Your clinic needs a modern management system if you want to stay afloat and avoid overworking and stressing your staff. However, every clinic has unique needs, and getting the first electronic health record (EHR) system you see advertised could prove ineffective.
Once you decide on a new EHR system to help manage your clinic or private practice, the next hurdle is implementing the system and ensuring all your employees know how to use it.
If you’re working with a tight schedule or don’t have the internal resources to make this a smooth transition, you may want to consider working with an EHR consulting firm.
An EHR consulting firm can analyze your clinic’s management needs and give you professional advice on implementation strategies and other software integrations you may need. From technical assistance to staff training, an EHR consulting firm will guide you on your journey towards automation.
Why Work With an EHR Consultant?
Merely having an EHR system for your clinic isn’t enough. In addition to proper integration, you and your staff need to know how to use it to the fullest. Having technically competent employees ensures that your clinic runs smoothly, efficiently, and as profitable as possible.
Your clinic doesn’t have to be in tip-top shape when you make the transition to a more advanced EHR system. You can make the switch if you’re falling behind on billing, your staff is overwhelmed, you’ve received numerous patient complaints, or simply because you care about providing the best care and service for your patients.
Working with a top EHR consulting firm can simplify this transition and take much of the work off your plate. But you need to find the right EHR consulting firm.
First and foremost, you need to find a firm that works with the same EHR system you plan on switching to, such as NextGen EHR. Also, make sure they regularly work with clinics of your size and specialty.
After clearing the basics of a suitable consulting firm, there are a few necessary services and features you should also look into before committing to their services, such as:
Audits and Reports
Look for a consulting firm that offers to audit your clinic. An audit collects data and evaluates your clinic’s current situation to find room for improvement and gaps in performance. The resulting report should tell your consultant everything they need to know about your clinic.
A proper audit ensures that the consulting company doesn’t waste time working on issues that you don’t have while neglecting your problem areas, such as backlogged billing or high appointment cancellation rates.
EHR Templates
Naturally, implementing a new EHR system or making significant changes to your current one will change your workflow to some degree. But instead of rearranging and working around the new system, utilize ready-to-use templates and custom EHR templates to smoothly automate the work. An experienced EHR consulting company should have these templates ready to go.
Project Management Support
Working on projects is an essential part of running a clinic, but they’re also susceptible to errors, especially if you’re trying something new. It would be best to find a consulting firm that offers project planning support from the basics of planning the project to developing it and training staff on new skills or software.
Staff EHR Training
Like any other job or task, the person doing it needs to have received training to do their job efficiently and limit errors. The same applies to your EHR system, as it can’t run entirely on its own but needs your administration staff to use it.
An EHR consulting firm that offers staff training can meet your employees at their level and help them get to where they can efficiently use your clinic’s EHR system.
Workflow Redesign Support
Your clinic’s workflow is the order in which you do a series of tasks to get a result. When you adopt a new EHR system, you may have to alter the order in which your staff completes tasks, who’s responsible for which tasks, and how they carry out those tasks. An experienced EHR consulting firm should be able to help you redesign your workflow for optimum efficiency.
Staff Augmentation Resources for Billing
Your clinic is a business that needs employees with diverse expertise to keep it up and running on an upwards trajectory. One of the trickiest parts of running a clinic is managing the complicated, multi-step healthcare industry billing cycle.
You should consider outsourcing your billing process through your EHR consultant, either fully or partially, if your staff can barely keep up with your current load or frequently falls behind. It’s especially important to implement staff augmentation at high-traffic times where you get an influx of patients.
Finding the Right Type of Help Running a clinic is hard work. From managing your staff to appointments and billing, it’s near impossible to do it all on your own or with a small team, even if you have the right software. That’s why, when switching to automating some of your background tasks, you need to find the right type of help to ease the transition.
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