NEWS

Athletico Physical Therapy is one of the nation’s largest physical and occupational therapy providers to communities, employers and athletes in more than 550 clinics throughout 13 states. Services include physical and occupational/hand therapy, workers’ compensation/employer services, athletic training, virtual care and a multitude of specialty programs. Athletico also has a new Home Therapy service offering that relies on Margie from AlertMD (an Updox partner) to help them match patients with therapists to expedite care and streamline referral management.

Prior to Margie, Athletico’s process was entirely manual, creating a time and resource burden for admin staff who were also busy with other tasks. With 15 to 25 new patients and 200 - 250 home visits per week, Athletico needed a way to automate and streamline their patient referral and intake process.

Through Margie, new patients complete a survey via a chat-bot on Athletico’s website to schedule a Home Therapy appointment. A push notification is then sent to participating Athletico therapists in the same geographic area. The first therapist to respond to the notification is assigned to that patient.

“Margie definitely makes the process easier by automating intake and initiate scheduling for us,” says LeeAnn Hulteen, PT, Manager of Home Therapy Services at Athletico. “Prior to this, we were managing referral information manually and had multiple text threads to determine therapists’ availability to accept a patient. The ability to notify therapists on a mass scale about a new referral in the area changes the game for us and reduces the time it takes to match patients with therapists.”

Athletico prides itself on delivering outstanding customer service and their high customer satisfaction survey scores reflect that. “Ensuring excellent service from a patient’s first encounter with our company is essential to building a positive relationship,” says Colin Crawford, PT, Director of Home Therapy Services at Athletico. “With Margie, we’re able to notify therapists of available patients in their area, starting with a streamlined, easy process.”

Athletico began using Margie for Home Therapy scheduling in August 2020. Implementation was smooth. The Margie team hosted training sessions and webinars for Athletico’s clinical and office teams. Patient adoption has been well received, as the Margie survey form was created to be quick and easy.

“AlertMD and Updox have been very easy to work with. They were open to suggestions and allowed us to tweak the workflow to make it fit our service offering. The ability to customize a product to suit our business needs is a big advantage and we’ve always been impressed by their responsiveness,” says Colin.

Increase practice patient intake while improving patient satisfaction

Margie helps businesses convert more referrals and recalls into appointments with automated outreach to increase patient volume. Margie’s automated phone, chat and messaging system can be easily implemented within the practice and supports sending images, videos, and interactive responses to patients for improved engagement. Margie streamlines the referral process to eliminate phone tag and support self-scheduling. Learn more at https://www.alertmd.com/margie.

Hands-on care is great. Hands-on billing is not. Manual processes slow down healthcare – impacting cash flow, billing costs, and staff satisfaction – while taking time away from direct patient care.

When Ardent Health Services wanted to improve efficiency and automate processes associated with patient engagement and charge capture – they looked no further than AlertMD. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Ardent Health includes 31 hospitals, with 1,5000 providers and 26,000 employees across six states. Together, their hospitals serve 2.6 million provider encounters daily.

Cindy Willis, Director of Professional Auditing Services for Ardent Health, first heard of AlertMD through her work with a different health system. When she joined Ardent Health in 2017 and worked through their acquisition of UT Health East Texas, she knew immediately that the system could benefit from what AlertMD offered and began implementing AlertMD’s charge capture solutions for streamlined cash flow.

“Overall, AlertMD eliminates so many manual processes for us and simplifies processes across the organization for our staff and our physicians. Our time to charge is easily trackable and it provides better checks and balances. We save time in billing and payment processes and can get claims out the door faster. That improves our cash flow overall,” she says.

“Charge Capture from AlertMD helps us increase the amount of charges processed in a month,” says Cindy. “Let’s say you have a small practice and see 300 patients a month. You are probably carrying over 100 charges in a month because you couldn’t get them processed. Now, if that same practice was using AlertMD, those charges could be auto-batched and submitted. The practice could recoup 95 percent of their charges that month because they are submitting in the same day. It just makes better sense for a business.”

Hospital providers also agree. “They think it is phenomenal. Because they are so enthusiastic, staff in other areas are asking when they’ll get to use it,” says Cindy.

Another benefit of AlertMD’s charge capture solution for Ardent Health is better documentation of services and that it will even suggest codes for providers. “That really takes it an extra step for us and a key selling point,” she says.

Cindy reports that their implementation of AlertMD went “fantastic. AlertMD has a great support team and are very committed to relationship building as part of a continued partnership. We’re very happy with how things are working out. The return on investment we get from AlertMD just speaks for itself. No more manual work or effort lost. It’s incredibly efficient.”

Learn more about how AlertMD helps healthcare improve patient engagement and increase profitability.

One of the many ways COVID impacted healthcare is a reluctance of patients to get the care they need. They are postponing elective care, avoiding routine check-ups and doing all they can to stay out of a medical office. That not only impacts their health but your financial bottom line.

As the industry evolves through the pandemic, it’s time to focus on proactive efforts to boost engagement and get back to the business of healthcare. But, how can you do that in a way that doesn’t tax your staff or wallet?

Work smarter, not harder is a mantra for many organizations but it’s certainly true for patient outreach. What if there was a way to eliminate the phone calls, voice mails and paper backlog so you had more time to get patients informed and onto your schedule?

Effective patient outreach and scheduling are critical to getting patients back into care. Transform the way your practice keeps the schedules full by engaging with patients in a new way. Patient Outreach from AlertMD helps practices increase patient volume by as much as 100 percent while reducing operational expenses by up to 33 percent.

This is accomplished by:

• Proactive Outreach - Patients receive customized messages at the practice’s preferred time and frequency to schedule appointments.
• Call to Schedule - Patients contact the practice to schedule instead of your practice making outbound calls and playing phone tag.
• Self-schedule Option - Patients visit the practice webpage to select an appointment time and provide necessary scheduling information.
• Detailed Dashboard - Practice views outreach and scheduling activity and status updates.
• Chat Bot - Provide 24/7 response to patient FAQs

Patient Outreach from AlertMD serves as a practice’s digital front door. Patients can get immediate answers to questions and put themselves right onto your schedule. The solution offers a 20-second self-service appointment where patients can set their appointment and even attach a picture of their insurance information to further streamline the process.

The right patient outreach solution reduces time spent on administrative tasks so that more time can be spent on the actual patient encounter. It gets patients in the door faster and makes sure you have all the pertinent information you need as quickly as possible. Cutting those costly administrative processes allows for a better patient experience.

If you’re ready to increase patient intake while improving patient satisfaction, we’re here to help.

To learn more about Patient Outreach solutions, visit http://info.alertmd.com/patient-outreach.

A recent industry study of more than 1,000 healthcare providers showed that running a profitable practice/business is the #1 priority for healthcare providers in 2021, behind increasing patient satisfaction and improving patient outcomes.

There are several ways practices can increase profits:

• See more patients
• Lower overhead costs
• Capture more revenue

Charge Capture is the process used by physicians and healthcare providers to capture more revenue and help them get paid for services delivered. This is done by recording information about care delivery and then submitting it for reimbursement to payers and insurance companies. Capturing charges in a timely, accurate manner is essential for healthcare organizations that want reimbursement for their services. If the services delivered aren’t captured properly then they can’t be reimbursed.

But, what if the administrative burden of time to record and capture charges misses key information? Then, you don’t even know that you’re leaving money on the table. A 2019 survey shows that 84 percent of practices rely in part on their EHR to capture charges but only 10% are happy with the results they are getting. Maybe it’s time to look for a better solution?

A smarter way of doing business

When your time is valuable, you need a solution that maximizes charge capture more efficiently - so you can focus on what matters most - your patients.

The right charge capture solution helps physicians and healthcare providers:

• Optimize Revenue - Identify billable and missing charges
• Increase Billing Speed - Provide real-time information
• Provide Visibility - Manage feedback and take action
• Boost Provider Satisfaction - Facilitate communication across the practice

AlertMD (an Updox partner through EverCommerce) helps practices increase billing by 7 to 16 percent by plugging missing charges and advances cash flow by nine days with a proprietary missing charge audit process. Through an easy-to-use mobile platform, AlertMD is integrated across all industry systems to make the flow of data seamless. Patient lists, documentation and more are available to providers and AlertMD passes the pro-fee bills back to the practice to close the loop.

To learn more about charge capture solutions, visit http://info.alertmd.com/charge-capture.

Providers need to adopt a state-of-the-art practice management system to improve their workflow and profitability in 2021. The power of a quality system can help your practice accomplish more each day, with less strain, and with a positive impact on your bottom line. Choosing the right practice management system can make or break a healthcare organization.

Practice Management Systems and Efficient Workflows:

Scheduling

Your practice management system should come equipped with high-functioning scheduling features. Scheduling can be an exhausting process if your practice is not equipped with quality tools. The right system can save your staff and physician valuable time. A PM system should make it easy for your team to create, edit and find patient appointments.

Configuration

Flexibility in any software is a good sign that it will help optimize your workflow. Find a software solution that offers the flexibility, customization, and configuration that enables your team to get their work done in the way that makes the most sense to them.

Patient Demographics

A quality system will enable your team to quickly view and monitor patient demographics. This is key to understanding your patient population and building a workflow that will cater to your patients.

Secure Messaging

Easily communicate with members of your team with secure messaging. Rather than have to chase down team members to get answers to your questions or deliver information, your practice management system allows you to do so in an instant.

To learn more about a quality practice management system that can help your practice optimize its workflow and increase profitability, click here. click here.

2020 proved that home-based healthcare needs to be invested in and implemented across the board. The shock of the pandemic was felt across the entire medical community as providers, big and small, lost revenue to low patient volumes. While some practices were set up to care for patients at home, many were scrambling to find ways to safely keep seeing patients. The truth is that the new normal is home-based healthcare.

Home-Based Healthcare and the Pandemic

Home-based healthcare was the solution to seeing more patients during the pandemic. While many providers made the necessary adjustments to their practice and offices to safely see patients, nothing tops the safety of a patient staying at home. The pandemic prompted many providers to figure out the best way to care for their patients that did not want to come in for in-person visits.

Home-based healthcare is traditionally thought of as “home health.” This is where a nurse or some sort of provider might stop in every so often to do basic check-ins, fluids, and minimal care upkeep. Home-based healthcare is not that. Healthcare at home is full-service health care for patients from inside their homes.

The future of Home Healthcare

The future of home-based healthcare is a full-blown mini treatment center at home. The best providers will have home-centric technology and software platforms that bring several pieces of the puzzle together. This tool will improve patient access, help patients find their providers, simplify scheduling and billing, and much more.

Benefits of Healthcare at Home

Patient Access:

Patient access solutions in home-based healthcare offer patients the ability to simply schedule via voice, chat, web, phone, and more. Patients who have increased access to care, or have an easy way to stay connected, are more likely to stay engaged in their provider. Higher engagement equals better results.

Finding a Provider:

Geocoding technology helps patients find the best and most appropriate provider for them, in their area. After a patient request is submitted, the home-based healthcare solution alerts the nearest provider and locations and has the flexibility to adapt to every situation.

Reminders:

Reminders are key to helping patients stay on top of their care. Patients who receive reminders are more likely to make their appointments, both in-person and digital, and adhere to follow up care. Home-based healthcare technology simplifies this process, so your patients get the reminders they need to stay on top of things, automatically.

Automated Communication:

Your organization is busy and does not always have the time it needs to help prepare its patients for their visit. Automated communication technology found in home-based healthcare, makes sure your patients are always prepared. Appointment reminders, procedure prep, instructions, and more are sent out days in advance.

Virtual Waiting Room:

Does your patient need to come in for a visit, but is worried about the safety of your building during the pandemic? A virtual waiting room is a solution. This tool enables patients to wait safely and comfortably from their car until your practice alerts them to come in. The check-in process is completed entirely on their phone.

Home-based healthcare is the future of healthcare. Providers who implement home-centric software solutions help their patients stay engaged, increase patient volumes, and keep them safe whether they are in or out of the practice. To learn more about home-based healthcare technology, click here.

Healthcare technologies seem to change more than any other component of healthcare. The healthcare technologies that providers use to treat patients, stay organized, complete billing processes and more have changed drastically even over the last few years. As medical organizations enter 2021, it is important to understand what healthcare technologies are making an impact in the field. Should providers fall behind, they risk their patients leaving them for providers who are ahead of the curve. So what healthcare technologies are the top among providers in 2021?

Healthcare Technologies for 2021:

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotic Process Automation is a type of technology that enables organizations to mirror human processes within digital systems. It is primarily used to increase efficiency across different healthcare processes like billing, scheduling, and more. Examples of this include streamlined office support, improved regulatory compliance, and improved accuracy in billing processes. Essentially, healthcare technologies like RPA enable providers to accomplish more in less time through the use of artificial intelligence.

AI-Assisted Charge Capture

AI-assisted charge capture is a branch of RPA that helps providers streamline their billing processes. It enables providers to breeze through billing processes without compromising the accuracy and revenue attached to each claim. Quality AI-assisted healthcare technologies utilize accurate predictions to improve the claims process and boost revenue.

IoT

The healthcare Internet of Things (IoT), also known as the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a connected network of medical objects and devices that makes it easier to share and collect data. For example, a patient’s physical glucose monitor could connect with a provider's software so that constant glucose monitoring is automated. This enables the instant transfer and access of glucose levels to the provider even when the patient is out of their immediate care. The IoT increases access to information across healthcare organizations, allowing for better clinical decision making over time.

Queue Management Software

Queue management solutions are among the newest healthcare technologies to make an impact in the field over the last year. With the Nation still in a pandemic, providers needed a way to maintain high patient volumes. Things like virtual visits made it possible for providers to keep seeing patients online, but they also needed a way to increase public safety for patients coming into the office. A quality Queue Management Solution enables providers to enhance the patient waiting experience by eliminating crowded rooms and better monitoring the status of their patient’s visits. Individuals can wait in their car, track themselves in line, and enter the building safely when it is time. Providers can keep their patients better organized as well by utilizing a queue management tool.

Digital Front Door

Digital front door systems are also helping providers stay ahead of the curve in 2021. This tool includes features like an automated chatbot solution, which improves patients communications via automated technology. This tool digitizes and automates a variety of administrative processes like scheduling, prescription requests, practice updates, and more.

To learn more about healthcare technologies that can help your practice grow in the new year, click here.

Poor charge capture can have a drastic impact on a healthcare organization’s bottom line. Regardless of what causes errors to take place, they end up costing providers thousands of dollars. Providers need to find a way to improve their charge process to protect their bottom line and increase their revenue.

Why do Charge Capture Errors Happen?

Charge capture errors can happen for any number of reasons. The most common reasons that errors happen include:

Software Malfunction

Old or out-of-date software may not have what your organization needs to optimize its process. Not only this, but low-quality technology errors are difficult to catch and correct. This is a sign that it is time for your practice to make an update.

Coding Mistakes

The most common reason that errors happen is that a billing team is not properly trained on what codes to use. This is often hard to keep up with as billing departments have some of the highest turnaround rates of any other department. Keeping up with training is difficult.

Human Error:

This is another common reason for errors and is also difficult to correct. All humans make errors sometimes. After all, they are not robots.

How an AI-Assisted Charge Capture Can Help:

Improve Performance with Accurate Predictions

Decrease human error and coding mistakes with an AI-assisted charge capture solution. This tool makes accurate predictions throughout each billing process to ensure your practice is delivering the most reliable information. Not to mention, you do not have to train it. Your vendor is responsible for keeping the software completely up to date and regulated to the industry's top standards.

Streamline Billing Process

By relieving yourself of many of the time-consuming and tedious components of the billing process, you can streamline it. Providers will spend less time on each charge, streamlining the process overall and helping your team get more done each day.

Faster Return on Payments

Accurate claims equal quick payment. Providers that utilize AI-assisted charge capture can see a faster return on payments and reimbursements from insurance companies.

What to Look for in A Vendor of Charge Capture:

24/7 Support

Support from your vendor can make a huge difference in the quality of your charge capture software. They should dedicate time to training you and your team to make sure you know how to effectively use the solution. Not only this, but they should make sure the software is always up to date with the latest developments in billing. Lastly, your vendor should offer 24/7 customer support to make sure you always have someone to answer your questions.

Experience

Only years of experience can teach a vendor how to build the best software possible. Pick a vendor of charge capture software that knows what they are doing and has proof that they have the best to offer your organization.

Flexibility

Lastly, your charge capture software vendor should be flexible to the needs of your organization. They should care about what your practice needs to be successful and tailor the technology to those needs.

To learn more about a vendor of high-quality charge capture software, click here.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted providers everywhere to shift their attention to the digital front door. Before the pandemic, providers were still avoiding the adoption of automated and digitized technology. Why would they do that? Because adopting and changing healthcare to new developments in technology is frustrating and costly. The problem is, if providers do not keep up with these changes, they risk falling behind and losing patients to other providers that have. The digital front door is playing a huge role in the future of practice communications, scheduling, prescribing processes, reminders, and more.

What is a Digital Front Door?

A digital front door is a digital means of engagement for patients and providers. It offers automated solutions, like chatbot message delivery, that take a portion of the responsibility out of the provider's hands and replaces it with an automated solution. For example, providers can use this tool to offer simple scheduling to patients. They can use it to inform their patients of any changes or policies that their practice is adopting. Patients can even utilize a digital front door to request refills for their prescriptions.

The Benefits:

Increase patient Volume

A digital front door is an incredible tool to help providers increase patient volumes during a time where they are historically low. Patients are turning to online alternatives to stay safe throughout the pandemic. While some patients are ok with in-person visits and interactions, digital options are increasingly preferred. A digital front door gives providers a way to fully automated scheduling and reminders so that patients can stay on top of their upcoming appointments. This tool can also be used to send out information about what steps your practice is taking to increase public safety during the pandemic, helping patients feel safe to come in for a visit.

Increase Referrals

This tool helps to connect different providers within a care network with ease. With the digital front door, providers can refer their patients to different providers within the same network using automated technology. Referrals are key to growing patient volume and keeping the many moving parts of your organization connected.

Boost Revenue

Not only can the digital front door help your patients stay connected to their providers, but it can also help providers boost revenue. With an increase in patient volume and referrals, providers are billing for more services. Not only this, but this tool also helps reduce cost-eating no show visits by automating appointment reminders.

Patient Communication

Patients crave communication from their providers. Healthy communication helps patients feel that their providers care about their well-being and encourages them to stay engaged. While there are many ways patients can communicate, the digital front door ensures that there is never a long period of time between communications with your patients, always helping them feel attended to.

With a quality digital front door system on their tool belt, providers can better communicate with their patients, reduce no shows, improve patient volumes, and boost revenue.

To learn more about a quality solution for your practice, click here.

The rise of AI in healthcare is here and is only growing in 2021. Artificial intelligence is defined as computer systems that perform tasks that normally require human intervention. Common examples of AI in everyday life include tools like Amazon Alexa, which can help an individual do things like make lists, schedule appointments, or remind them to do something later. Other examples include speech recognition or even language translation. AI in healthcare is often thought to be more complicated than these everyday tools, but it is not. While there are increasingly complex examples of artificial intelligence in the healthcare landscape, there are also examples that exist to simplify everyday life. Tools like chatbots, automated appointment scheduling, assisted charge capture, and more all exist to simplify the life of the average patient or provider.

AI in Healthcare:

Chatbots

Chatbot technologies are being increasingly used among providers all over the industry. What are they exactly? Chatbots are software solutions that work as a communication extension of the provider. They are programmed to sound and respond just like a member of your team would. What is its significance? Well, chatbots offer a few different benefits. The first being that they help to increase efficiency in the provider's day-to-day life. They communicate with patients regarding things like changes in the practice, upcoming appointments, reminders, prescription assistance, and more. Instead of your staff spending hours on the phone with patients, the chatbot does for you.

This tool also improves the patient experience by keeping an open and accessible line of communication open between patients and their providers.

Automated Appointment Scheduling

Automated appointment scheduling is also a tool that exists to simplify the life of the providers, but also increase patient engagement. This example of AI in healthcare simplifies scheduling so providers can increase the number of appointments they are booking day-to-day. It also simplifies the scheduling process for patients, so they are more likely to schedule and attend their appointments. This example of AI in healthcare also reduces no shows by giving patients an easy way to reschedule or cancel their appointment in advance.

Assisted Charge Capture

One of the newest developments of AI in healthcare is assisted charge capture. This tool streamlines the charge capture process for providers to help them achieve optimal results. Where providers might normally have to enter every single detail in their charges with extreme precision, this example of AI in healthcare offers assistance. AI-assisted charge capture offered from a quality vendor makes accurate predictions to optimize each charge.

Alexa

Patients are using their Amazon Alexa’s now more than ever to engage with their medical providers. This example of AI in healthcare is helping patients stay on top of their appointments, remember them in advance, request prescription refills, keep track of details in their health, and much more. AI in healthcare is helping to increase patient engagement and improve their experience.

AI in healthcare is still and always will be developing. The increased reliance on technology throughout the industry is not going to change. The best thing providers can do is adopt AI solutions that are truly making a difference. To learn more, click here.

The end of the pandemic is in sight as more and more people are getting the COVID-19 Vaccine. There is still a lot of frustration and confusion regarding the future and availability of the vaccine. Under the Trump administration, promises were made that a mass distribution would take place in early, 2021, but the reality is slightly different. Why is this so confusing and what is happening with the COVID-19 vaccine at the moment?

The Introduction of the COVID-19 Vaccine:

Two vaccines have been approved by the FDA for distribution as of January 2021. These include the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine. Both have been tested and proven effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Even though vaccines are being distributed across the country, millions of Americans have yet to hear when they will be able to get one.

Rising Frustration

There seem to be many miscommunications and theories as to when the general population will be able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Many individuals are frustrated because they do not understand what is standing in their way. Shouldn’t they just be able to make an appointment with their physician and get the vaccine like they would for the flu? This is not the case. The truth of the matter is that several barriers must be overcome before there is open access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

High Demand and Production

With the majority of the United States eager to receive the COVID-19 vaccine so that life can return to normal, production cannot keep up. The vaccine was only recently approved for production. Not only this, but the manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine is contingent on details like the shelf life and stability of each unit. It is not as simple as producing them as soon as possible and getting them out to as many people as possible. Because of the limited supply of the vaccine, the government has created priority release dates.

Priority Release

The first crowd of people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will not be the average person. Priority release is being given to front-line workers, high-risk populations, and essential workers. The first round of people to receive the vaccine will be healthcare workers all over the country. Hospitals and medical facilities have already begun distributing it. The next round of people to receive it will be high-risk populations like those in assisted living or those suffering from eligible conditions. Some states are even prioritizing educators to hopefully return to a normal educational setting for their students.

Mass Vaccine Centers

Once the vaccine is released to the general public, there are several plans in place on how they will be distributed. Depending on what state you live in, mass COVID-19 vaccine distribution centers will be set up somewhere in your state in a way that is accessible. For example, Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear, just announced a partnership with a popular grocery store in the region that will be the host of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

While the end of the pandemic is in sight, there is still waiting to be done. To learn more about how to stay safe during the pandemic until you can receive your COVID-19 vaccine, click here.

Automated appointment scheduling can help your practice increase patient intake while improving patient satisfaction. In 2021, providers need to transition as many processes as possible into an automated format. Automation is helping providers increase efficiency, improve time management, decrease administrative burden, bring in more patients, and improve their experience. With more providers switching to automated tools than ever before, providers need to keep up if they want to remain leaders in the field. One of the best tools that providers can implement to streamline scheduling and intake is an automated appointment scheduling solution.

What Does an Automated Appointment Scheduling Solution Offer?

Eliminate Phone-Tag

30% of a provider's scheduler payroll is spent playing phone tag with patients. This is an incredible waste of staff time. If their time was better utilized, they could focus more of their energy on other critical tasks. An automated appointment scheduling solution makes those inbound calls for providers rather than their staff. Your staff only picks up a call if a patient is already on the line. This ensures that 100% of your scheduler’s time is spent talking to patients rather than chasing them down.

Self-Scheduling

Patients are used to using technology for everything these days. Scheduling does not need to be any different. An automated appointment scheduling tool can be as simple as ordering food for a patient. This tool enables patients to log onto your scheduling tool to book an appointment rather than occupying your staff’s valuable time. Here, patients can view a comprehensive list of all available appointments and choose the one that works best for their schedule.

Regulate Volume

An automated appointment scheduling solution can do more than just eliminate phone-tag and help patients schedule their appointments. The right software can also regulate a provider's call volume so that schedulers are never overwhelmed. It also manages a provider’s fill rate to help find more patients and keep your schedule full. This is essential for making sure your staff is touching base with every patient that might need to come in for a visit.

Geo-located Outreach and Selection

A provider with gaps in their scheduling is a provider that is losing out on important revenue. With automated appointment scheduling, providers can easily fill those gaps. This tool functions like popular ride-sharing apps. When a patient requests an appointment, this tool uses geo-coding to offer the patient the right provider closest to their address and with the right fill rate. This way, new providers can quickly catch up and the workload is evenly distributed across your team.

Convert Referrals into Appointment

The main function of an automated appointment solution is to increase your patient volume. Without adding extra tasks to your team's workload, this tool does just that. An automated appointment scheduling solution converts more referrals and recalls into appointments with automated outreach. It can also integrate with other systems, like automated phone, cat, and messaging systems to increase volume and productivity.

With the right automated appointment scheduling solution, your practice can fill the gaps in its schedule and visit with more patients than ever before. To learn more, click here.

Chicago, IL: Fox Rehabilitation with operations in 17 States to improve patient engagement with AlertMD.

AlertMD offers the following ROI - Case Studies Available:

1. A 7-16% increase in billing and a 9-day acceleration in cash on hand
2. An increase in patient volume by 100% - yes - you read that right!
3. A 6-second process for the patient to find and schedule an appointment
4. We convert many more of your referrals/recalls into appointments - 2X more!
5. A geo-coded solution to deploy your providers to patients at home

Contact AlertMD sales for more information at [email protected]

Providers everywhere have had to make adjustments, including social distancing, to rebuild patient volumes. They took a hit at the beginning of the pandemic when the industry was adapting to the demands of the pandemic. Providers suffered from record low patient volumes as more people were staying home, afraid of medical facilities.

As time has passed, providers have found multiple ways to adapt to the safety measures required of them and rebuild patient volumes. One of the most important things providers have had to account for is social distancing. How can providers practice social distancing when their waiting rooms are traditionally crowded, and they have many people coming in and out of their building each day? While some providers have continued to limit the number of patients that they can see, others have turned to a queue management solution to rebuild patient volumes. A queue management system enables providers to return to pre-pandemic volumes without risking public safety.

Queue Management System Can Rebuild Patient Volumes with Social Distancing:

Eliminate Crowded Waiting Rooms

One of the biggest risks to patients when it comes to COVID-19 is a crowded area. Waiting rooms are traditionally filled with patients trying to see their providers. While some patients have taken steps to improve social distancing, it often results in a decrease in their patient volume. A queue management solution can eliminate crowded waiting rooms, rebuild patient volumes, and adhere to social distancing guidelines. Patients wait in their car rather than in the office. The software alerts them when it is time to come in for their visit and they are then directed into their exam room. This allows providers to control where a patient is and who they are exposed to.

Manage Patient Flow

A queue management system can rebuild patient volumes by helping providers better manage patient flow and promote social distancing. Front-line staff can keep track of who is in line to come in, get their temperature check, and head to their exam room. With more control over the flow of people coming in and out of their building, providers can adhere to social distancing guidelines and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Remote Check-in

Another benefit of a queue management solution is its ability to check patients in remotely. Rather than a patient walking to the front desk to check-in for their appointment, they can do so from their vehicle. This is yet another feature of this tool that helps rebuild patient volumes by improving social distancing measures and creating a safe public environment.

##Other Benefits:

Improve the Patient Experience

This tool not only helps providers rebuild patient volumes with social distancing, but it also improves the patient experience. Many patients are anxious about in-person visits and staying safe from the virus. This tool helps to keep them safe from those dangers. Not only this, but the queue management solution creates a more pleasant waiting experience. Patients are able to wait more comfortably from their car rather than in an uncomfortable physician’s waiting room.

Improve Efficiency:

This tool also helps to rebuild patient volumes by increasing the efficiency of your staff and the check-in process. This tool streamlines check-in and intake so that providers can quickly service them. Front line staff can stay organized with a tool tracking the status of their patients.

To achieve optimal check-in efficiency, improve the patient experience, adhere to social distancing guidelines, and rebuild patient volumes, providers need a queue management solution. To learn more, click here.

The pandemic prompted an imminent need for a virtual waiting room in medical practices across the country this year. Now, providers and patients are realizing just how great this tool can be. Not only can a queue management solution create a safe public environment for patients and staff, but it can offer a positive waiting experience. Providers can use this tool to stay more organized and keep their patients happy rather than angry and waiting in a traditional waiting room setting. Patients historically hate the waiting room of a provider's office and the virtual waiting room is changing this forever. While queue management solutions were primarily adopted during the pandemic, providers and patients will continue to benefit from them even when it is over. Below are several ways your practice can benefit from a virtual waiting room.

Keep Patients Safe with a Virtual Waiting Room

The pandemic prompted a desperate need for providers to create a safe public environment for medical offices. Patient volumes hit an all-time low at the start of the year as there was yet a safe way to allow non-emergent patients into the building. While tools like telehealth were allowing some patients to visit with their providers virtually, providers needed something to help them increase in-person appointments without increasing public health risk. The virtual waiting room was, and still is, the solution for many providers as the US still fights the pandemic. Patients can stay safe in their car, away from crowded waiting rooms, while they wait for their appointment.

Streamline the Check-in Process

Safe Check-in

Patients can now check-in for their appointment from their mobile device. Safely in their car, they can alert the providers of their arrival from their phone. Providers will alert them when they are ready for the patient to enter the building, but not sooner. This keeps patients from tracking potentially dangerous germs inside your office, allows your practice to sanitize effectively between patients, and prevents crowding in the waiting room.

Track Themselves in Line

The most frustrating part of the traditional waiting experience is that patients feel like they are waiting forever with no idea of when their turn will come. The virtual waiting room allows patients to track themselves in line so that they always have an idea of when their turn will show up. This feature of the virtual waiting room decreases waiting frustrations.

Automated Notifications

Rather than having to call each patient to let them know they can come inside, your practice can automatically notify them when it is their turn. These notifications can be used to alert the patient when to come inside, where to go, what to bring with them, as well as COVID-19 related instructions.

Keeps You Organized

A virtual waiting room is key to keeping your check-in process organized and efficient. This tool also helps providers track their patients in line while also showing them what the patient needs at check-in. This includes pre-visit requirements, balances, and more.

Improve the Patient Experience

Lastly, the virtual waiting room is a key component to improving the patient experience. The traditional waiting process is incredibly frustrating for the patient. Not only do they not know how long they are going to have to wait, but they also have to sit in a quiet, stuffy, and sometimes crowded waiting room. The virtual waiting room allows them to wait comfortably in their care, listen to music, make phone calls, eat lunch, and many of the other things they would not feel comfortable within a traditional waiting room setting. Being able to wait comfortably and conveniently in their care improves their overall waiting experience.

To learn more about how your team can implement a virtual waiting room, click here.

Chicago, IL: Digestive Health Partners to improve efficiencies with AlertMD.

AlertMD offers the following ROI - Case Studies Available:

1. A 7-16% increase in billing and a 9-day acceleration in cash on hand
2. An increase in patient volume by 100% - yes - you read that right!
3. A 6-second process for the patient to find and schedule an appointment
4. We convert many more of your referrals/recalls into appointments - 2X more!
5. A geo-coded solution to deploy your providers to patients at home

Contact AlertMD sales for more information at [email protected]

The digital front door is helping providers everywhere grow their practice, increase patient communications, streamline scheduling, increase efficiency, and much more. Digital tools are not going anywhere as healthcare organizations approach 2021. Providers should expect an increase in digital administrative tools in the future of healthcare. The digital front door refers to the automated and digital tools that providers can use to improve interactions with patients, perfect scheduling, increase patient volume, and more. Below are some of the best tools and features providers can benefit from when they implement a digital front door.

What is a Digital Front Door?

Eliminate Phone Tag

Is your team tired of chasing down patients, spending hours on the phone, only to get nowhere with their time? The digital front door can help your practice eliminate phone tag so that your team can focus on more pressing and productive tasks. 30% of your scheduler payroll is spent playing phone tag with patients. With this tool, automated technology gets patients on the line so that a patient is always there when your team picks up the phone to schedule appointments.

Self-Scheduling

Self-scheduling has existed in one form or another for several years now. The digital front door is the key to getting your patients to utilize self-scheduling tools and free up your staff’s time. Scheduling an appointment with your doctor should be as simple as ordering food in 2021. A digital front door solution can help your patients quickly schedule appointments in 6 seconds.

Full Calendar

Your practice loses out on important revenue opportunities when there are gaps in the schedule. With a digital front door solution, you will achieve an optimized calendar with as many filled spots as possible. This tool helps to increase patient volume during a time where providers are struggling to keep them up. This tool regulates call volume so your scheduling team is not overwhelmed and manages your fill rate to help find more patients. This tool will keep your calendar full.

Chatbot Technology

Chatbot technology can function as the middle-man to patient interactions. Rather than fill your staff's time with phone calls and patient inquiries, patients can connect with you through a quality chatbot solution. A chatbot is programmed to respond and sound just like your organization. Patients can use this tool to schedule appointments, request refills, and receive updates regarding their practice.

The Virtual Waiting Room

The virtual waiting room is a key component to improving the patient experience and creating a digital front door. Rather than bring every patient inside to check-in and then shove them in an uncomfortable waiting room, providers can help patients wait safely in their cars. They can check-in for their appointment digitally, track themselves in line, prepare for their visit, and much more. Patients can wait more pleasantly in their car, listen to music, make phone calls, and more.

A digital front door will help your team streamline the scheduling process, improve the patient experience, and increase patient volumes. To learn more about a digital front door solution for your organization, click here.

To increase practice revenue, providers need to utilize the correct combination of quality technology. With the right tools in place, it becomes easy to accomplish a variety of administrative and care-related tasks that increase patient engagement, grow patient volumes, and more. The after-effects of these growths enable providers to increase practice revenue.

How to Increase Practice Revenue:

Digital Front Door

Improve Communication

A digital front door helps improve communication with existing and potential patients to bring them to your practice. No longer will your team have to spend hours of their pay on the phone chasing down patients who end up being dead-ends. A digital front door can help increase practice revenue by bringing patients to you and increase productivity.

Streamline Scheduling

Scheduling is simpler than ever before with a digital front door. Your team spends hours of their time trying to fill empty spots on the calendar. Now, your practice can easily increase practice revenue and patient volume by getting patients on the line when they are ready and referring them to the closest physician in their area.

Queue Management Solution

Increase Patient Volume

A key component for providers looking to increase practice revenue is to first address patient volume. IF your patient volumes are low, you are not optimizing the number of billable services you offer. A queue management solution can help you increase patient volumes by helping you offer a safe public environment that your patients feel comfortable visiting.

Improve Patient Waiting Experience

Rather than sit in a quiet, awkward, and frustrating waiting room for an unknown amount of time, a queue management solution provides a positive waiting experience. Improving the patient experience is a great way to increase practice revenue and grow. The waiting experience is traditionally a point of strain on patient satisfaction. Now, patients can wait pleasantly in their car, where they can make phone calls, listen to music, and more until their provider is ready for them to come in.

AI-Assisted Charge Capture

Improve Clean Claims

Clean claims are arguably the most important part of the plan to increase practice revenue. Claims most commonly get denied when they are coded incorrectly. Providers can increase the accuracy in their coding process with quality AI-assisted charge capture. AI in charge capture can increase practice revenue by increasing timely clean claims.

Increase Productivity

AI- in charge capture also enables providers and their billing teams to get more accomplished in less time. Optimizing productivity is simple when your AI assistant is helping to fill in the blanks. A quality AI-assisted charge capture solution makes accurate coding predictions, so all your team has to do is review and submit.

The right technology can help your healthcare organization easily increase practice revenue. The key to all of this is finding the right vendor to partner with. To learn more about a vendor who is eager to help your organization optimize and grow its bottom line, click here.

Earlier today, AlertMD announced availability of its Margie platform for free on a limited basis. See the press release for more information...

Click Here to see the Press Release

Revenue Cycle Management is changing for the better as more and more providers implement quality AI-assisted solutions. Artificial intelligence is making its way into nearly every healthcare process now and will continue to do so as we move into the future. It has made its way into the scheduling processes as patients utilize things like Amazon Alexa to schedule visits with their physicians. Now, it is entering the revenue cycle management process, helping providers increase productivity and accuracy throughout the charge capture and claims process. How secure is Artificial Intelligence and how exactly is it helping providers increase productivity and revenue?

AI and Revenue Cycle Management:

Productivity

Billing teams are working faster than ever with AI woven into their revenue cycle management processes. RCM is riddled with medical billing codes, a need for accurate charge capture, and claims submission that requires intense attention to detail. Nailing down the perfect combination of each detail to maximize revenue takes time when it relies on pure human efficiency. AI in revenue cycle management enables providers to accomplish perfection at a much faster rate. Working essentially as a billing assistant, this tool fills in the blanks so your team can do more in less time.

Accuracy

The most common reason for a denied claim is an inaccurately coded claim. If your practice wishes to increase revenue through clean claims, AI in revenue cycle management is a key part of the process. Artificial intelligence makes accurate predictions for medical billing codes so you do not have to chase down the right one. This tool also pinpoints possible errors in claims and stops them from being submitted so your team can review them. Providers also gain access to tools that help improve denial management.

Features of a Quality AI solution:

Accurate Predictions

While an AI-solution will not do 100% of the work, accurate predictions make it easier for you to move through each process. An AI-enhanced revenue cycle management process helps your team fill in the blanks so all they need to do is review and submit. This is key to increasing productivity, but also increasing clean claims.

Cloud-Based Tech

Cloud-based software is essential. This helps your team complete charges on the go, from a secure and approved mobile device. The ability to fill out a claim immediately means more accurate charges. Cloud-based tech also protects your software from technological failures like a crash. Your data will be right where you left it when your system gets back online.

Specialty-Aligned

Nothing is more frustrating than software that is not made for your specialty. Your revenue cycle management suffers when you are forced to search and sift through irrelevant data. AI-assisted revenue cycle management encourages specialty-aligned use that ensures accurate coding and charges every step of the way.

If your practice is considering whether or not to implement an AI-assisted solution, now is the time. To learn more about a quality revenue cycle management partner that can help your organization grow, click here.

Healthcare at home is the future of medicine. In the past, experts laughed at the idea of digital care solutions like telehealth or the patient portal. Now, they are among the top used forms of care all across the nation. Healthcare at home, or home-centric health, is the future of medicine and providers need to get on board.

The Difference Between “Home Health” and Healthcare at Home

Healthcare at home is different from “home health.” Home health is the process of a medical professional coming into a patient’s home to deliver care services. Examples of this include at-home physical therapy or an in-home nurse. This is not the same thing as home-centric health. Healthcare at home refers to a full-blown mini-treatment center at home. Healthcare at home software vendors are already offering several pieces of the puzzle to make this possible.

Pieces of the Puzzle:

Patient Access

Software that helps encourage healthcare at home is already found in many households. This includes tools like Amazon Alexa, which helps patients schedule a visit with their voice. Patient access to simple scheduling tools is changing. Sure, patients can log in to their patient portal and schedule an appointment, but these tools are expanding how patients access healthcare at home. Other tools that increase patient access include automated chatbot software.

Finding a Provider

Once a patient has requested an appointment, what happens next? Once the patient's request is submitted, geo-coding technology alerts the nearest providers and locations. Providers may be at a fixed location such as a clinic, or they might move from place-to-place. Regardless, this tool automates how patients find a provider and is flexible enough to adapt to your organization’s needs.

Simple Scheduling

Whether patients want an in-person visit with their provider, or they want a digital visit, reminders are automated. Appointment reminders are an integral part of the modern health system. They reduce no-shows, increase engagement, and keep your patients connected.

Automate Communication

Reminders, procedure prep instructions, and updates regarding your organization can all be controlled with home-centric health software. Chatbot solutions are designed to sound just like your practice and keep your patients in the loop without overworking your team. This automated solution streamlines patient communications.

Other Benefits of Healthcare at Home:

Engagement

Home-centric health software that promotes healthcare at home increases patient engagement. Increasing engagement is key to helping your patients achieve the best results possible. The more involved they are in their care, the more likely they are to achieve a positive result. This tool makes it easy for them to engage in healthcare at home so that staying involved is not difficult.

Growth

With increased positive patient results and engagement, your organization will grow. This tool allows you to expand your organization outside of the traditional office setting and prepare for the future of healthcare. Healthcare at home in the future.

Revenue

Each piece of this puzzle is designed to help your organization grow. This includes cultivating a healthy bottom line. Patient engagement and satisfaction partnered with quality technology and tools help your healthcare organization grow its revenue.

To learn more about how home-centric health and healthcare at home can help you and your patients, click here.

Secure messaging in healthcare has revolutionized the healthcare industry forever. More patients than ever depend on digital communication with their providers. In the past, patients would have to wait until they were in the office for a visit or leave them a message before they could ask their provider a question. Now, patients just need to log on to their computer or smartphone to send a quick message. Not only this, but providers can quickly communicate with other members of their team. Why is this important? Secure messaging in healthcare is important because it helps providers streamline patient care, improve patient engagement, improve patient outcomes, and increase security. Keep reading to learn more about how secure messaging

4 Benefits of Secure Messaging in Healthcare

Streamline Patient Care

In the past, it was too difficult to get in touch with an individual's healthcare provider. They would either have to wait until an in-person visit or wait on hold for long periods before they could get their questions or health concerns addressed. This was problematic for multiple reasons. Ultimately, it slowed down access to care for patients everywhere. Secure messaging in healthcare changes the reality of communication. Now, patients can quickly log in to their patient portal or utilize a chatbot system to connect with their providers. This streamlines patient communication and care.

Improve Patient Engagement

Patient engagement is an integral part of any health system. Providers need to increase patient engagement if they want their patients to succeed and achieve optimal results. Secure messaging in healthcare gives providers an easy and convenient tool to increase patient engagement. This tool makes it easier for patients to contact their providers, making it much easier to stay involved. Now, rather than having to wait and try to remember important information between visits, they can quickly engage their providers to get the ball moving.

Improve Patient Outcomes

By increasing patient engagement, providers can improve patient outcomes. The more involved a patient is in their care, the more likely they are to achieve a positive result. This is because active involvement means fewer red flags in a patient’s care and quick attention to rising issues in their health. Secure messaging in healthcare increases patient engagement and therefore increases positive patient outcomes.

Improve Security

Secure messaging in healthcare does not only benefit patients. Providers also have a lot to gain by implementing secure messaging in healthcare. Providers need an easy way to communicate between themselves and other members of their team. If a provider needs to quickly get a hold of another team member, they can be tempted to send a non-HIPAA compliant text message or phone call. This puts your practice at an increased chance of security risks. With secure messaging in healthcare, providers have a secure alternative. This tool makes it easy for members of your team to quickly message back and forth to get the information they need and offer the best patient care.

To learn more about how your practice can utilize secure messaging in healthcare, click here.