Spotlight on Orthopedics Practices: 7 Best EHR Software Features with Veradigm EHR, Part 2
Written by: Auren Weinberg M.D., M.B.A. and Cheryl Reifsnyder, PhD
Orthopedics practices deal with many different aspects of patient care, ranging from physical therapy and sports medicine to treatment of workplace injuries to orthopedic surgery. Depending on the specific orthopedic services provided, practices will have unique needs that their electronic health record (EHR) systems need to accommodate, such as:
- Different workflows
- Unique processes for information gathering
- Differing requirements for clinical documentation
- Unique data types
- Variations in clinical volume
- Unique billing requirements
- Varying compliance requirements
- Specialty-specific terminology
Many EHRs are unable to meet these specialty-driven requirements. As a result, EHRs are one of the top drivers of burnout in orthopedic practices. An EHR that fails to meet your specialty-specific needs can cause decreased patient and physician satisfaction, impaired productivity, reduced efficiency, and difficulty meeting the Meaningful Use requirements of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
Your orthopedics practice needs an EHR tailored to your unique needs. In our last blog post we looked at the first 3 features in our list of the 7 most critical features for EHRs in orthopedic practices:
- Customizable orthopedic-specific templates and workflows
- Robust features for care coordination and collaboration with other practices and clinicians
- A comprehensive suite of solutions already integrated with the EHR software
Keep reading for 4 more of the most critical features to look for when selecting an orthopedic-focused EHR.
#4 Integrated orthopedic practice management with real-time reporting
To deal with high patient volumes and complex scheduling and billing needs, the ideal orthopedic-specific EHR will go beyond management of patient medical records to include an integrated system for comprehensive practice management.
An integrated practice management system can enable the smooth flow of information between patient records, scheduling, billing, and coding. It can enhance efficiency in both administrative and financial processes, from appointments to eligibility verifications to claims tracking. It can also enhance the practice management systems’ ability to generate insightful, data-rich reports targeting various practice metrics.
Veradigm Practice Management
Veradigm Practice Management (formerly Allscripts Practice Management) is a comprehensive revenue cycle management solution for physician practices of all sizes and specialties that can help boost practices’ operational efficiencies and productivity. It enables staff to manage appointment calendars with finesse, optimizing time and resource allocation with its integrated scheduling system. It reduces the burden of missed appointments with automated reminders, ensuring better patient adherence to treatment schedules.
Veradigm Practice Management also provides real-time reporting, enabling you to measure your practice’s financial performance with seamless access to real-time information on charges, payments, claim statuses, current A/R aging, and coding. Veradigm Practice Management helps your practice make more informed business decisions with intuitive dashboards and real-time financial forecasting. Real-time dashboards enable swift day-to-day decision-making, streamlining clinical, billing, and administrative functions.
#5 Affordable pricing with outsourced medical billing
Practices face numerous challenges in the area of medical billing. One is the difficulty of keeping up-to-date with ever-changing healthcare policies and regulations; these shifting procedures and regulations have created financial challenges for physicians nationwide. Another challenge is finding qualified medical staff, particularly staff with the knowledge and experience required to remain compliant with current medical billing regulations. Data from Deloitte reveals that medical practices are also dealing with increasing expenses for both labor and supplies, while a comprehensive white paper from the American Medical Association and Mathematica reports that getting paid was becoming increasingly difficult for medical professionals.
In addition to these challenges, orthopedic practices can have unique and complex billing requirements. Your practice needs an EHR that will streamline your billing processes, expedite claims processing, and decrease denials—without elevating costs.
Veradigm Revenue Cycle Services
Veradigm Revenue Cycle Services (RCS) (formerly Allscripts Revenue Cycle Management) is an administrative and financial management solution for today’s busy healthcare practices. Veradigm RCS can meet with your billing office to identify gaps in staffing and administration, helping you to boost efficiency and productivity, increase cash flow, and improve your bottom line. Veradigm RCS will also help you stay on top of coding guidelines and compliance standards, minimizing potential billing errors and associated penalties.
Veradigm RCS enables you to streamline the billing process for more accurate reimbursement, ensuring maximized revenue inflow. Key features include:
- Eligibility and authorization verification: Check patient eligibility before visits to increase speed of payment
- Claims and denial management: Reduce denials and process claims more effectively
- Billing and collections: Reduce patient bad debt and recover payments
- Advanced analytics: Gain deeper insight into financial health
Veradigm RCS currently serves over 27,000 providers, handing 3 billion dollars in annual payments. With over 30 years of experience in revenue cycle management, Veradigm RCS delivers outcomes such as 98% net collections, 98% first-pass clean-claims rate, and an average revenue improvement of 2% to 5% for our existing clients.1
Outsourcing medical billing allows orthopedics professionals to redirect their focus to patient care, leaving the complex billing landscape to dedicated experts.
#6 MACRA certified and compliant
With the Veradigm EHR, your practice can prioritize patient privacy and security with a platform that rigorously adheres to HIPAA regulations. Real-time reporting helps your practice track progress on various incentive programs, including MIPS and the QPP.
Simplify the processes required to report meaningful use data to CMS with MACRA-certified software, helping your practice adhere to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM) reporting requirements.
#7 Seamless transition and implementation
Another key factor to consider when selecting a new EHR system for your orthopedic practice is its ease of implementation. Questions such as the following can help you select an EHR that will minimally disrupt practice operations:
- How long will implementation require? How much time will be needed to migrate existing data to the new system?
- What support will be available during the system implementation?
- Education and Training: What education/training does the vendor provide to facilitate a smooth transition to the new EHR?
Veradigm EHR: Implementation and training
Transitioning to a new EHR system is smooth and hassle-free with Veradigm’s proven implementation methods. Veradigm’s free data migration services can help facilitate the transition is as seamless as possible, with minimal disruptions to data accessibility. Veradigm’s data migration team is expert at extracting data from your existing system, standardizing the data set, and importing your existing patient records into your new system, so you aren’t starting from scratch.
If you need assistance during the installation process, the Veradigm Services Upgrades team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cases can be logged online, or you can call to speak with directly with a support team member.
According to a KLAS survey of specialty physicians, training in EHR use was a key factor in physicians’ satisfaction level their EHRs. However, Veradigm is cognizant that resource and productivity constraints make ongoing training a major obstacle for many practices—which is why we offer a tailored program for optimal EHR education and optimization.2
The Veradigm training program creates a culture of continuing education, adoption, and optimization for end users using a blended learning approach. We provide a structured training and workflow consultation program, basing content and delivery on your practice’s goals for adoption and optimization. Annual training activities include assessment and onsite review; a customized curriculum based on assessment findings and driven by practice goals; both onsite and virtual role-based training; workflow optimization; and progress monitoring.
The result? Smarter care, leading to the best clinical, financial, and operational outcomes for your practice.
Veradigm Ambulatory EHR Suite
In conclusion, for orthopedic practices seeking a robust, tailored, and efficient EHR system, Veradigm EHR presents a suite of customizable top-tier features. By leveraging these features, orthopedic practices can facilitate unparalleled patient care, streamlined administrative processes, and enhanced operational efficiency.
Contact us today to learn more, or for a free demonstration. Upgrade your healthcare IT systems to the next level, so you can focus once more on the joy of working with patients!
References:
- Veradigm 2021, Internal Data on File.
- Veradigm. Education & Optimization Overview. ES00_Brochure_E&OProgram_02-16-21. 2021.