(HealthNewsDigest.com) – The quest to stay healthy is something that has been shared through many generations. The earliest physicians were largely guessing about what to do, which means that health care today is a far cry from even what our grandparents and parents had in their youth. There are procedures, techniques, and treatments today that were unimaginable just a few years ago, to say nothing of what was done centuries ago. And there are new options coming online all the time.
Behind all the revolutionary developments in health care through recent decades has been a quieter revolution in the way healthcare is managed. Software and hardware for the medical field have advanced to a point of incredible precision, speed, accuracy, and functionality. The result is a leaner, more efficient system of health care that provides essential information quickly and accurately while storing it effectively and securely.
The growth of this field has been so massive that the process of choosing the right software for a particular practice, hospital, or clinic can be overwhelming. Deciding what to use is different in various applications; what works best when running a behavioral health practice may not be as effective in an oncology facility.
As managers and practitioners evaluate their various options, they are usually looking for ways to conduct a few essential functions to improve patient care and the efficiency of the system.
Electronic Medical Records
A longstanding function of doctors, nurses, therapists, and other caregivers has always been charting information on the patient. It was once done entirely on paper, with scrawled notes by various practitioners written on sheets of paper wedged into a clipboard, often hanging on the patient’s bed or door.
There were a lot of problems with that system. There was insufficient provision for privacy, creating serious confidentiality issues. There was also the difficulty of transcribing the information from the famously-bad doctor’s handwriting. Add in the potential for lost sheets or damage from spilled food and the system was flawed right there in the room, to say nothing of its snail-like pace in providing information to other parts of the system.
Technology has replaced the whole system. Data is entered via typing or mouse clicks, and it’s immediately saved and backed up into a secure system. It’s also immediately available to other caregivers with appropriate access—even when doing a consultation from hundreds of miles away. The system can even be equipped with defaults to guide treatment options.
Billing Management
Billing has always been a struggle, starting with the old paper charts. Understanding what was performed and used for the patient was a very difficult obstacle to overcome, and the time required to input all the information and generate a bill was massive, even with fairly recent technological upgrades. Patients were often incorrectly billed, leading to increased customer service costs—unless the error favored the patient, which was costly for the provider.
In a fully integrated electronic billing system, every step of patient care is immediately incorporated into the system with a simple scan of a barcode on the patient’s bracelet or chart, followed by the same step on a medication or by the entry of an ordered procedure. The result is a more accurate bill that is generated more rapidly. On the patient’s side, the option to pay electronically provides greater flexibility, increasing collection rates and generating greater revenues.
Office Management Functions
Medical practices themselves have become dramatically different over the last few years. The staff has usually swollen to include a number of administrative personnel in addition to nurses, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, the physicians themselves, and possibly phlebotomists, radiologic technicians, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and more.
With expanded hours in ever-greater use, it is very demanding to maintain work schedules and to generate payroll. And the process of getting patients scheduled to be seen and for additional procedures outside the office is incredibly complex.
Software has conquered these obstacles. Work schedules for staff can be done electronically with ease. Patient appointments can be set more easily and can include automated email or telephone reminders to reduce no-shows, and most physicians’ offices are linked to their hospitals and other facilities to simplify scheduling for outpatient tests, therapy, and other care.
Today’s medical field is nothing like it used to be, and that goes right down to the last detail of paperwork and files. Unlike “fun” technology like games and social media, these electronic tools are lowering the costs of healthcare while still providing better, more targeted care.
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