Learn how the right software can make you a more efficient and effective chiropractor.

By Derek Greenwood

Computers, in one form or another, are found in almost every area of our lives. And much like an employee, computers can do actual work for you.

They can simplify billing, make note writing faster and more detailed, count your inventory, graph your statistics, recall patients, do accounting, and much more. Essentially, the more work your computer does, the less money you spend on additional staff.

However, this does assume that you are purchasing your software and are not on an indefinite lease, paying forever.

What is software?

Software is a complicated list of instructions that tell the computer step by step what to do. Without software, a computer is just a useless piece of plastic and metal.

A computer can’t do anything without the instructions given by its software. So it makes sense when upgrading your practice’s computer system to first decide which software performs the functions needed for your office. Then, buy the computer that the software will perform best on.

The first use of a computer system in chiropractic was for billing. Doing your insurance billing by manually typing the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) form on a typewriter was boring, slow, and expensive.

Can you imagine having to roll a HCFA form into a typewriter and space by space fill out the entire form? Can you imagine doing that over and over again on an almost constant basis every month? Thankfully, you don’t have to do that anymore.

The evolution of software

Following the first billing systems, came full practice management systems. These systems included integrated scheduling, inventory control, messaging, patient management, statistics, and more. These were a boon for practices because they could further reduce the number of staff required. This made offices more efficient and more profitable.

Next came electronic documentation, document storage, emailing, faxing, digital patient sign-in, and more. Each step reduced the amount of physical labor. This also changed the type of credentials an employee needed to work in a practice.

These days, it is essential to be computer savvy and a trained specialist in the software used in your practice. The real benefit is how one employee, working in conjunction with a modern computer system, can do the work of four employees from 20 years ago.

Currently, the federal government is recommending that healthcare providers computerize their health records to an even greater degree. Gone are the days of just having to worry about the quality and completeness of your exams and daily notes.

Now, additional information is required from the patient on a regular basis. Much of the data will need to be electronically transmitted to a government database and possibly another doctor.

Additionally, there is the constant threat of your reimbursement being lowered. In some cases, insurance companies won’t reimburse you at all for treatments they covered just a few short years ago.

Does this mean that our practices are doomed? Does it mean there is simply no way to be profitable in chiropractic anymore? Not at all.

You can still make a good living and help a lot of

people, but you are going to have to get more efficient. And that means getting even more computerized than you already are.

Which one of the following scenarios best describes your clinic?

• You bought a billing package some years ago and it is still working for you. You do your insurance follow- up on paper, you hand count your inventory, and you do your notes on paper, too.
• You bought a billing package years ago, but decided to add to it. You bought a scheduling package from a different vendor, and bought a simple noting package from yet another vendor. Your software programs don’t talk very well to each other and are not very customizable, but at least they help. It does take quite a while to get the staff trained on all the different programs because they all work differently. If there is a problem, you may have to deal with three different tech support departments as well.
• You don’t really like computers and don’t want to change the way you do things. You only have a computer in your office because doing billing on paper is too awful to imagine. So you have the simplest, cheapest software program you can find and are happily running it on Windows 98. Each case above is hemorrhaging money at a terrific rate, and each case above believes it is doing the right thing. So what is needed? These offices need an adjustment to the reality of what a computer should actually be doing for them.

Modern systems can do more work than systems of the past. Spending money on modernizing your software and computers can pay you back much faster than you might think.

The right system in your office, implemented properly, can literally pay for itself in just a few short months.

With good computerization, a practice can grow to multiple doctors and only require a single administrative employee. How is this possible?

1. Bills go out electronically or on paper with the touch of a few buttons. You don’t have to correct anything.
2. Insurance follow-up is done with the aid of an insurance follow-up center. No more fussing with accounts receivable reports, billing logs, and copies of explanations of benefits.
3. Rebilling and tracers are done automatically.
4. The patient portion of the amount owed on services is accurately predicted and collected at the time the service is rendered.
5. The insurance portions of the service are accurately projected and followed through until fully collected with a minimum of employee time.
6. No one leaves the office without a future appointment unless he or she has been discharged.
7. Inventory is fully and automatically monitored including reordering, profit statements, and taxes collected.
8. SOAP notes are done in seconds, not minutes, with the services automatically transmitted to the front desk and entered.

Features like these — in addition to many more — can help you become more efficient.

There are quite a few software packages that offer features like these. It is up to you to find the one that will help you get more done,  see more patients, and perhaps make more time for the fun things in life.

Derek Greenwood is the founder and CEO of EON Systems Inc., creators of The Digital Office, an EHR solution. He can be reached at 800-955-6448, info@eonsystems.net, or through www.eonsystems.net.