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Summer 2014
An Update for Centricity Users in the Southeast
How to Improve Patient Flow
Patient flow is an
ongoing challenge for
many practices. Long waits
frustrate patients, and physicians feel
like they’re always behind. So, what
can a practice do to address this
problem?
As the old business adage goes,
“You can’t manage what you don’t
measure.” Improving patient flow
requires getting a handle on the critical
areas that cause gridlock in a practice,
from staffing to technology.
According to practice consultant
Nancy Babbitt, efficient practices
pay attention to their patient flow
benchmarks. “By using technology
to track patient flow, administrators
and clinicians can identify and address
bottlenecks,” Babbitt said. “This type
of data is not only helpful today, it’s
going to be increasingly important
in the future as pay-for-performance
will require practices to prove their
efficiency.”
HealthSystems offers several tools to
help practices document, understand
and improve their patient flow. Our
Patient Flow Tracker, developed by
Vice President of Client Services Thom
Cook, provides key data points and lets
practices know exactly how things are
moving in the office.
For example, Patient Flow Tracker
reflects the room location and status
of each patient. Clinical staff can
quickly determine which patient is in
each room, how long each patient has
been in a designated status, and which
patient to see next. Reporting provides
metrics that allow the staff to enhance
the patient experience from check-in
to check-out.
“Patient Flow Tracker eliminates
any guessing about where patients are
and how long they’ve been waiting,”
explained Cook. “There’s no ‘right’
answer in terms of how quickly a
patient should move through an
office because that depends on the
nature of the practice and its goals
and priorities. What Patient Flow
Tracker does is make it easier for the
practice to assess its performance and
address any inefficiencies.”
HealthSystems has also written a
Centricity interface for several other
patient experience enhancement
tools including the Clearwave kiosk,
and Phreesia check-in pad. Both
self-service patient check-in and
eligibility devices free-up staff time
and improve data accuracy because
patients are keying in their own
data. Both also automate eligibility
and take credit cards for patient
payments, a key to improving
collections.
Health eSignature is another
add-on that captures patients’ and
providers’ legal signatures on forms
and documents. Designed specifically
for Centricity, this tool eliminates
the need for paper documents and
signature scanning.
“There’s no question that these
types of tools significantly improve
the patient experience,” said
HealthSystems founder Maurice
Rosenbaum. “Many of our customers
are interested in taking advantage
of these technologies in order to
enhance patient flow, reduce data
entry errors and increase efficiencies.”
For more information about how
Patient Flow Tracker, Clearwave,
Phreesia or Health eSignature could
improve your patient experience,
contact Janine Job at 404-207-1292
or [email protected].
About Patient Flow Tracker …
Available for practices with Centricity PM/
EMR or PM only, HealthSystems’ Patient
Flow Tracker allows a practice to track, view
and optimize patient flow:
• Waiting Room view displays each patient
checked-in, with appointment details available.
• An unlimited number of rooms
accommodates different practice types and
sizes.
• Each room displays summary information
for the patient and the appointment.
• Reporting provides metrics on each
room status to determine potential areas for
improved efficiency.
The software can also be customized to
include a room status description and color
scheme. Each physician can also have a color
scheme. Web views can be customized by
doctor, resource and location-of-care filtering.
Patient Flow Tracker is compatible with
Centricity Practice Solution versions 11 and
above. For a demo, or to find out more,
contact Janine Job at 404-207-1292 or
[email protected].
Best Practices – Summer 2014
www.healthsystems.net
Is an ACO or PCMH Right for You?
As the
economics of
medicine evolve,
some practices are
considering new
models to stay ahead
of the curve. Two of
these arrangements, the
Patient-Centered Medical Home
(PCMH) and the Accountable Care
Organization
(ACO) are gaining
popularity.
Developed by
the National
Committee for
Quality Assurance
(NCQA), the
PCMH is a way
of organizing
primary care that
emphasizes care coordination and
communication into a “medical
home” for patients. According to the
NCQA, “Medical homes can lead to
higher quality and lower costs, and
2
can improve patients’ and providers’
experience of care.”
ACOs reflect a new payment
and delivery model also designed
to improve health and lower costs.
The Affordable Care
Act (ACA), passed
by Congress in 2010,
authorized the Centers
for Medicare and
Medicaid Services
(CMS) to create ACO
models, including a
shared savings model
wherein the ACO
shares any cost savings
with CMS.
One HealthSystems practice,
Albany Internal Medicine, has
pursued both PCMH recognition
and ACO status, and has been
mentored through the NCQA
recognition process by the Georgia
Academy of Family Physicians. “Our
goal is to learn new skill sets that
will prepare us for the future,” said
Practice Administrator Bruce Trickel.
“For example, we’re learning how
to work better as a team within the
practice, and we’re looking more
closely at outcomes and risks.”
The practice is now seeing some
increased revenue
through its PCMH
program, in collaboration
with six other southwest
Georgia practices and
comprising approximately
10,000 patients. “While
these models take a
fair amount of time to
pursue, we think it¹s
work the effort,” Trickel
said. “We’re starting to see positive
outcomes.”
If you would like more information
about PCMHs or ACOs, see the GE
Healthcare whitepapers under the
Resource Center tab on our website:
www.healthsystems.net/brochureand-whitepapers.
Two New Tools Available to Aid Revenue Cycle Management
GE Healthcare
Analytics
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Reimbursementty™ Practice Solution and Group Man
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Centricity® ED
Hosted Claims
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It’s obviously in the best interest
of your profitability to manage your
practice revenue cycle as efficiently
as possible. Are you aware that GE
offers two Centricity add-on products
to help with this endeavor?
Centricity Hosted Claims Manager
is a front-end clinical editing tool that
allows you to review claims
before submission based
on an extensive and proven
backend advanced rule set.
This tool catches and suggests
modifications to claims prior
to submission, which reduces
claims denials and shortens the
accounts receivable cycle. To
aid in a future ICD-10 claim
transmission, this is another
great way to help validate
your coding for best possible
reimbursement.
On the other end of the
revenue cycle is Reimbursement
Analytics, which provides
actionable information to help
you manage your practice and
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DOC1305277
immediately respond to changes
in key performance metrics. For
example, you can benchmark your
practice’s performance against similar
organizations at the state or national
level in such areas as electronic remits,
staff and payer processing times,
denial rates and CPT code utilization.
“These two solutions are designed
to improve workflows and drive
down the cost of collections,” said
GE Healthcare General Manager
of Clinical Business Solutions Jon
Zimmerman. “Both of these tools can
help to accelerate the revenue cycle
and improve operational efficiency.”
HealthSystems founder Maurice
Rosenbaum agrees. “These products
put an enormous amount of useful
knowledge about the practice’s
performance at your fingertips,” said
Rosenbaum. “And with knowledge
comes power!”
To find out more about these tools,
contact Janine Job at 404-207-1292
or [email protected].
Case Study
Adding Centricity EMR an Easy Decision for PM User
Back in 2008, choosing a new
practice management system was
a difficult decision for the team at
Marshall ENT & Allergy in Boaz,
Alabama. “We very thoroughly
investigated our options,” said
Practice Administrator Kathy Guest.
“Centricity had been recommended
to us, but we wanted to be sure
of our choice. After visiting other
practices, seeing the system in action
and meeting the HealthSystems team,
we knew Centricity was the right
one.”
More recently, when it came time
to switch to a new EMR, choosing
Centricity was easy. “We knew
Centricity EMR would be a smooth
transition for us,” Guest said. “Not
only do we like the stability of GE,
we have been extremely pleased with
our relationship with HealthSystems
over the last four years.”
Confidence Required
with HealthSystems working through
our transition plan,” said Guest.
“One big decision was whether to
convert our old data so that we
could see it in Centricity EMR. We
chose to do it, which took a lot of
discussion and planning
before the transition to
Centricity even began.”
The conversion process
was accomplished over a
weekend, and HealthSystems
trainers were onsite for
four days to help with any
issues. “The database was
copied on a Friday and
loaded into Centricity over
the weekend,” said Guest.
“We worked that Monday
using paper charts, did our
staff training on Tuesday,
and then went live on
Wednesday, with all the data
accessible via Centricity.”
when things go wrong or you have
questions.”
One of the things Guest
appreciates about HealthSystems is
the company’s attitude. “From the
sales staff to the trainers, everyone
who works at HealthSystems is
a problem solver,” she said. “I
know everyone’s name who works
there, and they know mine,” she
said. “They are all helpful and
knowledgeable.”
Guest says the conversion couldn’t
have gone any better. “I think our
future is bright with Centricity,” she
concluded. “I know that GE will
continue to invest in the product and
stay on top of regulations and trends.
And I know I don’t have to worry
with HealthSystems as our partner.”
The impetus for the
Relationship Matters
change in EMRs was
Guest says the
dissatisfaction with
key to success is
At A Glance
the practice’s
working with the
old system.
Marshall
best vendors.
“We needed
“There are
ENT & Allergy
a higher level
lots of EMR
1 physician
of service,”
systems, and
she said. “We
people will
2 medical assistants
wanted a better
always show
2 nurses
product and a
you the best
3
administrative
staff
better vendor.
features of
With Centricity
their products,”
EMR, we knew
she said. “But the
everything would
vendor relationship is
connect and interact
the main one — that’s the
smoothly.”
company you have to work with
Guest explained that having a level
of confidence about the system and
How to contact us...
the transition was a must. “When you
DepartmentPhone
Fax
Email
stop a medical practice — even for a
day — to implement new software,
Main Office404-207-1300 800-834-5016 [email protected]
you have to have assurance that it’s
Sales
404-207-1314800-834-5016 [email protected]
going to go smoothly,” she said. “It’s
Training 404-207-1312800-834-5016 [email protected]
not just the investment, it’s the future
of the business. You need a high
Billing
404-207-1299404-506-9196 [email protected]
degree of confidence in the people
Support 404-207-1311770-936-1921 [email protected]
you’re dealing with.”
Planning was a key factor in the
Online support is available at www.heathsystems.net/support
conversion. “We spent a lot of time
3
NEWS & NOTES
B-I-N-G-O!
Mark Your Calendar
Please make note of these upcoming events.
July
18-20American Academy of Allergy, Asthma
& Immunology Practice Management
Workshop (Atlanta)
July 30 – MGMA/Alabama Summer Conference August 1 (Destin, FL)
August
21-24
Georgia OB/GYN Society Annual
Meeting (Sea Island, GA)
September
11
Atlanta MGMA Vendor Fair (Atlanta)
We are continuously adding new events to our
schedule. For up-to-date information, visit
www.healthsystems.net/events.
As part of our community
outreach efforts, members of the
HealthSystems team spent time
playing BINGO with the residents of
The William Brennan Jewish Home
in April. The residents had a good time, and
we did, too!
If you would like to join us for one of our
service projects, contact Karen Byrne at
[email protected] or 404-207-1295.
Perfect 10s!
Time flies! Congratulations to Director of First Impressions Sandra Gilbert,
Trainer Bob Lile, and Chief Operating Officer Larry Stoumen. All three are
celebrating 10 years with HealthSystems in 2014.
Stop By and Say Hi
HealthSystems will be exhibiting at several
meetings this summer, including the AAAAI Practice
Management Workshop in Atlanta in mid-July, the
MGMA Alabama Summer Conference in Destin
in late July, and at the Georgia Obstetrical and
Gynecological Society Conference in Sea Island in
August. Stop by and say hello!
4
Summer 2014
www.healthsystems.net
404.207.1300
800.834.8359
Centrum at Glenridge
780 Johnson Ferry Road NE, Suite 410
Atlanta, Georgia 30342-1439