Technology has been evolving at break neck speed, and medical practices are rushing to keep up. The bigger practices have no qualms about installing new and advanced medical software and hardware because they have the resources. But what about smaller medical practices? Sometimes, in the midst of all that work, technology is placed in the back seat. Perhaps it’s time to relook at the possibility to implementing technology to help automate some of the operational processes.
One major challenge that all medical practices have to overcome is the management of medical records. It is fine to keep and retrieve records manually, but this method cannot carry on indefinitely. As the practice grows, the patient base also grows. This makes it hard for the staff to keep and find medical records. Besides, there are other operational issues to think about. For example, payment collections become more and more difficult. It is almost impossible to send reminders if there is no proper way of tracking the bills. Also, communications between staff (or the various departments) may break down due to lack of real time information.
For these reasons, the wise doctor looks at implementing technology before everything gets out of hand. One way to solve such operational problems is to install medical charting software. Fortunately, many small practice owners have already jumped on the band wagon and setup electronic charting software such as SpringCharts to help with documentation issues. SpringCharts is a Java based software application that helps to organize documents. A well organized database of records improves the overall efficiency of the entire operation. The goal is to free up the time of the staff, so that more resources can be allocated to patient care.
Independent practice owners often have to think about business aspects as well. For sure, having a documentation software that helps streamlines process will help improve the bottom line and boost profit margins.
Making profits is important, but the existence of a medical practice is not just to make profits. It is to provide high quality medical care for the patients. Technology can help improve medical care by taking care of the “grunt work” that often comes with running a medical practice.
Imagine having to create charts manually from the patient records. Without the right software, this is virtually an impossible task. With a software such as SpringCharts, both physician and staff have access to up to date patient records. The software’s design is based on a time-proven work flow. Doctors and medical staff will find it easy to operate the software because they are already familiar with the work flow, which is based on industry standards.
When consider medical charting software, be sure to consider how to integrate the software with existing programs. You would want all functional software to be operating from one integrated database to avoid confusion.
