The Top 5 Solutions for Your Practice’s “New Normal”

Tools for Your Practice’s “New Normal”

The phrase the “new normal” has been circulating since the start of the viral outbreak and is likely one that you will continue to hear for months to come. The “new normal” represents the changes we are likely to see due to protocols and processes we will need to follow. These processes aim to prevent any further spread of contaminants and to increase revenue streams. In order for these new processes to work, new solutions will likely be necessary to streamline processes for your practice.

The following solutions to include in your plan for the “new normal” restructuring include the following:

• Practice Marketing
• Digital Patient Intake
• Telehealth
• Clinical Decision Support
• Remote Patient Monitoring

Now, let’s dive into why each of these solutions are suitable for practices as they enter into the “new normal” and how they boost efficiency for certain processes.

Practice Marketing

In order to maintain and expand revenue streams that may have been loss during the outbreak, practice marketing will be vital. Leaving a lasting, positive impression on your prospective and current patients online enables your practice to lead patients into your practice’s “digital front door.” After you have welcomed them through the threshold, it is then your duty to give them a reason to stay. Through practice marketing initiatives, your practice should expect to tackle (or outsource) the following initiatives: search engine optimization (SEO), website design, email marketing, and reputation management.

Digital Patient Intake

The need to limit direct interaction with people and objects is a paramount initiative as the “new normal” approaches. Practices are tasked with creating safe environments that limit the risk of exposure for both staff and patients. Digital patient intake solutions can help achieve just that. With this solution, practices enable patients to fulfill registration tasks prior to entering into the office. This completely automates the check-in process, reduces wait times, and eliminates manual entry work for your front office staff. This solution allows patients to upload/update insurance cards or driver’s license information, update demographics, and work towards a more digital office.

Telehealth

Providing the right care at the right time is made possible with a virtual video visit solution like telehealth. Providers utilizing a telehealth solution are able to provide patient care for triage, low acuity cases, education, pre-and post-procedure consults, care coordination, chronic care management and more with this tool. It is convenient, cost effective, and provides balance to a provider’s workload while enabling practices to capture revenue that may be lost while practices limit the number of in-person visits.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS)

CDS provides patient specific information at the point-of-care that is intelligently filtered to display relevant information. EMRs and telehealth solutions are inherently CDS tools, but other platforms and solutions are being developed to enhance support available to clinicians. CDS tools are increasingly useful during virtual visits when providers may not have access to the full range of information needed. The core goal of CDS tools is to reduce diagnostic errors. According to VisualDx, there are 62 diagnostic errors made per physician each year. In the “new normal,” CDS tools can assist doctors in making accurate diagnoses for their patient bases and acting on illnesses early to prevent the spread of diseases.

Remote Patient Monitoring

Managing complex care conditions is made easier from afar with remote patient monitoring tools. These tools include  wearables, mobile devices, and other technological tools. RPM tools allow patients to record some of the following: weight, heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels.  RPM tools provide a way for providers to actively manage a patient’s health. In the “new normal,” these tools will be used to gather more insightful information about a patient’s health without requiring a visit to the office.

In order for any of these tools to work and flow back into one system for your staff to review, you’ll need foundational HIT solutions. Practice management and electronic medical record software provide the framework for each of these five solutions to provide insight and streamline processes at your practice throughout the “new normal.”

Are you looking to get started with PM, EMR, or any of these solutions throughout the “new normal”? Find out how your practice can get started today. Visit us at www.micromd.com/marketplace or call us at 800.624.8832.