5 Reasons Your Small, Private Practice Needs an EHR

Every medical clinic, no matter its size, needs an efficient way to organize patient data.

If you have a small, private practice, you may think paper charting or a custom-built record-keeping system suits you just fine —– after all, you don’t have that many records to keep.

The truth is, even a small practice can get huge benefits from switching to an EHR. Holding out on this technology is doing a disservice to your patients and leaving money on the table.

By implementing an EHR, your private practice can:

1. Provide better patient care
2. Collaborate with your patients’ other medical providers
3. See more patients in less time without sacrificing visit quality
4. Operate more efficiently
5. Maximize reimbursements from Medicare and private insurance

Granted, it takes the right EHR to realize all these benefits. Nextech’s EHR tools are developed and supported by experts with real clinical experience, who understand what a medical practice needs.

Since 1997, we’ve served thousands of small, private practices. Here are the five most commonly reported benefits.

5 Ways Small Practices Benefit from EHRs

1. EHRs Help Clinics Provide Better Patient Care

Use of EHRs has been shown to reduce medical errors in outpatient settings.

An EHR gives every provider on a patient’s care team a snapshot of the patient’s health. This can prevent errors caused by, for example, a dermatologist inadvertently prescribing a treatment that interferes with a patient’s heart medication, or an ophthalmologist missing an opportunity to do a retinopathy screening because they were unaware of the patient’s history of prediabetes.

EHRs also provide clinical decision support. Providers in a small practice wear a lot of hats, and it can be almost impossible to keep up on the latest medical guidelines and recommendations.

An EHR, however, is always up to date, and can provide alerts and intelligent suggestions to help a provider decide on the right course of treatment.

And for old-school providers who worry that an EHR will dehumanize the patient experience, nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, by taking voice-to-text notes during an exam and automating the more tedious parts of charting, an EHR allows providers to give more attention to their patients. Instead of scribbling notes or entering data, the provider can put 100% of their focus on the person in front of them.

2. EHRs Enable Collaboration Between Providers

Paper charts or electronic medical records (EMRs) are only helpful within the confines of a single practice.

An EHR allows every medical provider a patient sees to access and update the same records.

Small practices can immediately see the results of labs and imaging ordered by other providers. E-prescribing lets providers quickly communicate with pharmacies and ensure prescription information is entered accurately.

Referral letters can be completed in minutes. They’re generated right in the patient’s chart, prepopulated with information from the exam.

3. Clinics Using an EHR Can See More Patients in Less Time

An EHR allows a small practice to increase its patient volume without adding hours or robbing precious minutes from appointment slots.

How can you see more patients without shortening appointments? By decreasing the time you have to spend on all the things that surround the patient visit.

An EHR reduces patient intake time and charting time. Nextech customers have reported saving as much as 60 to 90 minutes a day on paperwork — time that can instead be spent with patients.

Higher patient volumes is just one revenue stream an EHR opens up to private practices. An intelligent system can also cross-reference patient data against criteria for current clinical trials, helping you identify patients who might be good candidates.

4. EHRs Increase Small Practices’ Efficiency

Providers and patients aren’t the only ones who benefit from an EHR. Administrative staff benefit as much or even more.

An EHR can streamline and automate routine administrative tasks like scheduling, coding, and billing, freeing up staff time for more meaningful activities. The heightened accuracy of these tools means fewer headaches like double-booked appointment slots or rejected insurance claims.

Boosting efficiency has a secondary long-term advantage. However dedicated a doctor may be to their practice, few want to do it forever. Taking steps to ensure the practice is updated and efficient will make it more attractive to potential buyers down the line when it’s time to retire.

5. EHRs Help Maximize Reimbursements

An EHR makes tracking and reporting the data you need for MIPS or MACRA compliance easy. Nextech clients score an average of 99.97 on the MIPS scale, enough to secure the higher Medicare reimbursement rate.

Our specialty-specific software suggests the most relevant codes and reduces or eliminates data entry errors. When it comes to reimbursement, this means less than 5% of our average clients’ claims are rejected.

The Right EHR for Small, Private Practices

Once your small, private practice has decided to try out an EHR, it’s important to select the right one. Implementation can be resource-intensive, so you want to choose a partner who will deliver a great experience and positive ROI.

Check out our step-by-step guide to choosing an EHR provider.

If you’ve already tried an EHR and found it lacking, don’t give up hope. Review our guide to switching EHR providers to see how you can make your next partnership more successful.

How Nextech Serves the Unique Needs of Small Practices

Nextech Is Scalable

An EHR designed for large, enterprise healthcare systems often can’t be scaled down to fit a small practice’s workflows.

• For one thing, large-practice EHRs are often overkill. They’re loaded with features and functions the staff at a small practice will never use, but will have to learn to navigate around and ignore.
• Enterprise EHRs are often built with the assumption there will be an in-house IT team to manage and maintain them. While they can be customized and configured, it’s usually not a task that the provider or practice administrator can do by themselves.
• Finally, the more complex the system, the more training and support people will need to use it. A small practice can waste a lot of energy implementing and training on features it doesn’t need.

Nextech was designed for scalability. Our EHR can be used by everyone from a single-provider practice to a multi-location health system. We can meet your practice wherever it is. If you scale, your EHR can grow right along with you.

Nextech Is Customizable

Our specialty-specific EHR is designed to fit the unique needs of dermatology, med spa, ophthalmology, orthopedic, and plastic surgery practices. Within each specialty are further subspecialty charting features.

Nextech was designed to be interoperable and easy to integrate. While we offer a number of practice management tools, if you prefer to keep your current billing or scheduling solution, we can customize your EHR to work with them.

Nextech is more than just customizable to the practice; it’s customizable to the practitioner. Each provider has their own preferred charting style. Nextech’s customizable interface can be adapted to deliver each user the view they like to use.

Nextech Has a Great Onboarding Experience

We want to get your small practice set up and using Nextech as quickly and painlessly as possible. A dedicated specialist will work with you on your personalized onboarding experience.

We’ll handle technical details like secure data migration and integration. To minimize disruption to your schedule, we take just 48 hours of downtime to implement your customized EHR. The entire process can often be done during a time the practice is closed anyway.

And since training is a key component of getting the most out of your system, we’ll provide easy-to-understand staff training. It typically takes staff less than a week to learn how to adeptly navigate the software and do their jobs using the new EHR.

Nextech Is User Friendly

Our EHR interface is designed to be intuitive, so your small staff can learn it quickly and use it easily without intensive training or an in-house specialist.

With automations and smart stamping, the EHR will handle a variety of data entry tasks for you. It’s so efficient, as many as 86% of patient charts will be completed at the time of the patient’s visit.

Ongoing training is always available; many of our clients schedule a follow-up training a few months after implementation. This refreshes memories and helps people build their skills once they’ve gotten the basics of the system down.

We’re committed to constant improvement, but we won’t leave you behind. Our annual user conference, EDGE, ensures your staff stays up to date on all the latest features and knowledgebase as our product evolves.

Nextech Has Easier Billing

You can’t run your private practice without cash flow. Nextech’s EHR helps you collect more of what’s yours in less time.

Our specialty-specific software puts your specialty’s unique ICD-10 codes at your fingertips, eliminating the need to hunt for the right code. Our clients report 96% coding accuracy when using our tools.

Nextech’s EHR makes it easy to verify insurance eligibility before the appointment, saving time and frustration for staff and patient. Our point-of-sale system offers flexible payment options, and our integrated billing function can complete a day’s worth of reconciliation in as little as five minutes.

Nextech Is Affordable

Providers in small practices without an EHR often hesitate because of the cost of implementation.

That makes sense – implementing a great EHR takes a significant up-front investment. Like any investment, it’s helpful to think of EHR implementation in terms of ROI.

Better efficiency means staff can get more done during the workday, reducing the need for overtime.

A comprehensive system that includes practice management tools like payments, marketing, and patient engagement allows you to eliminate some third-party software applications, consolidating your tech stack.

Because EHRs lower the chances of medical errors, you can consider the investment a move toward risk management and liability reduction.

Nextech Is Reliable

There are few things more frustrating than working with software that’s prone to outages. Nextech’s cloud-based tools boast a 99.999% uptime.

At Nextech, we take data security seriously. We’ve taken both physical and digital measures to keep your data and your patients’ data private and secure.

Nextech Is Compliant

While our data tools make sure you comply with HIPAA, other features keep you compliant with MIPS.

We stay on top of changing regulations and tracking data so you can focus on delivering outstanding care.

Nextech is certified to meet meaningful use. Relevant MIPS and MACRA measures appear in the chart, so you never miss an opportunity for documentation that could add to your Medicare reimbursement.

Nextech Is Comprehensive

Nextech offers an all-in-one solution to small practices. Your EHR, practice management software, patient portal, telehealth, and e-prescribing are all under a single umbrella. Build smooth, simple workflows for clinical activities, marketing, billing, scheduling, and more.

With our convenient app, your system is accessible from anywhere, on any device. Communicate with staff, patients, and other providers asynchronously or in real time.

Nextech Has Outstanding Customer Support

Nextech’s award-winning customer support is U.S. based and available 24/7. Reps are trained and equipped to address and solve problems in the moment, not just take tickets and call back. Our outstanding support team is one reason Nextech has a 95% customer retention rate.

Nextech Is Award-Winning

Nextech is the proud recipient of a number of industry awards:

• Best in KLAS Ambulatory Specialty EHR
• The Healthcare Technology Report Top 25 Healthcare Software Companies
• The Aesthetic Awards Best in Industry Practice Management Company
• G2 High Performer
• G2 Easiest to Use
• G2 Best Support
• Capterra Shortlist
• Software Advice Front Runners
• Bronze Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service
• AAD’s DataDerm Recognized EHR Vendor: Gold
• ASCRS Eyeworld Platinum Partner
• IntelleChartPRO #1
• AAO IRIS Registry EHR Collaborator
• ONC Certified HIT Module
• Drummond Certified HIT Module

Whether a private practice is small, large, or in between, it can benefit from using a robust EHR. Schedule a demo to find out if Nextech is the right choice for you.

FAQ

Are small practices required to switch to EHR?

EHR mandates became law in 2016, with enforcement penalties starting in 2024. Penalties for noncompliance include being docked percentage points on your Medicare reimbursement.

Are EHRs HIPAA compliant?

Yes. HIPAA always included a privacy rule that established a patient’s right to view or receive copies of their health records. EHRs make this access easier and clarify what HIPAA calls “covered entities” — the people and organizations authorized to view a patient’s health information.

What’s the difference between EHR and EMR?

An EMR (electronic medical record) is like a digital version of a paper chart. It exists within the confines of a single practice and is not interoperable.

An EHR (electronic health record) is a 360-degree picture of a patient’s health information. It is tied to the patient, not the practice, and any provider involved in the patient’s care can access and update it.

Learn more about the differences here.

What are the disadvantages of a free EHR?

Every business needs to make money. If a software provider isn’t charging for the use of their tool, they are making money off it another way – for example, by targeting users for advertising, charging for “add-ons” required to make the tool functional, or scraping and selling practice and patient data.