As many practices face reduced reimbursements and increased denials, they are naturally looking for ways to improve the bottom line. And as they adopt new medical software such as an EMR or PMS, they wonder how to make sure the time and labor investment will result in more on the bottom line.
While implementation of any new technology includes a learning curve, practices shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that EMRs and other medical software can improve—and are improving—profitability for practices around the country.
As early as 2010, the MGMA reported that “Medical practices that have implemented an electronic health record system report better financial performance than those that have not,” based on the Medical Group Management Association’s “Electronic Health Records Impacts on Revenue, Costs, and Staffing: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data.”
More recently, case studies have shown that:
One 17-provider practice in Arizona has reported that they have:
- Reduced medical records staffing time by 90%
- Increased patient visits by 40% (with no increase in staff)
- Increased profitability by 50% in year 1 and by 100% in year 2
A 14-provider rural health clinic reported:
- A $200,000 per month increase in profitability
You may have heard similar stories at conferences and shook your head in disbelief.
How do you achieve this kind of time savings and increased profits?
Among the ways that medical software can help improve the profitability of your practice, according to several sources, are:
- Stop paying to manage and store paper
- Increase claim revenues by improving documentation and avoiding downcoding
- Increase efficiency with faster access to patient records and e-prescribing
- Reduced liability premiums, as some insurers are offering discounts to physicians utilizing EMRs
- And of course, the HITECH incentives you’ve heard so much about
But of course, this kind of improvement doesn’t magically happen with the use of technology. As with any new technology advance, there are tricks and insights that help optimize the profitability of the system.
That’s why we’re inviting you to join us for a practical one-hour webinar entitled Increase Your Bottom Line: EMR and PM Technology Can Do It, featuring Rosemarie Nelson, MS, a leading healthcare consultant with the MGMA. Rosemarie Nelson’s experience as a medical office manager and in information technology, combined with her years of consulting with physicians and practice professionals, gives her a unique insight into the needs and challenges facing physicians and medical practices. During the webinar, she’s going to share the key strategies she’s learned for improving practice profitability with technology.
“You think you’ve optimized your operations? Or, like many practices, do you wonder how you can become more efficient and improve your bottom line?” Rosemarie wrote in a blog post on Physicians Practice. She advised in the article that practices consider optimizing their EHR implementation with apps and/or hardware that can improve documentation timeliness, using charge capture apps for smartphones, patient portals, and other technology tools to increase profitability.
Some of the useful information you’ll learn during the webinar includes:
- Tips from better-performing practices
- How to integrate new business processes into your operations
- How to identify components of your technology solution that automate operations and reduce costs
- Ways to effectively monitor your progress with seven specific benchmarks
- And more
Kathy McCoy, MBA, has written on practice management and revenue cycle management for more than 5 years for leading medical software, medical marketing, and medical billing companies. She has more than 17 years of experience in continuing medical education, developing programs with respected educational institutions including Columbia University, Johns Hopkins, and Cleveland Clinic.
Do you know what you need when setting up a new medical practice?