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.

Why Practices Should Switch To EHR Software?

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are transforming the healthcare industry by automating clinical processes of practices. Moreover, a portion of the 2009 Stimulus Act, the Health Information Technology Act (HITECH), aims to promote and establish EHRs for the whole country by 2014. If practices haven’t made the switch, here’s why they should:

1.   HITECH offers significant incentives (and penalties) based on “meaningful use” of certified EHRs

MeaningfulUse (MU) defines the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) within an organization. 2014 is the last year to acquire Medicare incentives for MU Stage 1 (which begun in 2011).  If a provider fails to start reporting by July 1, 2014, he will not be able meet the 90-day reporting requirement, and subsequently fail to attest by the final October 1, 2014 deadline.

The Medicare penalty kicks in for providers who have failed to adopt EHR software within this deadline. Providers who are unable to start MU within the time bracket will be subjected to a 1% penalty of annual Medicare collections in 2015. The penalty will increase by one percent each year in following years until 2017 after which the penalties will vary depending on the percentage of eligible meaningful users. It should be noted that Medicare is taxable.

Additionally, the Medicaid incentive program will continue until 2016, after which providers will not be able to receive Medicaid benefits.

2.   Benefits for patients and practices

In addition to the legal requirements due to which providers are switching to EHR systems, there are numerous benefits for both the doctor and patient, via a switch to this system.

The clinical procedures of a practice will be made easier, safer and faster via EHR software. Features, for example, e-Labs by which orders and results can be sent and received online, respectively, save valuable time.

Patient portals allow for increased interaction with patients and allow lab results, reports and reminders to be transmitted online. This also saves time for both the practice and patient, in addition to lowering the number of visits a patient has to make to a practice.

Additionally, all the patient history and information is stored on EHR software which reduces errors, multiple tests and enhances the patient’s experience.

Other benefits of EHR systems include increased productivity, accelerated revenue cycle, enhanced compliance and lower costs.

3.   Benefits for the society

The society, as a whole, will also greatly benefit from EHR systems. The government is collecting data for research via these systems. Information on obesity, smoking trends, and other important conditions is being gathered. This information will be analyzed and worked upon to devise methods to counter these problems and to focus on preventive measures.

The article lists some of the most widely talked about benefits of EHR systems and how, on a broader front, the whole country will immensely benefit from adopting EHR software.

Cloud-based EHR best bet for Solo Physicians and Small Practices

Selecting the right technology for small practices can be a daunting task for various reasons including availability of financial and human resources and cost of technology among others. This has led to slow adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHR) among small practices.

The answer to their problems lies in Cloud-based EHR that allow small practices to implement the system with limited financial and human resources. Moreover, increasing number of vendors is offering this technology making the market competitive. This helps solo or small practices to shift from paper-based to electronic systems of records.

Cost-effective

Small practices do not have the capacity to make huge monetary investments in a server-based EHR that require space and IT personnel dedicated to maintenance of the system. By implementing Cloud-based EHR, providers can save huge sums of money. Also, right vendor selection can also help providers to get a suitable EHR deal.

Simple implementation process

 A smooth workflow is necessary for small practices to run their business successfully. Setting up a server room for the EHR and training the staff can take a lot of time that will result in loss of patients and revenue. On the contrary, a Cloud-based system will take less time to adopt and fully implement in practice workflows.

No maintenance hassle

While selecting the vendor, providers of small practices should ensure that they offer excellent customer support, as they are solely responsible for maintenance and upgrade of Cloud-based EHR. On one hand, this enables providers to focus entirely on their practice and patients, while on the other hand; poor customer support of the vendor will prove to be problematic.

EHR security is vendor’s responsibility

While using Cloud-based EHR, small practices don’t have to guard server rooms and ensure security of devices. Since electronic records are accessed through a browser, therefore, no information is lost if the devices are stolen or damaged. However, each provider –big or small – is responsible for implementing HIPAA laws at the practice.

EHR Hardware costs: A Major Concern For Small Practices

Implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has been top of to-do list of physicians for quite some time. With the EHR deadline gone and fear of penalties mounting, physicians are rushing to buy a system for their practices. However, cost of EHR adoption and implementation is a major concern for physicians.

Before selecting EHR system, conduct a thorough research of the HIT vendors to make the right decision for your practice. While making the EHR vendor comparison, ensure that you inquire about vendor pricing policies including EHR software price, implementation cost, payment methods, hardware cost and any other hidden costs.

Practitioners of small and medium sized practices are mostly concerned about software and hardware costs. According to a survey conducted by CDW Healthcare, 66% of physicians reported that spending huge sum of money on hardware and software hinders EHR adoption rate.

Buying hardware is a one-time cost that practices have to bear. In another survey, researchers found out that in a small practice of five physicians, approximately $7,000 are spent on hardware by each physician. The best way to cut down on this cost is to buy cloud-based EHR, so that practitioners can save money on developing servers. Also, talk to you vendor in detail and make a list of hardware needed to install before EHR adoption. This will help to avoid wasting money on buying unnecessary material.

Read more: 2015 Will Bring New EHR Challenges for Physicians

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