Increase Referrals To Your Private Practice Now By Adopting Electronic Health Records
Like any new office policy integration process there exists a learning curve. One well worth the time investment is the introduction of a new electronic health records system into your private practice. The government is currently offering potential financial incentives for those who adopt early, but has also laid out a series of penalties for those who miss mandated deadlines. Everyday, more providers are going paperless to streamline their process- what could this imply for your referral base?
Referral Benefits Of Taking Your Electronic Health Records Online Now
Get ahead of the learning curve now: Adoption of EHR Software is not a trend health care practices will see come and go. By January 1, 2014, the United States government says your private practice better be on track with a new system. Making the jump from paper files to all-online not only keeps you ahead of the curve, but making the switch now may save time rather than waiting until looming deadlines. Your administrative staff will have the opportunity to recieve the training necessary to implement the new system successfully without sitting on the phone with customer service representatives for unusually long wait times. The implementation process can take anywhere from 2-4 months- waiting until the last minute could keep your staff tied up, causing a need to hire more temporary staff to handle the shift.
Enhancing care coordination from provider to provider could spell more referrals to your private practice: improving quality and efficiency of communication between providers can enhance safety for patients and families. It can also automatically boost your patient referral numbers. Adopting an electronic health records system now before other practices are scrambling to meet deadlines can exert a more significant referral push from other providers who want to simplify their process as well. Other providers are not going to want to deal with practices that are unorganized. This only slows transmission of information that providers and patients need in the moment.
Tracking patients together means more visits to your office. Keeping paper records sometimes equals missed information because of the time intensive, task oriented organization required. Once everything goes online, you can take advantage of using streamlined reminders and update tools that you once had to rely on your office staff's memory for. The new system highlights features that go beyond your office doors to enhance "reminder-referrals" among other providers in your network.
By now you have certainly heard both buzz acronyms, EMR and EHR. The major difference between the two systems is that electronic health records allow for all of a patient's providers to share data collection. Electronic health records systems automatically aggragate information based on parameters you initially set up in the system. You can now track patient's wellness visit due dates with the new software. Most systems allow you to set reminders when a patient is due for a visit to another specialist within your network. The new software will allow you to coordinate with other providers in your network to help remind patients not only when they need to visit your office next, but with their other providers as well. With everyone on board, patient compliancy will increase with more fulfilled appointments.
Inform other providers: Let other providers know you have adopted an electronic health records system to be sure referrals continue to flow in by:
- posting an update to your website landing page
- including a message in your practices email signature
- mentioning at the end of blog posts if other health care providers subscribe
Don't wait until the last minute to adopt what is going to be required. Enhance privacy and security while watching referrals flow in.
Read More:
3 Reasons Why EHR Software Usage and Patient Loyalty are Positively Correlated
