Read this white paper from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) – the most respected association for the leaders of medical group practices. You’ll learn how you can take advantage of this niche audience and about technologies that these small and medium-sized businesses dedicated to health care need to run smoothly.
Technology and Service in
High Demand by Medical Groups
Medical Group Management Association104 Inverness Terrace EastEnglewood, CO 80112-5306
Phone: 303.799.1111Toll-free: 877.275.6462, ext. 1266Fax: 303.643.4439E-mail: busdevelop@mgma.com 1The white paper, "The Purchasing Power of Today's Medical
Group Practice," clearly established the potential of the market
within medical group practices. Dollars are ready to be spent,
but on what? What pressing demands do medical groups face,
and how can your products and services resolve those pressures?
Everyone is trying to do more with less, and concerns about the economy fuel that fire.A medical group manager looks to technology to not only reduce staffing costs, butalso to enhance the value of staffing resources. What does that mean?
Is there a product or service that automates a process that will allow staff to performmore effectively? How can we get nurses off the phone and back in the exam roomwith patients? What tools enhance the patient registration process so that thereceptionist can warmly greet patients and set a positive tone for the visit?
With the focus on the recent economic stimulus bill's health-care informationtechnology (HIT) dollars, it may seem that the only technology of interest to amedical group is electronic medical records (EMR), but that's far from reality.Numerous opportunities exist to improve the effectiveness of the front-desk process.
Practices are looking at patient registration kiosks and tablets to facilitate the sign-inprocess. Automated telephone and e-mail appointment reminder systems can free upstaff time while establishing a consistently professional image. Desktop software tocreate electronic phone messages allows the practice to monitor patient service andensure that no message falls through the cracks. Scanning insurance cards providesready access for the billing office, especially an offsite office, without the extra chaosof pulling charts to hunt for photocopies.
Scanning documents in general can provide a practice with tremendous relief. Spaceis almost always a constraint, and if a practice can recover storage space and turnthat into a revenue-generating facility, it's won two battles. The superbills, or dailyencounter slips, can be scanned and then shredded. Remittance advice statementscan be scanned, and the opportunity to outsource the scanning via a document-management service or bank lockbox service returns not only valuable real estate tothe practice, but also valuable staff time to patient care instead of scanning care!
2Technology to increase an employee's efficiency will win attention every day.Something as simple as a second monitor for the billing staff working between anelectronic remittance advice and the accounts-receivable system can save hours in aweek. Handheld computers in the hands of the rooming nurse streamlines the patientintake process by providing a reference tool for the nurse and the patient when tryingto remember what that little blue pill is for charting. In-exam room monitors, or tabletsprovided to patients, serve to educate and inform patients about procedures or tests,thereby saving nurse and physician time, ensuring a consistent and comprehensivemessage, and allowing the patient to optimize his or her time with the physician.
Network management, including security and disaster recovery, is front and centerfor everyone in light of all the stories of lost or stolen laptops and the risk of lostinformation when an office building is compromised. Technology support, upgradedequipment that provides more functionality, and training and education are allcritical needs within medical groups. Managing the business of the medical practiceis similar to managing the business operation in another industry. Medical groupsmust manage inventories, pay creditors, create income statements and balance sheets,track employee hours and run payrolls. The business tools and technologies used in thehealth care industry can provide management with critical information and streamlineprocesses that may have been outsourced before technology "made them easy."
Most medical practices maintain some presence on the Internet. Typically, practiceWeb sites are little more than brochure-ware. Patients are looking to get more doneonline just as they do in other industries, and medical groups recognize the value ofenhanced service to ... [download for more]
