In recent years, the ability to provide patients with better and more convenient online payment options has become much more of a necessity. In fact, one study found that 81 percent of consumers want their healthcare providers to provide more online payment options and that 71 percent want to be able to receive electronic statements from their providers. To remain competitive in today’s market, practices need to have a payments solution. More than that, they need to have the right payments solution for their needs.

While EHR and Practice Management solutions have become essential to practice success over the last decade, there are still practices that are not using fully integrated systems. Some practices are using a Practice Management solution while still relying on paper records. Others have EHR and Practice Management (EHR/PM) systems that are not seamlessly integrated because they come from different vendors.

We did it! We survived 2020! Hands down, 2020 was the toughest year (so far) of the twenty-first century. But we got through it. As we move into 2021, this is the time when many of us are making New Year’s resolutions. To help our readers commit to new initiatives for practice success in the coming year, this blog will suggest a number of useful New Year’s Resolutions for Specialty Practices.

In the few years prior to 2020, patient portal adoption among patients lagged in comparison to its level of adoption among healthcare providers. According to a 2017 GAO report, at that time, 87 percent of providers had implemented patient portals. However, only 30 percent of their patients accessed those portals. As it has been for other healthcare technologies, such as telehealth, the COVID-19 pandemic has also become a catalyst for more widespread portal adoption by patients.

According to a report from Grandview research, the market for patient engagement solutions is expected to grow by 4x between now and 2026, reaching $56.92 billion USD. Patient engagement has become increasingly important in recent years, driven by a number of factors. First and foremost, you have two young and tech-savvy generations (millennials and Gen Z) coming into adulthood and expecting more personalized online options from their care providers. At the other end of the generational spectrum, there is the last of a large aging population of baby boomers entering their later years, many of whom desire to “age in place” without losing the personal touch they’ve come to expect from their care providers. In response to the surging demand these factors have caused, the healthcare industry is experiencing a boom in patient engagement solutions.

Effective communication is a key component to the successful delivery of care. Without it, care quality is impaired. Since communication in a practice is essential to facilitating care delivery, patient satisfaction and the productivity of healthcare personnel—within all healthcare environments—there should be active communication between all members of a practice. However, some practices still struggle to communicate effectively with patients, thus preventing a smooth experience.

Having a specialty-specific EHR is important. However, subspecialty features are sometimes left out of EHR designs. Glaucoma specialists have their own particular needs, and the best EHR should be designed to meet them. For example, it can sometimes be difficult for glaucoma specialists to analyze patient trends over time in order to determine how they are responding to treatment. Also, it can be inefficient when you have to navigate through multiple areas of a patient’s chart to document glaucoma-related data.

Advancements in health IT have come to encompass a wide range of specialized EHR functionalities, including tools designed to address various specialty-specific documentation needs. However, many EHR and Practice Management (PM) solutions remain limited in this regard. A 2015 survey found that 77 percent of respondents were working with EHR solutions that were not designed for, or suited to, their specialties. The same study also found that 80 percent of physicians at the time were dissatisfied with their current EHR solutions. How things have changed in just five short years.