As specialty practices embrace technology to improve performance, they often come to a crossroads. On one path is the option of having separate solutions to handle clinical care, practice management and financial operations. On the other side is the option of an integrated system that seamlessly supports all three functions.

There has never been a more critical time to market a specialty practice. Increasing competition, rising patient consumerism and the need to expand shrinking margins are all factors that are pushing practices to better promote themselves. When done well, marketing efforts can drive referrals, foster loyalty and establish a positive reputation. Moreover, they can boost brand visibility, grow recognition and cultivate long-lasting patient and referral source relationships.

When it comes to MACRA’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), change seems to be the only constant. The requirements associated with the MIPS program have been in flux since MACRA launched in 2015. Despite the moving parts, specialty providers must remain focused on program compliance to receive incentive payments and avoid penalties. Unfortunately, with all the unknowns, it is often hard to feel confident that a practice is set up for success.

Communicating with patients outside of periodic care visits is critical to improving their long-term health. Frequent interactions can keep people on track with care plans, ensure they attend follow-up visits and reveal concerning symptoms that could lead to bigger problems. Regular exchanges can also convey that the practice cares about the patient, which can help with satisfaction and retention. Given the numerous competing priorities specialty practices face, finding time to periodically reach out to patients may be a challenge. An integrated electronic health record and practice management system can be a valuable tool in streamlining communication, facilitating timely outreach without taking staff away from other duties. Here are three aspects of an integrated system that practices can use to better engage patients:

As specialty practices begin to embrace value-based care models, many providers are considering technology that allows them to better capture information about the patient encounter, streamline financial operations and meet reporting requirements. Although this is a smart strategy, practices must be careful to not just bolt on solutions that operate in silos. Instead, they should look for technology that seamlessly integrates with other solutions, facilitating information exchange, enabling smoother processes and limiting the likelihood that key information will slip through the cracks.

As health care organizations aim to tighten their business processes to drive revenue and increase cash flow, specialty practices sometimes find themselves behind the curve, unsure of where to begin to improve performance. Part of the reason is there are some common misconceptions about the revenue cycle and the best ways to optimize it.

Many specialty providers wrestle with denials. For example, ophthalmology practices have one of the highest denial rates—weighing in at nearly 13 percent. If left unaddressed, denials can translate to significant money, and the financial fallout for a practice can be severe. As mentioned in a previous blog, providers should consider creating a denials prevention program as a sound strategy for improving revenue cycle performance. Here are three elements to keep in mind when designing such a program.

Re-tooling your revenue cycle to make it more efficient can go a long way in improving your specialty practices’ financial performance. As mentioned in the previous blog, a key area of opportunity is patient collections. The growth in high-deductible health plans is pushing patients to pay more out-of-pocket for their health care. In response, practices should be implementing processes and various technology to consistently collect these payments. Otherwise, money will be left on the table. Here are three strategies for improving the patient collections process.