Technology empowers private practices to sustain their role in the healthcare ecosystem. For independent practices to thrive, it will largely depend on how well they can adapt and implement emerging technology. Technology empowers private practices to sustain their role in the healthcare ecosystem.
Consolidation phase
Since the pandemic, many medical providers have faced severe burnout and strain, working around-the-clock hours under hazardous conditions. Consolidation is often forced by burnout and exhaustion of providers. Doctors went to school to provide care to patients. However, they become small business owners and face challenges of managing all operations, HR, IT, practice growth, reputation management, and revenue management.
With so many providers considering consolidation, the opportunity to receive fair and quality medical care from independent practices as opposed to large-scale hospital corporations is diminishing, dampening patient trust in the healthcare system.
Consumerization of healthcare
The consumerization of healthcare is a broad shift from the healthcare market to individual healthcare consumers, meaning individuals are asserting more influence over their medical and wellness care. Healthcare consumers want a convenient and digitally-enabled experience from the time they submit an inquiry to the treatment and subsequent follow-ups. Convenience and customized experiences drive consumer behaviour. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of consumer-centric
Technology for Private Practices
Technology in a practice is to divide it up into what you need for your clinical practice, and then what you need for the administrative part of your practice.
Cloud-based EMR
The most important piece of technology you’re going to have is a really solid cloud-based electronic medical record [EMR] system. You want to make sure to get one that has billing functionality as well, so that you can do a lot of the claims processing and the clearinghouse work that’s needed to drop your claims to the insurance companies.
Imaging as part of your practice
A cloud-based PACS [picture archive and communication system] reading system or DICOM [digital imaging and communications in medicine] reading system, so that you can actually access your images, read them, and write reports from anywhere. It turns out to be a lifesaver if you’re sitting on vacation on the beach somewhere and you need to look at an echo [echocardiogram] or you’re behind on reading your echoes or what have you, that you can access it from anywhere.
Solid bookkeeping software that also allows you to do payroll
This keeps your costs down in the beginning, and also really allows you to have a sense of how much you’re spending, how much you’re making, because that bookkeeping software, something like QuickBooks, which is also cloud-based, can really help you track that.
VoIP telephone
This is basically a phone that works through the internet. The advantage of this kind of technology is that you can have virtual assistants all over the world. I, for example, have a virtual assistant who works out of the Philippines. He answers the phone, he’s a front desk person. That helps me to keep the cost down. It also allows me to be able to have multiple people manning the phones at the same time, because this allows multiple users that occur.
Straight-to-voicemail.
This is a lifesaver when you’re calling patients back with results and you don’t necessarily want them to answer the phone, you just want to leave a quick message about something. You can actually call them in a way that sends it directly to their voicemail. And, of course, texting is also a nice thing to have.
Solid Website
You don’t necessarily need to have a fancy one, you can design one yourself, but you do need to make sure that it’s maintained and kept up-to-date so that patients can access your contact information, your fax number, and also reach out to you.
Workflow Process
A workflow process where patients can now check in online, they can pay their copay, they can fill out the intake, they can do a lot of those types of things before their appointments. For my tech-savvy patients, this saves a lot of time in the office.
Include shared notes and apps that can allow you to share tasks across different providers and different staff members. This is a nice way to know who’s doing what. For example, if a patient needs to be called back or scheduled and there’s three or four MAs [medical assistants] in the office, you create the task, share it with them, and they can allocate the work accordingly.
Minimize patients portal messages by having a way that they can streamline their communication. So you’re not getting a message from them every single day, you’re getting one message with all of their questions.
Coclusion
The benefits that stem from independent practices include access to care in rural communities, lower care costs, and better patient experiences. For independent practices to thrive, it will largely depend on how well they can adapt and implement emerging technology to streamline practice operations and bring patients a better overall experience
