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.

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.

There are numerous external factors that can impact a specialty practice’s ability to remain financially strong—shrinking payer reimbursements, evolving regulatory requirements and the exploding number of high deductible health plans, just to name a few. A key to navigating these evolving dynamics is a high-performing revenue cycle—one that is not only efficient but also effective at capturing all the revenue that a practice has earned.

Everyone has some ideal of freedom in their life—liberation from restrictions, stress, work, hardships, barriers, financial burdens, etc.—and what that might feel or look like. For most, it’s a deep sigh of relief, a greater lightness of being or a better way of living. Freedom is at the heart of most New Year’s resolutions. There is some desire to free ourselves from one way of life and attain another, whether, for instance, it’s to get in better shape, spend more time with family, build better relationships, create more adventure, travel or produce more income.

The holidays present a prime opportunity to reach out and support those in need. As a company, Nextech is dedicated to helping their neighbors throughout the Tampa Bay area—and this commitment extends beyond just the holiday season. The Nextech employee wellness committee has overwhelmingly found that company staff place a high value on service work and are interested in programs that enable these activities.

More and more, health care providers are turning to mobile solutions to help with patient care. In fact, according to a recent Research2Guidance report, 80 percent of physicians use smartphones and medical apps within their practices. Further research by Wolters Kluwer Health states that physicians access drug information (72 percent) and communicate with nurses and other staff (44 percent) via their smartphones and look at medical research (63 percent) using tablets.

How your EMR & Practice Management Systems Play a Part in Contingency Planning Disaster. Catastrophe. Crisis. Most of us do not like the think about these things, and we often neglect to plan for them until they are upon us. But in the midst of recent events—Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, wildfires in California and one of the largest earthquakes in Mexico—it is important to recognize that contingency planning is something that should not be overlooked, waiting until a threat is imminent and we must react.