DESERT CARDIOLOGY OF TUCSON EMBRACES CYBERSPACE USING PATIENT PORTAL TECHNOLOGY

Tucson, AZ-Desert Cardiology of Tucson [1], a ten-provider full-service cardiology practice with six offices in the Tucson area selected Medfusion [2], the leading provider of patient-to-provider online communication solutions, to provide their patients with self-service online communication solutions.  According to Jeff Askam, CEO of Desert Cardio, "Medfusion has developed a HIPAA-compliant patient portal that's endorsed by MedAxiom. That was reason enough to partner with Medfusion." 

Desert Cardiology has been offering their patients Medfusion's Pre-Registration, Appointment Requests, and Online Bill Pay solutions since early this year and in doing so patients have really taken to utilizing the patient portal to communicate with the practice. Patients go to Desert Cardiology's website to log on to the patient portal and register from the comfort of their home and on their time. Having the paperwork completed in advance of their appointment keeps them from going to their appointment a half hour early to fill out paperwork. "Customizing the patient forms to meet our needs has been an added value for the practice. Medfusion also provided us with upfront marketing ideas to reach out to our patients, and that has worked well," noted Askam. He also reported that reminding patients about the Online Bill Pay option in their statement has notably increased patients going online to pay their bills. Askam says that it's been a definite convenience for both the staff and patients. 

Desert Cardiology will soon implement Medfusion's Patient Messaging solution, which will enable the practice to securely send lab results and supporting documentation to their patients, with a receipt confirmation. "I suspect we'll see some real time savings with this because now our staff won't have to spend time playing phone tag with the patients to give them their lab results, nor will we have to mail the lab results. This will not only give the staff more time for other tasks, but we'll also save on postage," commented Askam. 

Already seeing proven results of increased efficiencies, cost reductions, and increased revenues from Medfusion's patient portal solutions; Desert Cardiology expects these results to multiply in the future. Down the road they also plan to add other Medfusion solutions like Prescription Renewals and Virtual Office Visits. 

Relevant Links:

Oswego County Today (July 2009) Oswego County OB-GYN Enhances Patient Services With PrimePatient [3],

Healthcare IT News (7-21-09) Survey: Telehealth, online appointments can 'unclog' healthcare system [4] 

Wall Street Journal article (6-30-09) The Doctor Will Text You Now [5]   

About Desert Cardiology

Since 1990, Desert Cardiology of Tucson [1] has treated and managed over 10,000 heart disease patients giving them more quality time with families and friends. Their passion for enhancing patients' health requires the utilization of the latest and most sophisticated technologies and treatment methods available. Their board-certified physicians and staff regard the welfare of their patients above all else and are committed to respectful, compassionate and caring patient relationships. 

About Medfusion

Medfusion [2] is a Cary, NC-based company that provides patient-to-provider communication solutions that enable healthcare providers to offer superior service to their patients while improving office efficiency and generating revenue [6]. Medfusion's powerful, web-based solutions [7] virtually transform patient communications with applications for pre-registration, appointment requests and reminders, outbound messaging, lab results delivery, prescription renewals, online bill payment, virtual office visits, and more, including uniquely-branded content-rich web sites. Medfusion is ranked #1 by KLAS in the "2008 Software Category" for secure patient portals. For more information, please visit www.medfusion.net [2].