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Is you EHR customized to your needs?

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Tips to maintain medical documentation

EHR templates and why it makes little sense to work with them!

EHR templates are getting a lot of bad press. They are being blamed for poor documentation and reduced patient engagement.

Template generated notes are reducing patient data into a series of boxes to be ticked and blanks to be filled out.

At the end of the day, relying on templates is not just lazy documentation, but can also have a negative impact in the medical decision making process.

Missing the forest for the trees…

Point and click templates consume a lot of time thanks to the extensive output they generate. Information that has no clinical relevance, unnecessary, redundant data leads to note bloat. And a frustrated physician who cannot find what was documented during the patients’ previous visit. Cloned notes and upcoding add another layer of complexity to an already complex tale.

Templates that are not well designed can be hazardous to patient health & if overused can cost lives. The death of a patient in Manhattan, due to a template that limited information and narrowed down diagnostic choices, is an example of how hazardous templates can be. Instead of being comprehensive and informational, most EHR templates are complicated and of little use.

Which box do I tick?

There is another more dangerous charge thrown at EHRs. It is that they limit the physician’s ability to think and interfere with open diagnostic thought.

Improper diagnosis poses several medical-legal problems for medical practices.

Structured and inflexible data inputting options can put medical practices at risk.

Less rigid data platforms that give physicians enough space to explore varied diagnostic and treatment, plans and options are the need of the hour.

Limiting and cumbersome!

In a better world EHR templates will give physicians easy access to healthcare information, reduce data entry tasks and increase patient engagement. But going by the number of people complaining and riling against EHRs, most EMR systems leave a lot to be desired.

Going back to paper?

Several medical practices use paper records to document regularly performed procedures, patient history and progress notes.

It is impossible for EHR vendors to create a unique template for every single disease or medical condition.

And that is why it is essential that physicians do not depend blindly on their templates’ parameters and work within its framework.

Customizing EHRs according to the patient population, treatment options and the most commonly performed procedures, of a medical practice. Can trim the fat, save up on time and lead to better medical decisions.

EHR Usage and Good Medical Practice Congruence

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EHR Usage

The Charismatic Scenario:

Going paperless was a formality or fashion and pointless saddle earlier in the medical practices. But now, the picture has changed and the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) is becoming increasingly obligatory. Many small practices and even hospitals are in the right move towards EHR espousal. This is due to the federal coercion and improved understanding of EHR implementation benefits by the healthcare providers.

Patient Centered – Interconnected:

The electronic medical/health records are no more the property of an individual care provider and EHR is no more the physician-centered tool. The involvement of various providers in proffering the comprehensive patient care is compelling the providers to make EHR – the patient-centric tool.

The modern clinical workflow pattern in small practices and hospitals involves the healthcare data sharing across the practices. This sort of interconnection provides fast, easy and accurate medical information exchange through HIPAA-compliant and professionally secured conduit.

“Charts” & EHR:

The shift in healthcare delivery pattern from single practice to widespread care delivery across small clinics to large hospitals, both physicians-owned and hospital-owned gave rise to community charts and enterprise charts. These charts enable interconnected health data access by multiple care delivery settings within hospital departments and also between assorted care centers.

Enterprise EHR like Epic has its widespread utility across the hospitals and the practices affiliated with them. Kaiser EHR makes a single chart accessible everywhere.

Good Medical Practice – The Further Take:

Despite medical data storage, large Enterprise Charts (e.g. Kaiser) could be used to gain insights into disease trends, epidemiology studies, clinical care quality and good medical practice (GMP).

Missed-out health records of patients, maladroit diagnostic data and specialty consult notes, hidden operation notes, obscure insurance information – Won’t these displease your patient care?

American Medical Association (AMA) says “Good physicians care for patients” as the primary domain of competency.

For a perfect patient care, the clinical documentation is more than crucial. Is it right?

Thus, EHRs with no ‘note bloat’ would buttress the physicians to follow Good Medical Practice through adequate essential medical documents:

  1. Good clinical documentation
  2. Good knowledge on patient health
  3. Good patient care
  4. Good Reimbursement & Good Medical Practice.

“Next Generation”:

Even the best EHRs available in the healthcare market have not addressed certain vital features:

Rapid encounter documentation: Physicians busy with the encounters find less time to create electronic health records. The “next generation” EHRs must have in-built medical transcriber and the physicians could avert spending much time in creating documents.

Unified patient portal: A modern EHR must ease the patient’s ingress into the electronic health records through unified patient portal. It must support easy access of various documents, reports, messages and other communications by all interconnected provider settings.

Open API access:  EHRs must allow the vendors to access appropriate internal documents through application program interface so that the practices could accomplish the resource demands, clinical quality measures and disease trends.

Thus, current era EHRs need further “optimization” to satisfy the stakeholders of healthcare ecosystem.

Make wait times in your medical practice a better experience!

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Physicians Practice

How to make wait times at your medical practice a better experience!

How often have you seen patients fuming in the reception and have been able to do nothing about it? With hundreds of newly insured patients and limited staff it is getting tougher by the day for small and medium sized medical practices, to handle appointments. There is nothing worse than seeing patients, in need of medical care, waiting listlessly for it.

A third of staff time is spent on scheduling, handling no-shows and rescheduling appointments. There are ways to make appointment scheduling and patient wait times, smarter and shorter.

Make use of apps…

There are applications and software’s that can help physicians get a handle on their numerous appointments. Web based tools such as MedWaitTime help physicians to streamline everyday workflow and manage appointments. The more effectively you manage appointments, the easier it is to shorten wait times.

Is your medical practice a Wi-Fi zone?

How many of us read magazines strewn at a reception desk? Very few! Flipping through pages randomly can be frustrating after a while. A Wi-Fi enabled wait room can keep patients engaged. It may also help them to complete office tasks or keep tabs on them, while waiting in your office. This will make wait times more productive and fun.

Get paperwork out of the way!

Filling out medication lists or making patients fill myriad forms is a time drainer. And make the wait time for patients longer. Encourage patients to fill out information online a day or two prior to the visit. Have patient information and other pertinent details in hand, before meeting patients.

Make use of patient portals to share and receive vital information. Built into your EMR or integrated with it, work with patient portals to save on time.

Keep your patients in the loop!

Inform your patients about how long it will take to see them. Have the front office staff update patients periodically on what’s going on in the physician’s room. If there is delay state the reason for the delay and how long it will take to get things back in order. Knowing the reason for the wait, will let patients know their time is being valued.

Keep in touch!

A follow up mail that thanks your patients for visiting, for waiting for your medical care and how important each visit is to you, can make all that wait worthwhile. Never forget to ask for feedback and suggestions. It will increase your referrals and ensure there is a steady stream of loyal patients!

Here’s a presentation view about how you can accomplish your medical practice in full flow.

Will Obamacare result in better care across the healthcare continuum?

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Affordable Care Act

 

Is Obamacare backing patients into a corner?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Obamacare ever since it was launched. It has drawn criticism from all sides. Physicians are cribbing about the tremendous amount of paperwork they have to put up with. And, the pressure to comply with, several federal regulations.

Obamacare which was hoped to improve healthcare outcomes and give the uninsured a new lease of life has been accused of not delivering its promises.

No card no service!

This is the arithmetic of the current healthcare scenario. Many patients have no idea whether they are insured or not. Several of them have walked out of hospitals, despite ailments, fearing a huge bill.

There is no way for patients to prove that they’re insured and this has led to mayhem, untreated patients and frustrated doctors. The sticker shock patients face, gives rise to one pertinent question, whether Obamacare is another failed promise?

Technology will drive healthcare costs down…

Healthcare IT has emerged as the biggest hope for the healthcare industry to cut down on costs and move towards a better model of working. Bending the cost curve isn’t easy but certain medical specialties like radiology have seen a drastic decrease in procedural expenses. From being one of the most expensive specialties, radiology has now managed to become less expensive and contain costs.

Even the skeptics have agreed that the Affordable Care Act can be a harbinger of change. Despite it’s, shortcomings, and a very worried American public.

Here is why the ACA isn’t so bad after all!

  1. The act has empowered patients and has aided them in choosing providers and services that better suit their requirements.
  2. The ACA has standardized medical billing and documentation to a large extent.
  3. It has provided medical practitioners the impetus to explore newer revenue and workflow models.
  4. Risk sharing pay systems can help physicians move away from the traditional fee for service model.
  5. The ACA has made the entire healthcare industry more tech-driven. This means better patient communication and care.

MU 2 timeline shift; what it means for your practice?

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Meaningful Use stage 2

Yet another MU 2 pushback; but is there a reason to cheer?

There seems to be a new government announcement every single week. The latest update to cause major ripples was the recent MU2 extension. As with all other healthcare updates it was received with skepticism, hope, and a whole deal of confusion.

The dust has settled now and Eligible Professionals (EP) are back to preparing for MU2. It is clear that MU2 has been extended through 2016 but there will be absolutely no shift in the start dates. But this will definitely give EPs enough time to formulate a more solid Meaningful Use plan.

Some breathing room…

2014 is going to be a trying year for physicians. Meaningful use deadlines, ICD10, and freezing on a payment model that works, there is going to be a lot on the plate. The early birds who are going to attest in 2014 will get an extra year in 2016. EHR vendors can also have enough time to better their systems and focus on the Achilles heel of most EHRs, interoperability.

More time for MU3…

The timeline shift will offer medical practices some amount of breathing space and flexibility. There will be additional time to prepare for Meaningful Use stage 3. And a wee bit more flexibility when it comes to certification.

Can the shift impact ICD 10 implementation?

Unfortunately, yes. Healthcare industry experts suggest that now there is absolutely no possibility of yet another delay to implement ICD10. October 1st 2014 is a date set in stone according to senior health insurance specialist at CMS, Denescia Green. “This is a firm date” she said, earlier this month.

Hopes dashed!

 Physicians who were hoping for a delay in ICD 10 are in for bitter disappointment. The government cannot afford another delay, so there is going to be increased pressure on physicians to transition to the new code set. One major plus would be that practices can utilize and focus their resources, on ICD 10 alone. There wouldn’t be as many deadlines jostling for attention.

Have great staff on board?

This is one question that most practice owners forget to ask themselves. Human resources, seems to be a grossly overlooked factor. With 2014 being a rollercoaster year, not focusing on hiring or training staff, can be the perfect recipe for disaster. Most medical practices are caught up with improving their technical infrastructure and exploring new business models.

But for sustainable success and change, having the right people on board, is the only solution. So, practices can rely on trained personnel and not pushbacks for meeting deadlines.

Here’s a brief presentation on Meaningful Use for medical practice.

Medical Billing Strategies of 2014 – Sink-in to Amplify Your Funds

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Medical Billing Process

Decide Here – Whether to Dwell-in or Leave the Page!

This article is especially designed to meet the needs of the physician practices and other healthcare delivery organizations that are looking for the tactics to revamp their medical billing process so as to boost your cash inflow.

 Where the healthcare billing is travelling?

Though, physicians aren’t tethered to the aged technology and strategy, circumambient healthcare milieu may revoke your cerebral cortex due to diversified growth in healthcare information technology (HIT).

Do you have numerous “wh-questions” on your mind – pertinent to the funds management in your revenue cycle management (RCM) process? Then, this is the go-to technique to enliven your cash coffer.

MEDICAL BILLING STRATEGIES – 2014

Hoard your revenue in each phase of RCM!

Physician Credentialing and Contract Negotiation:

The federal payers have already fixed your reimbursement rates for the patient care services. Despite this, there is a dire need for the providers to negotiate with the payers to get lucrative reimbursements for the service rendered by you. Besides, abiding the payers’ rules during credentialing process brings you more savings.

Front-desk Collection:

Start collecting payments from the scratch – don’t let your staffs ignore the front-end tasks:

1. Point-of-service (POS) payments (Co-pays, deductibles, etc.).

2. Collection of dues well before patient encounter.

3. Thwarting denials through accurate eligibility verification.

4. Gathering insurance accurate data to avoid reimbursement disappointments.

Charge Capture:

HITECH Act, ACA’s “performance based payment” and other federal mandate are the driving forces that accentuate the ideal EHR implementation.

Charge capture must be done accurately for each encounter, procedure and surgery. Evolving ICD-10 guidelines call for the renovation of your super bills in sync with your clinical practice so that charge capture will be immaculate.

Claim Scrubbing:

          This is the vital phase in the medical billing process that aid abridged AR process. AAPC/AHIMA certified coders must be a part and parcel of the claim scrubbing process – so that revenue loss due to underpayment and overpayment issues could be avoided. Concentrating on this phase greatly mitigates the claim rework cost.

Electronic Transmission:

          Timed Clearinghouse transmission for fresh claims is one of the overlooked approaches in most practices. Large practices may need to file the scrubbed, “clean” claims daily.

          Delay in addressing the rejected/denied claims with the remedial action may also hamper your cash in-flow.

eRemittance:

          Interpretation of the remark codes and timely payment posting after the receipt of EOBs/ERAs is very essential for a successful RCM process. Besides, prompt cash inflow/ AR feed into the practice management system (PMS) or electronic medical/ health records (EMR/EHR) is mandatory to avert payment miss-outs and pointless follow-ups.

Denial Follow-up:

The denials must be addressed with an immediate effect to avoid delayed payments or re-denials. While working out on denials, the obligatory documents must be attached during re-submission or appeal. Though the cost involved in denial appeals or re-submissions is an additional burden, ignorance of denial management would be a serious pecuniary loss.

Patient Billing:

          Don’t load your dice against yourself! Precision in the patient billing is a crucial point in the bill settlement. Inaccurate and difficult-to-read billing statements ensue in patient discontent, consequently culminating in bulldozed physician – patient relationship. Above all, a clear statement supports timely payment.

Resource Utilization:

          Exploiting the resources like human resources, infrastructure, funds, technology, etc. to run a practice profitably is a master skill. Among that, leveraging the technology to satisfy patients and enhance practice profits is the challenging task. The following technology platforms ameliorate your patient experience, accelerate revenue cycle process and thus perk-up your business.

Practice Website:

  1.  Patient portal
  2.  Online forms and statements
  3.  Online EHR access
  4.  Online lab and imaging reports
  5.  e-Payment support
  6.  mHealth support (iPad, iPhone, Tablet, etc.)
  7.  Chat support
  8.  Healthcare News
  9.  FAQs
  10.  Social media (e.g. Facebook, twitter, etc.)
  11.  Patient Blogs & forums

Benchmarking:

                  Setting a yardstick and working towards its accomplishment must be the prime goal, if you are attempting to reach your vision and mission.

What functions of the billing process that must be set in the yardstick achievement program?

1. Follow-up and retrieval of underpayments.

2. Averting penalties due to the breach of laws and audit policies (RACs, HIPAA, HITECH Act, etc.).

3. Aggressive follow-up of accounts receivables/bad-debts.

4. Evaluating and making small balance write-offs.

Besides, regular evaluation of your practice, process and finance must be done through the following reports:

  1. Practice Analysis Report
  2. RCM Analysis Report
  3. AR Summary Report

“PERSISTENT REVENUE INFLOW IS THE SINGLE PARAMOUNT WANT OF THE MEDICAL BILLING PROCESS”

Stretch your achievement from good to excellent with these proven medical billing strategies. It will be the hot topic in 2014 as most practices are going out-of-kilter due to stringent policies and other industrial factors.

Tiger Team Checks the EHR Feasibility with Accounting of Disclosures Proposals

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Tiger Team checks EHR Feasibility

The Policy – Technology Equilibrium

In a recent convention of Privacy and Security Tiger Team, it was advised to the HIT Policy Committee that pilot projects must be instated to scrutinize the pragmatism of technical ability of electronic health record (EHR) systems – to revise requirements for accounting of disclosures of protected health information (PHI) and to create the access reports for patients’ utility.

 The Outlook of Pilot Testing

The Tiger Team is set to buttress the federal regulators of Healthcare IT Policy in an endeavor to assess the technical feasibility of EHR with requirements of accounting of disclosures. Furthermore, it aids scrutiny of prospective stages of HITECH Act’s EHR certification program.

To accomplish the HITECH incentives, eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs) and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must perform “meaningful use” of certified EHRs. In that, patient engagement is a further mandatory requirement for the eligible entities. The pilot project envisages all these requirements’ harmony with the technological aspects.

 A Lesson Learnt from the Mistakes

In May 2011, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), proclaimed the proposed rulemaking for overhauling the accounting of disclosures requirements under HIPAA. This proposal was said to be wrongly pitched and it engendered copious grievances from many healthcare providers with a unified aim to protest the controversial new “access report” provision.

The new “Access Report” must encompass the following data:

  1. Date and time of access.
  2. Name of the person or practice evaluating the PHI.
  3. A note on the information.
  4. A description of the user action (Is information created, modified or deleted?).
  5. EHR disclosures for treatment, operations and payment.

Many of the suggestions posted on the walls of HHS on the access report proposal underscored that it would prove to be technically impracticable, intricate and expensive to execute.

 The Roadmap to New Regulations

  1. The Pilots deem that they have formulated the final recommendations which will be presented to the HIT Policy Committee on 4th December 2013.
  2. Then, these suggestions would be analyzed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for ‘Civil Rights’.
  3. These two entities of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would devise any new ultimate regulations.

 Access Report – What to include and what not?

The tiger team throws a clear recommendation that patients must enjoy “high-level transparency” with respect to their data use and disclosures. Besides, it seems that it will narrow down the disclosure restrictions so that only the third parties outside the healthcare enterprise may be concerned.

In this milieu, Egerman emphasizes the philosophy “less is more” – as per which only the filtered, pertinent details must be passed on the patients so as to avert confusions and safety hazards of EHR users.

“Baker suggests that for the safety of healthcare workers, names of individuals accessing patients’ healthcare records could be sieved from the “access reports” issued to the patients, but accessible to the healthcare entity when inspecting allegations or suspicion of inappropriate access.”

 Finally, Tiger team accentuates that the EHR system must be tuned in line with the final regulations of this pilot project.

The Takeaways of the MGMA 2013 meet

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MGMA meet

Better equipped medical practice managers are the need of the hour!

Agreed… This is not the best of times to be a medical practice manager. With financial pressures weighing you down and evolving compliance requirements, it can be, one, demanding job.At the recently concluded MGMA conference, the ACMPE Certification commission chair and incoming chair, Tom Ludwig, spoke at length about leadership development.

It is essential for medical practice managers to constantly learn and reinvent the way their medical practice’s function. Stick in the mud approach, is no longer going to work.

Gaining the ACMPE fellowship…

An ACMPE board certification and fellowship can steer practice owners towards the right path. The program which is based on the Body of Knowledge for Medical Practice Management (BOK) is considered a stamp of excellence in medical parlance. The certified member is well versed with the eight BOK domains, and can improve leadership qualities.

“We need people who understand all the elements and the sub-groups of each domain. Knowing the BOK is a way to distinguish yourself as a professional and show that you are a leader who has critical thinking skills” exclaimed Ron Menaker.

Why every little difference matters…

Professionals in the medical industry will have to attest and implement several regulatory measures. Being an eligible professional and in compliance with the Affordable Care Act and Patient Protection Act is of great importance. Even minor differentiation can play a crucial role.

Moreover the program offers a wealth of information that can help medical practice managers’ sail through choppy waters.

The onus is on practice managers!

It is the medical practice manager who determines the clinical and operational workflow of a clinic or hospital. Being informed and ahead of the curve is essential. Understanding, the nuances of healthcare, and how each process can affect or improve the entire healthcare continuum, can make taking clinical or operational decisions easy.

To become more informed, communicative and authoritative, becoming a part of certification programs can help a great deal. Networking with subject authorities, having in-depth knowledge about healthcare regulations and of course bracing oneself for change, are the qualities that will stand medical practice managers in good stead, in the coming years.

Infographics: Obamacare – A Precursor for Financially Sound Healthcare Practice

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Affordable Care Act(ACA)

How Obamacare Benefits Medical Practitioners?

As a medical practitioner, you will be glad to know that “Obamacare” has proved its mettle in reviving fortunes of the medical business fraternity. Obamacare¸ also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted as federal law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. ACA, along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, has effectively overhauled the US healthcare system.

ACA, the new health care reform law in America, enhances the affordability, quality, and availability of insurance policies from public and private payers to about 44 million uninsured citizens. This will increase collection of insurance reimbursement collection of hospitals and clinics for providing healthcare services to patients. In addition, it also curtails the rise in healthcare spending.

Any Statistical Evidence That ACA Will Prove its Worth?

Sure – no doubt about that!

Healthcare establishments across the US stand to gain since public opinion favours ACA. Proof of the pudding lies in the fact that statistical survey reports justify the fact that ACA has started gaining momentum across the US. Due to competition in the insurance marketplace, premiums have started dipping below the projected levels. This will lead to estimated savings of roughly $190 in the federal budget during the next 10 years. This fact is a vital early indicator that the ACA is performing much better than anticipated to decrease federal budget deficits and national spending on healthcare.

Due to these savings, the healthcare deficit will be lowered to the tune of 174%. In terms of savings in healthcare suggested by the Simpson-Bowles commission (namely the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) -, this works out to be around 40%. In addition, reduction in premiums will further decrease the number of uninsured citizens by 700,000. Since insurance will be less expensive, more number of citizens will opt for insurance policies, resulting in additional reimbursement receipts for hospitals.

Statistical Surveys Reinforce Credibility of ACA

Recently, Washington-based Gallup conducted a daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 1,528 adults. These adults were bracketed in age groups of 18-29, 30-49, 50-64, and older than 64. Maximum support for the plan came from the 18-29 age group. The number of persons in the younger generation category who approved the Obamacare plan exceeded the numbers in the same category who disapproved the plan. This implies that more numbers of younger adults are likely to be uninsured in comparison to people in the upper age groups. In addition, there is a steady rise in the population of younger adults. Their willingness for opting for insurance policy is a crucial factor for success of Obamacare.

Do Medical Practitioners Gain by Entry of New Insurance Agencies in the Market? 

Of course! According to the McKinsey Center for U.S. Health System Reform, new insurance payers form about 26% of the number of insurance agencies in the US. Entry of these additional players has led to more intense competition in the insurance market. These agencies priced their premiums lower than existing ones in the market. Lower premiums will lead more people to go in for insurance policies. This will boost up insurance receipts of medical entities.

In addition, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a preliminary study of insurance plans offered in 18 areas. 15 out of these 18 areas experienced premiums that were less than premiums estimated by the national Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Reduced premiums imply that more and more number of citizens will walk into the insurance coverage basket. It has been estimated that the number of citizens who are not insured will be reduced by 2.8% due to 16% drop in premiums. This, in turn, results in additional revenue collection for hospitals and clinics.  In addition, insurance coverage will be increased for 700,000 citizens by 2013 since CBO had projected a reduction in number of uninsured citizens by that time.

Any Plans Related to ACA Coverage?

You will be pleasantly surprised to know that insurance policies are already available which incorporate the need for minimum coverage. With effect from Jan 1 2014, the ACA mandates that most of the US citizens opt for minimum essential insurance coverage or pay a penalty. Following plans are available for US citizens:

  1. Medicare or Medicaid federal sponsored programs.
  2. Private insurers’ plan in the individual insurance market.
  3. Employer sponsored plans.
  4. Health plans available in States’ individual markets.
  5. Certain health plans that were operative before ACA.

Win-Win Scenario for Doctors and Patients!

Doctors and patients both stand to gain as Obamacare counters effectively insurers’ tendency to deny payment for pre-existing health conditions and impose limits on annual payment by insurance payers. Now pre-existing conditions will also be covered for insurance payment. Citizens will also avail plans that cover out-of-pocket expenses, for the first time in the country. Medicaid coverage is being expanded by many states, so that additional citizens are covered by 2014. The ACT will also cheer-up small business owners who form bulk of uninsured people. This means additional reimbursement receipts for medical units.

For further enquiries on Obamacare, rewards and incentives for wellness programs, tax credits, free EHR/EMR subscriptions, and so on, you are welcome to contact us any time convenient to you.

BYOD Policy – Is it the Grenade in Your Employees’ Gadget?

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BYOD Policy

BYOD – Bring Your Own ‘Device’ or Bring Your Own ‘Detriment’?

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is the policy of employers authorizing their personnel to utilize their own mobile gadgets such as tablets or smartphones for official and personal functions. In the recent years, a sheer rise in the BYOD movement is noticed across the country.

But, naysayers say that implementing the BYOD policy is tantamount to dropping a bombshell in one’s own healthcare facility. This article brings the ‘techniques’ to achieve the BYOD benefits into limelight.

BYOD and the Gadget World :

The escalating BYOD policy implementation is kindling the growth of gadgets such as iPads, iPhones, tablets, smartphones, laptops, mobile PCs, etc. in the market. Besides, the market shares of operating software systems like Linux or Windows and other supportive software applications or the so called “apps” right from health calculators to ICD-9 related apps are also fuelled to increase.

The BYOD Benefits :

Employer-edge :

  1. As far as the healthcare provider is concerned, the BYOD increases productivity as the users feel more amicable to the device usage.
  2. Users frequently upgrade their hardware and software apps, and may purchase cutting-edge devices which could trim down the operational costs of the employer. But, cost alone must not be the crucial factor to decide BYOD implementation at your hospital or clinic. 

Employee-edge :

  1. There is a survey report that 83% of users believed that their mobile gadget is much vital than their morning refreshment beverage.
  2. This is because they love their device in which they had invested due to their own wish and it’s not a device of the employer’s choice.

The Conduit for Smooth Sailing !

  • Design a ‘bespoke’ P&P Manual :
  • Most healthcare centers just follow the default policy and procedure (P&P) manual which may not fit their facility.
  • It is mandatory to analyze the cost-benefit ratio while confirming the standards for permitted mobile devices, user segments (mobile optional, mobile augmented, mobile primary) and accessible personnel in each segment across the facility.
  • Security and Control :
  • Many healthcare providers and practice managers deem that security is the most challenging issue of mobile enterprises in their facility. Thus, FDA-approved mobile apps and devices tuned-to-the-HIPAA policy must be used under the supervision of a tech-savvy healthcare professional.
  • If there is a security breach, a pre-programmed action plan must be followed to retrieve and expunge the patient health information (PHI) stored in the violated device through remote tools.
  • Educate About the Risks :
  • Many healthcare centers are already in the data breach due to the negligence of their employee or vendor or lost/ stolen mobile device.
  • Thus, it is obligatory for the healthcare administrators to enlighten their internal and even external stakeholders about the risks involved in the security infringement.
  • Support and Update :
  • Though your employees are tech-savvy, they may be in need of constant support regarding the usage of new healthcare and other apps, and healthcare policy updates like HIPAA – so as to forbid the legal gaffes.
  • So, appoint staffs to constantly monitor the amendments in the healthcare policies and healthcare IT (HIT) technologies and also update the same in the in-house setting through frequent staff meetings, training and development programs.

Just mellow out with your BYOD implementation by banking with MedicalBillingStar !