More than ever, it's incredibly important for medical professionals to do everything they can to maintain patient satisfaction. Studies show that physicians who engage in direct eye contact with patients are perceived as more empathetic and well-liked. This can be facilitated with mobile tools. Nextech's EHR solution works on both a PC and an iPad, allowing you to choose the best device for patient interaction. With the iPad app, you can keep direct eye contact in the exam room and even stay connected to your patients and your practice wherever you go.

With the EHR Incentive program and other initiatives to make health care more engaging, the patient portal is more important than ever. However, as revealed at the 2015 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference, portal technology has largely fallen short when it comes to fostering engagement.

Regardless of the specialty in which you work, having effective practice management techniques will be key to your success in the medical world. Simply put, no matter how strong the care you provide to your patients is, you won't be getting everything you can out of your practice unless your management is as close to perfect as possible. While there will always be some level of inevitable mistakes in this sort of work, it's important to recognize that a continual, ongoing evaluation and adjustment of your practice management techniques can be extremely beneficial to you, your staff and your patients. Take a look at these key tips, suggestions and techniques to help you avoid a practice management epic fail:

Things have changed a lot since that epic and historic moment, all those years ago, when Al Gore invented the internet (and yet, oddly enough, his name isn’t mentioned once in the history of the internet). Just kidding… About Al Gore, not about things changing. They have changed. A lot… Especially when it comes to how we use the internet. And I’m not just referring to the shocking number of people who ended up using it primarily just to look at pictures of cats. Originally, searching the internet required a desktop computer with a dialup modem that would scream at the user until a connection was established (remember that sound?). These days, we have Wi-Fi that allows us to access the internet from various devices—desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even our cars.

Recent advancements in technology have put mobile devices in the spotlight in the healthcare industry. More physicians and specialists are harnessing the power, mobility and convenience of smartphones and tablets in clinical settings, using them to view electronic medical records, schedule appointments and display clinical information for patients without the need of a full personal computer setup. The increasing prominence of these platforms in healthcare settings has spurred an accelerated development of medical software applications.

Transcript Hello, and welcome to the Nextech blog! Today we will be speaking about how to improve and increase use of your patient portal. First and foremost, Medical Practice Insider reports that you'll need to make sure that your patients are aware of the patient portal and how to use it. While they may not know the ins and outs of electronic medical records, you should take some time out of their next visit to introduce them to the concept and field any initial questions. Physicians could spend a couple of extra minutes with patients to educate them on benefits of a patient portal and answer their questions. It might also be helpful to have a portal kiosk on site where they can set up their account while they wait.

Advancements in technology have made mobility possible in the clinic, and it goes well beyond the use of smartphones for sending patient appointment reminders. With tablet computers, physicians and specialists can access patient records anyplace and any time and walk from room to room while continuously charting. Along with enhancing convenience, it promotes patient engagement and can improve workflow.

Even with vast improvements in patient engagement and scheduling methods, no-showscontinue to be a major concern for practices. When a patient fails to arrive for his or her appointment, it has a negative impact on clinical workflow in a variety of ways, especially when it comes to financial losses. What do no-shows cost providers? A North Carolina-based study looked into the costs of no-shows for health care providers. The researchers created a situational model that applied the average non-attendance rate of 18 percent to a schedule of 24 patients in one day. With perfect attendance, the net gain would have been $4,433.32, but a no-show rate of 18 percent would mean a loss of $725.42, reducing the net gain to $3707.90.