1. Compliance with regulatory processes

Practice management software allows medical and health care practices to make sure they are compliant with regulations and standards like the ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology) and HIPPA. This is important as ONC standardization is crucial for hospitals and health care practices to continue securely exchanging health record information and performing required functions.

Suggested products are WebPT and Radekal.

WebPT is an EMR solution aligned specifically with the clinical needs of physical therapists. Users say that WebPT automates the process of inputting codes and PQRS, just to name two daily functions, and streamlines the overall billing reimbursement cycle. Additionally, WebPT ensures that physical therapist practices take into stride the ever-updating compliance requirements of forms, claims, and payments.

Radekal is an application that increases the efficiency and productivity of healthcare professionals. With Radekal, physicians can automate diagnoses, prescription creation, and notes into mobile devices. Users say automation eases the overwhelming time previously spent on determining eligibility, coding and EOB reconciliation for the purpose of MACRA compliance. Codes, documentation and reporting are all automatically put into patient files. Radekal can be used for a variety of practice types, from pediatrics to neurology to cardiology.

2. Reduces paperwork and paper flow

Regardless of whether a practice management solution is deployed in the cloud or on-premises, a digital solution is still miles better in terms of productivity and security than a paper environment. With practice management platforms, health care organizations can realize and address any inefficiencies that had prevented them from growing patient services and offerings, from optimizing onboarding practices, to reducing the need for extra staff.

Nurses and physicians don’t have to worry about forgetting to chart anything pertinent or add relevant notes into a patient’s file. Practice management tools often provide tablet access or mobile applications which are helpful for the quick and easy documentation of urgent care visit notes, minimizing points of contact between extraneous staff and patients, and reduces the overall time health care professionals spend on simply coding or charting.

Another suggested product is Modernizing Medicine’s EMA EHR System. The product is built to streamline the operations of such healthcare practices like dermatology, plastic surgery, and rheumatology. The goal of Modernizing Medicine’s solution is to bring back human interaction between doctor and patient. Kate K., a user of the tool, explained in a Modernizing Medicine EMA EHR System review that “This program makes it possible for both patients and providers to access and review clinical notes, test results, and billing information all in one place. Super convenient!”

3. Organization of practice

No physician, administrator, or medical staff would turn up their nose toward efficiency in patient flow, directed billing, scrubbing claims, and optimization of the implemented EMR/EHR. That’s what practice management platforms promise to do: organize the practice so that healthcare professionals can actually provide patient care.

Communication between health care professionals, both on the front-end with patients and on the back-end with administrators and management, is also optimized through practice management solutions. When a nurse can depend on software to display granular data, build patient lists, and access missing notes, everyone benefits. The adage “work smarter, not harder” can be applied here.  

Suggested products are: BlueSky Medical Staffing and Centricity Practice Solution.

BlueSky Medical Staffing understands that the workforce in a healthcare practice differs from other kinds of organizations. BlueSky’s platform offers all the benefits of other horizontal workforce management solutions, including data insights, but leverages its decades-long experience in navigating the health care staffing world. For example, recruiting and employing traveling nurses is a unique aspect of healthcare. In a BluSky Medical Staffing review, one user said that, “We use this to keep track of all of our traveling medical professionals which has helped with communication immensely. We have realized the benefit to keeping all information in one place.”

Centricity Practice Solution is an ambulatory EMR that bundles together a practice management solution with a fully functional EMR for the benefit of health care practices of any size and specialty. With Centricity, users can reduce the time they spend on manually inputting prescriptions, and expedite approval processes for patients. Michelle Y., in a Centricty Practice Solution review, liked that the platform “[partners] with several businesses [to] direct interfaces to allow you the options to customize your experience to gain the utmost efficiency … Mastering the patient flow became possible for us by allowing our unique floor plan to utilize different programs to make us quality-driven while being fast, efficient and offering our patients the best possible healthcare in a modern setting.”

4. Prioritize patient care

Crucial aspects of a practice management platform are: templated EMR/EHR notes, implemented plans to ensure that discharged patients have the required care once they leave the inpatient system, the ability to group multiple referrals together, and easy access to patients’ medical histories. Those are crucial aspects of a practice that practice management platforms take over, leaving doctors, nurses, and physicians time to actually prioritize patient care.

Consistent and reliable health records improve continuity of patient care. The right solution can create and maintain such records for each patient which ensures that all staff and relevant professionals can access and share them across a singular database.

A suggested product is Epic.

Epic is an EHR and practice management platform that is deployed across giant hospitals which depend on Epic to organize patient data and enhance patient engagement. Users say the main benefits from using this practice management platform are data accessibility, the ability to pull insight and analyze patient records, and ensuring patient data is secure and comprehensive. In an Epic review, user John P. admits that, while costly, “Patient safety, quality of care, and employee satisfaction [are] all key accomplishments from a problem solving standpoint.”

5. Reconciliation across practices

The right practice management platform will reduce burnout and fatigue for physicians and caretakers. To put it more specifically, the general outcome of practice management solutions are the optimization of both practice management and EHR workflows. On the patient side, care is enhanced when patients don’t have to constantly input the same information over and over again. By easing and simplifying the process of charting, noting, and documenting, practitioners and physicians can focus on the client instead of worrying about whether patient data is consistent across their practices.

Suggested products are Allscripts and NextGen Healthcare.

Allscripts offers a comprehensive suite of EHR solutions to practices and systems of all sizes, enabling continuity of care from doctor to patient, from location to location, and across the healthcare organization. A user of Allscripts for multiple patients across a large practice with multiple specialties, or in a practice that has multiple locations, remarked upon having, “more integrated records across different service lines.”

NextGen Healthcare helps health care practices improve patient outcomes by enabling and easing the exchange of patient data. Even if users don’t have multiple lines of practice, they still benefit from the digital storing of patient information. Antoinette N, a user of NextGen, explains that “We have solved the issue of being able to store and access data in one location that can easily be accessed and is user friendly. We have realized everyone can access this software if they are on the network.”