Disclaimer: This blog article was written by an AdvancedMD partner. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AdvancedMD.
Even in the high-pressure world of managed healthcare, where it often feels like there is never enough time for each patient, and with technology moving as quickly as it is, the vast majority of clinicians still work exceptionally hard to improve patient outcomes.
This is a noble goal but given the many constraints within which they are working, it can be a difficult one to achieve. After all, if there’s one thing we can’t make more of, it’s time, but time is what patients often need.
Technology as a time machine.
While we can’t make more time, the integration of technology into most facets of healthcare has created efficiencies so vast and impactful in some areas that it’s almost as amazing as a time-generating machine might be. On the operational side, integrated electronic health records (EHR) software has allowed even the smallest clinical practices to become more efficient across their entire business, saving money and man-hours, while freeing up physicians to spend more time with their patients.
How technology contributes to better patient care.
Healthcare systems, individual practices, and patients can all ultimately benefit from the efficiencies created via technological innovations. When rolled out thoughtfully, these integrations put the patient first by more efficiently supporting physician efforts to deliver effective care, ultimately improving patient outcomes. How?
- Technology creates a window: Over the last five years, there has been a sizable shift in favor of transparency across the board in just about every facet of healthcare, from tracking the way departments communicate, to the ways in which data is collected, measured and analyzed. None of this would be possible without technological innovations in healthcare software, including EHRs and the trend toward digital-first RCM. With time ever-more limited, faster, and more efficient communication and data analysis put less stress on physicians, freeing them up to focus on patient care.
- Better billing: Billing is one of the most important and complex areas of healthcare systems, and achieving perfect accuracy is nearly impossible given the number of departments, organizations, and individuals involved. However, huge advances in medical coding software are making errors much less common. This allows a smoother, faster flow of revenue back to healthcare organizations from both insurers and patients. It also improves the patient experience when billing is as accurate as possible. Nothing is more likely to create friction than incorrect billing that causes a claim to come back to a patient denied due to a coding error.
- Advances in Integrations: Some companies, such as Aquina Health, specialize in creating integrations that work with healthcare systems’ and practices’ current EHR software, like that which has been developed by our partner, AdvancedMD. For instance, Aquina’s Via integration allows providers to be paid immediately when processing claims, decreasing gaps in revenue, and our Praxis Line of Capital solution gives practices access to working capital that can be used for capital projects, hiring staff, expanding real estate, and purchasing equipment.
If your practice is in need of funding to grow, please contact Aquina today for more information on both our Via and Praxis solutions and get started immediately.
