Practice management software automates a variety of tasks, allowing your healthcare professionals to focus more of their time caring for patients. But what is practice management software?

Medical practice management entails sending out appointment reminders, managing supply inventories and more — automatically. Patients can typically schedule appointments themselves by signing in online and picking an available time slot. Scheduling software eliminates the chance of double-bookings and helps prevent delays. Patients can also check-in to their appointments online prior to arriving at the facility. These tools help to reduce the number of no-shows while speeding up the average appointment time. By increasing daily traffic without sacrificing quality care and customer service, you can drive up customer satisfaction and increase potential revenue opportunities. Less demanding appointments can often be handled remotely, saving time for both your physicians and patients. Below are some common features included in practice management solutions to help increase your organization’s efficiency, productivity and profitability.

• Online Appointment Scheduling
• Patient Portal
• Color-Coded Calendar
• Automated Reminders and Notifications
• Telehealth Appointments
• Online Patient Check-In

Easily access patient information

Whether it’s offered through the vendor or an integrated tool, practice management allows your physicians to access an updated patient file at any given time. Patient charts and other information follow the patient wherever they go, allowing all physicians involved in their treatment process to connect with one another and share patient information as needed.

For organizations with multiple facilities or departments, patient information can be updated in real time, giving everyone who accesses a patient chart the most up-to-date and accurate patient information in order to provide the best possible level of care. Patients can update their information online as well as view their history such as medications, test results and more.

It’s also important to note that patient data is accessible on a need-to-know basis. By only allowing those who require such information, patient data can be kept secure. Here is some of the most common patient information included within a practice management solution or the EHR/EMR it integrates with:

• Patient Demographics
• Patient History (Surgical, Medication, Family, Social, Habits, etc. )
• MPI (Master Patient Index)
• Insurance Information
• Medication and Allergy Lists
• Lab/Imaging Results
• Real-Time Data
• Mobile Applications
• Integration Capabilities

Manage the billing process

Rather than having to outsource billing tasks, medical practice management allows practices to handle all of their billing tasks efficiently in-house. These systems can submit claims to payers, respond to rejected claims and collect and analyze data and generate comprehensive reports.

Claims management tools are simple and heavily automated, sweeping claims and scrubbing them of any mistakes, incompletions or coding errors which often otherwise lead to denied/rejected claims. Higher first-time acceptance rates and faster reimbursements are a side effect of claims management tools. Rejected claims can also be corrected and resubmitted automatically. You can track claims throughout the submission process, giving your staff members insight as to when they can expect to receive payment.

MPM comes with tools to make sure a patient’s insurance is eligible and verified prior to an appointment. Patients can also keep their credit card and insurance information on file. This allows patients to leave after an appointment without having to settle up with the cashier while also ensuring the facility receives payment.

• Claims Scrubbing
• Denial Management
• Automatic Claim Resubmissions
• Insurance Eligibility Verification
• Automated Billing
• Collections
• Patient Statements
• Online Payments
• Patient-Risk Management
• Individual Payment Plans

Improve practice organization

The systematic organization of medical practices and practice management systems allows healthcare professionals to focus on the quality of care they provide rather than monotonous, time-consuming administrative tasks. The automation of tasks, as we mentioned above, is a huge help when it comes to freeing up time for your physicians. In addition to the automation of scheduling-related tasks, you can also automatically set up billing due dates and patient tracking features.

Not only can MPM software be used to schedule patient appointments, you can also manage the calendar/schedules of your physicians and other staff members. Drag-and-drop scheduling allows users to easily choose an available time slot for an upcoming appointment. You can assign specialty equipment needed for certain appointments to the proper exam room and time with the correlating physician, making sure valuable time isn’t wasted hunting down where certain equipment may be.

Documenting and charting is also easier. Users can quickly browse through patient charts with an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Handwriting/legibility issues are a thing of the past with PMS software.. You can track inventory and order accordingly. Specialty-specific templates are often available and can be customized to meet the specific needs of your medical clinic. Physicians can also spend less time documenting patient information with the help of voice and text recognition software within the practice management solution. The software keeps sensitive data like patient information safe inside encrypted databases.

• Dynamic Scheduling
• Inventory Management
• Voice/Text Recognition
• Patient-Specific Notes
• HIPAA Compliance

FAQs

How Does MPM Software Work?

Medical practice management works by streamlining a health organization’s daily operations and automating time-consuming administrative tasks. Patient information like demographics, history, allergies, insurance providers and more can be easily accessed and updated in real time. These solutions help manage a facility’s inventory and calendar/scheduling tasks. The automation of these tasks allows healthcare professionals to spend more time focusing on the patient, leading to greater accuracy with diagnosis and treatment as well as increasing patient/customer satisfaction on the whole.

How Do I Know if I’m Ready for a Practice Management System?

While most every healthcare organization will benefit from a PM software solution, it’s important to understand that not every solution is the same. The features and tools required will vary depending on the size of your facility, number of physicians, medical specialty and number of departments. These solutions often integrate with other solutions like an EHR/EMR or medical billing software solution if not already included. Below are some of the factors to consider when determining whether or not your organization is ready to take the leap and implement an MPM system.

• Size of health facility/number of providers
• Problems with efficiency and productivity
• Difficulty accessing patient information
• Spending too much time documenting rather than treating patients
• Problems with patient engagement and satisfaction
• Slow reimbursement/missed revenue opportunities

How Do I Select an MPM System?

As with any software selection process, choosing the right practice management solution for your healthcare organization can be a time-consuming and intimidating task. You shouldn’t rush the implementation process — plenty of time should be spent gathering insight from staff members to determine what unique tools and features you’ll require. It’s critical to do plenty of research before finally narrowing down your potential vendors and trying out demos to find what you like best. Remember, no two health facilities are exactly alike and the same goes for MPM software. The most important thing is to find a solution that fits well with your health organization, in particular. Before making your decision, consider taking a look at our medical practice management features and requirements as well as our practice management software comparison chart.

Still have any questions about what practice management software does or how to select the right vendor for your organization? Contact us by messaging [email protected] or calling us at 855-850-3850.