What to focus on in online EHR software reviews?

Software Advice, Business Software and American EHR  are three of the numerous websites that provide Electronic Health Record (EHR) software reviews for hundreds of vendors.

In 2013, healthcare technology company Digital Assent conducted a survey of 341 respondents out of which 72% said that negative reviews would put them off visiting the particular practitioner. Just as provider ratings matter to patients, EHR ratings matter to providers.

There has been a growing trend of physicians visiting EHR Software Reviews and rating websites before purchasing a specific EHR. Many times, negative narrations by current users of the product cause potential clients to cross that product of their “suited-for-my-practice-list”.

The article will help you understand what you need to look at while visiting such sites. The article is relevant for both current EHR users looking to switch to a new system and those looking to purchase an EHR for the first time. 

For most physicians visiting such sites, they know the names of at least a few EHR vendors. I’d recommend you to search for them first and identify if they have the EHR essentials in their system. According to me, the essentials that an EHR vendor must give are:

1. Cloud-based system

2. Integrated solution (EHR and Practice Management)

3. Specialty-based solution

4. ICD-10 Preparedness

5. Meaningful Use Stage 2 Readiness

Look at the vendor’s features and any system which doesn’t offer these three should get a cross straight off.  

Next, look at other features that you want in your software. Examples could be clinical charting, E-prescriptions and anything else you require.  

Once you’ve done this, you’re probably left with a handful of vendors.  Now look at how current customers have rated and reviewed those vendors, particularly with respect to the features you require. The ones that do poorly in most of the features you require, cross them off.

Next, look for other vendors that possess the features you require and the essentials. Use the same selection process again to shortlist the vendors down till three.

Now schedule demos with these shortlisted three; get acquainted with the features and services they offer. Select the best one from them and there is a very small chance that you’ve chosen the wrong EHR for your practice.

Read more about: EHRs and Pay-for-Performance: The way forward for Primary Care?   

Using a medical billing company to safeguard your practice from ICD-10

There has been a lot of talk about the ideal medical billing company, particularly with respect to the intimidating ICD-10 changes which threaten to be a huge burden for practices.

A Black Book Rankings survey comprised of responses from over 20,000 trained and qualified users between November 2013 and April 2014 reported interesting findings; including this one on outsourcing medical billing. When asked about their practice’s operational priorities over the upcoming years, about 90 percent of single-physician and small practice physicians with in-house billers said they would potentially outsource most or all their billing-related functions over the next two years.

The preference for a medical billing vendor by smaller practices in particular looks to be a result of the complex nature of ICD codes, which make billing extremely time consuming.

ICD-10 is going to be big, and the new coding format mean that there are additional subdivisions for most diagnosis.  Moreover, the numbering will be completely different from what it was before.

And with ICD-10 and thousands of new codes almost upon us, physicians, especially those who understand the current codes; don’t want to go through the hassle of learning the codes all over again.

If we look at the advantages of using a professional billing company for ICD-10, the need for trained, competent and experienced billers is essential. They will have the necessary tools that are required to ensure that the billing progresses smoothly.

Moreover, any difficulty in billing that these professionals encounter is likely to be dealt with in significantly less time. This is because they will have experts for different dimensions of medical billing; and with these experts will have the option to solve problems among themselves. In contrast, one or two in-house billers at your practice encountering similar problems could take significantly longer to resolve such problems; resulting in potential collection delays and in turn lesser revenue for your practice.  

Other benefits of medical billing vendors include lower staff costs, faster claim reimbursement and lesser chances of fraud.

Must read about: Why Physician ICD-10 Fears are unfounded, CMS explains

Why does my practice need a medical billing company?

In our country, a medical billing service is the intermediary between a doctor and his payments. However, while the Health IT sector is flourishing, many providers are missing out on even greater revenues in the form of quicker claim processing and reimbursements. Can a medical billing company be that intermediary; a question on the lips of all providers.

Managing your practice is not a walk in the park with doctors having to manage their patients and in addition to working towards achieving Meaningful Use incentives and avoiding penalties, the ICD-9 coding process and the fear of the fast approaching ICD-10 diagnostic codes among other things.

How can an in-house biller or professional billing company change the doctor’s revenue cycle? The answer is simple; through the internet, the intermediary transmits insurance claims directly to the insurance. Yes there is a clearinghouse involved, but that’s for the biller to worry about. As a provider, you have one less aspect to manage.

In addition, Medicare prioritizes electronically submitted claims. Claims transmitted online take 10 to 14 days for payment, in contrast to paper-based claims, which can take approximately 27 days. With so many days saved, even more money is earned by the doctor.

Now comes the next question, in-house or outsourcing medical billing? There’s a pretty straightforward self-evaluation statement for this. With both avenues providing the same service; would you prefer dedicated billing staff, to which you’d have to allocate a separate room and computers? Or would you prefer a company with numerous billing professionals, who’d do everything to maximize your reimbursements, and who’d charge an extremely low percentage of your annual revenues for their services? 

The more practical choice would be to outsource your billing to a company who’d do all this for you, all without taking a large amount of space and money to carry out your services for you. Additionally, most EHR vendors offer to execute this service for you, which means that you don’t even have to worry about system compatibility issues.