By Julie Duck

If you have a practice, you also have practice management needs. Documentation. Billing. Patient scheduling. And that’s not all. Practice management software may be just the thing you are looking for to help you meet those needs. With the right software solution, you can turn your practice into a powerhouse of efficiency.

Return on Investment
Practice management software is designed to help you multi-task, offering features that not only market your practice, but keep tabs on income-generating tasks that you may have forgotten about. To help accomplish this, the software should deliver several key options to help you obtain a decent return on investment.

Of particular importance with any practice management solution, is the documentation component. It should help you create legible, logical SOAP notes, and be easy to use. Ideally, it matches your notes with patient billing. Like twins, both documentation and billing should work together to protect you from possible insurance audits, as well as keep you ahead of the mandate for electronic health records, scheduled to begin in January 2011. From here, all other components in the software solution serve to only enhance its ability to make practice management easier for you.

The goldmine
Tabulating and keeping track of your patient lists is the gold in your machine. From new patients, to those who’ve disappeared but you want to return, patient lists offer the opportunity to keep in touch, market your practice, reactivate lost leads and generate new income. Your system should also allow you to create referral lists for healthcare providers, lawyers, employers and colleagues, as well as provide space for notes in which to detail the kind of relationship you have with them.

To help you stay in touch with the people on your lists, you will need a series of forms and letters in which to compose and create the words that get things done. Preferably, the practice management program you choose will offer a mail merge feature to bring specific letters together with names from the lists. Good programs offer templates to help you get started, but you can also create your own based on your needs.

Stay alert
Practice management software can help you mind not only big details, but the little ones, too. Many programs offer alert systems to remind you to make collections, request visits and followup exams, and more. By staying on top of the little things, the solution

helps you to become aware of opportunities for increased revenue.

Decent systems will also alert you if there is information missing from your documentation, or if your patient’s health insurance has exceeded its limits. This allows you to make corrections before submitting claims, and saves you from the frustration of delayed reimbursements.

Additionally, some systems offer patient sign-in features that let you directly communicate with patients during their visit. This may include customized sign-in notes and reminders for unresolved matters. Instant messaging is also a plus if your system includes it, allowing you to communicate from the treatment room with your front desk staff regarding patient issues to address during check-out.

Go with the flow
Nobody likes to sit in a waiting room and wait. Patient flow is important – it keeps patients happy and helps you and your staff to operate efficiently. Practice management systems should feature a module that lets you keep tabs on appointments for the day and helps you to process patient flow, including tracking the patient’s entire visit from the moment they arrive, until they check-out. Your staff will also be able to keep track of your schedule with ease, allowing them to better fill treatment rooms, know the status of each patient, and keep everyone on time.

Even more important than patient flow is patient scheduling. How can you manage your practice without knowing who is on the books? Patient scheduling is the basis of flow, ensuring that patients are not left behind and that important recurrent visits are made. Ideally, you can do all of this via touchscreen or another electronic device, scheduling several patients across multiple appointment times and customized intervals. You should also be able to schedule your own time for continuing education, staff meetings and other personal events.

The power of practice management
Who doesn’t want their practice to run efficiently? It takes dedication toward making it that way. And with the right practice management software solution, you can begin taking steps toward realizing this. Don’t go it alone by sticking with old-fashioned, outdated processes that won’t protect you when you need it most – put the power of practice management to work for you today.

Julie Duck is the former editor of Chiropractic Products and a healthcare writer with more than 16 years of experience. She can be reached by e-mail at juliechiro@cox.net.