By integrating patient and physician workflows, small practices can tap into efficiencies that can keep them competitive with the big players.
Medical practices have a variety of technologies available to them to bring greater efficiency to some of their most complicated tasks, Raul Villar, CEO of AdvancedMD, writes in Medical Economics. The problem is, despite the greater availability of healthcare data from a variety of sources, practices that fail to integrate the technologies they use throughout their practices can miss out on some key efficiencies. If a redesigned workflow can generate happier physicians less prone to burnout, reduced numbers of medical errors and better bottom-line results, the article suggests, it’s well worth the effort.
Villar breaks the workflow down into three components that need to work together seamlessly for maximum efficiency:
- Clinical data management typically takes place in the form of a physician’s electronic health record (EHR) application. The more documentation physicians can do in real time during visits, the better, according to the article, but the larger efficiencies come when a practice can route patient data into the EHR prior to an exam, and then use that information to key other parts of the practice workflow such as follow-up visits or prescription needs.
- Patient engagement tools, such as online portals, can help improve the patient experience by making it easier to schedule appointments and review lab results. That can result in patients taking more responsibility for their own health, which in turn improves care quality, says Villar.
- Back-office tools deal with the non-clinical tasks necessary to run a practice. In Villar’s model integrated workflow, tasks such as appointment scheduling can flow from the patient portal, which can also collect pre-examination paperwork and payment information. After a patient visit, the practice can simply combine that information with data from the EHR regarding the visit to bill the patient’s insurance company.