your decision, technology now plays an essential role in practice management. 

Yet, it still has downsides. If you went digital to be more efficient, your reliance on multiple systems could be hurting—more than helping—you.

Let’s face it: Your attempts to run your practice with patchwork technology aren’t working. Here’s why one seamlessly integrated system can blend your practice’s workflows and improve how you deliver care.

1. One Platform Saves Time

Time is an irreplaceable, finite resource. In healthcare practices, a lot of value can be gained from saving time. When patient visits are more productive, you have time to schedule more appointments. And with more visits, higher revenue, and substantial growth become a tangible reality. 

One way to drain precious hours is to use multiple systems for your office’s already time-consuming tasks. You shouldn’t have to juggle multiple browsers and programs for administrative tasks like insurance billing, appointment scheduling, and payment processing. 

Integrated software can save valuable time. Seamless coordination between workflows is organized in one place, eliminating interruptions and allowing quicker access to information. All workstations work within the same platform, making referencing data from EHRs like patient forms, x-rays, or prescriptions easier.

Additionally, since you’re not hopping between various programs (potentially crashing them and waiting for them to restart), you’re providing faster and more thorough care.

2. Reduce Mistakes and Double Data Entry

Besides saving much-needed time in your practice, your team will appreciate having a unified, reliable system. Instead of learning several different programs (which causes you to spend even more time training them), they’ll only need to familiarize themselves with one single system. This allows them to move more quickly and prevents them from making unnecessary mistakes. 

Moreover, mistakes can be nearly impossible to fix if they’re spread across different programs. An integrated practice management system and EHR minimizes errors because data is entered—and corrected if needed—in one place, so information is accurate and consistent. 

3. Better Safe (Data) Than Sorry

The mistakes your staff make are enormously risky, too. But because fewer of them occur in one system, information is less likely to slip through the cracks and into the wrong hands. Since it’s easier to keep up with, fewer clerical errors cause security breaches. This is particularly noteworthy given that they contribute significantly to healthcare data leakage. 

Data mistakes are costly: A Tier 1 HIPAA fine, in which the organization was unaware of patient information being exposed, is $100 to $50,000. Such a significant loss doesn’t just damage your finances. It damages your reputation, too. 

Still, patient data breaches aren’t always innocent mistakes. An integrated system contains access restrictions and identifies who is logging in, their time of access, and their location when they do it. This way, the culprits are trackable, and patient information is protected.  

4. Easier to Save and Faster to Make Money

Avoiding HIPAA fines isn’t the only way you’ll cut back on excessive spending. With fewer mistakes across numerous systems, you won’t have to account for the extra labor needed to fix issues. Moreover, you’ll save on the mounting IT and subscription costs required to run them.

Furthermore, having more convenient access to data can increase your revenue. Being able to submit claims more quickly allows for faster submissions and payoffs. If failed patient payments are returned, you can resubmit them sooner rather than later, ensuring payments aren’t delayed for months. 

5. A Cure for Unhappy Patients

There’s more to patient satisfaction than sending patients on their way with treatments for their health concerns. As such, having an organized system that stores information in one place can go a long way toward making them happier. Your treatment is noticeably more productive, and information is safer and more transparent. Your staff is also free from the tedious tasks that prevent them from providing friendly, welcoming service. 

Another reason your patients will prefer your office to have an integrated practice management system and EHR is the convenience offered. It’s easier for them to fill out and update forms from anywhere instead of calling your office or doing it in person. Plus, if they move away or decide to switch to a different practice, they don’t have to wait for you to scan and fax or mail their records since you can quickly transfer their information to a new location. 

Increases in patient engagement are also more likely. With your integrated practice management system and EHR, they can access their records from anywhere to prepare for appointments beforehand, alleviating some anxiety. 

And notably, the prevalence of social media, online reviews, and the empowerment of consumerism in the healthcare industry has shifted patients’ expectations of healthcare practices. To sustain your practice, pivoting to meet these expectations has become more important than ever.

Creating a Successful Practice with intakeQ

With integrated, multi-purpose practice management software, there’s little that can hold you back from achieving your practice’s goals. A successful practice is attainable with unified workflows, financial sustainability, happier patients, and efficient operations. 

intakeQ, a fully customizable healthcare forms solution, packages your practice’s entire intake process and billing into one efficient software. With its available EHR integrations and API, intakeQ eliminates paper, streamlines the reception area, and safeguards patients’ data. Our proven, effective platform saves practices money while giving them the tools to deliver better-quality care.

Having a well-rounded practice management system that doesn’t block your productivity and cause you to make expensive mistakes is part of the equation—but the patients you attract and make happier are easily a significant chunk of it. 

You’ve already made big changes, like switching to digital practice management software. However, the real improvements are in integrating your EHR with a forms solution like intakeQ.

 

References

Brooks-LaSure, C. (2021, December 8). Interoperability and the Connected Health Care System | CMS. U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. https://www.cms.gov/blog/interoperability-and-connected-health-care-system

Cassio. (2019, October 28). How IntakeQ Helped One Healthcare Practice Improve Their Services, Save Money, and Grow. IntakeQ. https://blog.intakeq.com/case-study-creating-room-for-growth-with-nourish-family-nutrition/

Cassio. (2021, May 18). What is interoperability and why should it matter to you? IntakeQ. https://blog.intakeq.com/what-is-interoperability-and-why-does-it-matter-for-your-medical-practice/

Healthcare data breach statistics. (2022). HIPAA Journal. https://www.hipaajournal.com/healthcare-data-breach-statistics/

Rolfe, D. (2017, November 1). The Business Of Healthcare: How Patient Satisfaction Plays A Role. ACOEP RSO. https://acoep-rso.org/the-fast-track/the-business-of-healthcare-how-patient-satisfaction-plays-a-role/