Tag Archives: physician

How HealthViewX Patient Referral Management Software Helps People In Different Designations In Healthcare?

Why is Patient Referral Management important for hospitals?

Patient begin a journey with the hospital when they are referred to that hospital to improve their health condition. Their expectation of the referral is usually high as they have sought another hospital for better experience and treatment. So hospitals must try to live up to the expectations of their patients. In order to manage huge volume of referrals, a hospital must have an effective Patient Referral Management System in place. This blog highlights challenges faced by operations manager, revenue cycle manager, healthcare IT department, patient referral coordinators and care providers (physicians and specialists) and how HealthViewX Patient Referral Management Software can help.

Challenges faced by physicians and specialists

Physicians and specialists play pivotal roles in the patient referral process. Physicians or PCPs hold the responsibility of initiating referrals. A patient visits the PCP and it is the discretion of the PCP to refer the patient to a specialist. What problems do physicians face in a referral process?

Manual and time-consuming process – The process of creating a referral is too manual and time-consuming. In every stage of the referral, the physician has to put in a lot of effort. Here are few instances,

The physician has to wait for the insurance pre-authorization process to be done
Finding the right specialist takes a lot of effort from the physician’s side
After sending the referral, the physician has to wait for referral updates from the specialist.

From a specialist’s perspective the referral process is cumbersome. A specialist faces the following challenges,

Multiple referral channels – For the specialist/imaging center who receive referrals face more difficulties than the referring provider. The receive referrals through various channels like fax, email, direct message, website, user-filled forms, etc. Managing and tracking all of it manually is a tedious task. The chances of missing out on a referral are high.
Poor communication framework – The existing referral process has no quick mode of communication to contact the PCP or referral coordinator for missing information. The specialist has to wait till he/she gets the necessary information before starting with the referral process.

Challenges faced by referral coordinators

After a referral request is initiated, then it is the job of the referral coordinator to create a referral. A referral faces the following challenges,

Insurance pre-authorization – A referral coordinator has to consult the insurance company if the diagnosis prescribed meet the insurance requirements of the patient. This process takes time as the referral coordinator has to wait for the insurance company to respond.
Finding the right specialist/imaging center – The next big step after insurance pre-authorization is finding the right specialist or imaging center for the patient. The referral coordinator has to consider many factors like the patient’s convenience, specialist’s availability, new specialists in the locality, etc. This is time-consuming as there will be many specialists and imaging centers. Narrowing down the search manually will be difficult for the referral coordinator.
Handling multiple software – A referral coordinator has to handle an EHR, fax system, appointment scheduling software all at the same time. The coordinator has to
- Collect the patient information and demographics from the EHR
- Do the insurance pre-authorization
- Find the specialist
- Send out the referral as a hard-copy fax

Handling so many things at the same time is tedious for the referral coordinators

Challenges faced by an operations manager

Patient Referral Leakage – An operations manager will be primarily worried about how many patients are referred out of the network. Patient referral leakage is a determining factor in a referral network. In many cases, the patients are referred out-of-network even when there are appropriate specialists within the network.
Referral Analytics – As a large number of referrals flow in and out of the network, it is difficult to track the exact number. It is also tedious to track the number of referrals in various status and to close referral loops. The operations manager also needs to know how many referrals were sent or received, how many were processed, how many are yet to be processed, etc.

Challenges faced by a revenue cycle manager

Patient no-show rates – After receiving the referral, the specialist/imaging center schedules appointments with the patient. In some cases, the patients are not notified clearly about the appointment. When patients do not show up, it is difficult for the specialist/imaging center to track. It results in revenue loss and patient dissatisfaction.
Costly software – As mentioned earlier, a referral process needs an EMR/EHR, appointment scheduling software and a fax integration system. So many softwares for a single process is not efficient.

Challenges faced by an IT strategist

Handling sensitive patient data – Patient data must be handled securely. Considering the current manual process, it is difficult to maintain data security.

How can HealthViewX solution add value to the process?

1. Insurance pre-authorization process – HealthViewX automates the insurance pre-authorization process. The provider need not coordinate with the insurance company for prior authorization. The HealthViewX solution will do it for them. This reduces the manual effort of the referral coordinators.
2. Intelligent Provider Match – The HealthViewX “Smart Search” feature makes it easy for the referring provider in finding the right provider. It has smart filters and search options that help in narrowing down the specialist based on the requirements. This saves a lot of time for the referral coordinators.
3. Timeline View to track referrals – With the help of a referral status, the referring provider can get to know what stage the referral is. A timeline view shows a history of stages through which the referral has progressed. The chances of a referring provider missing out on referral updates are very less.
4. Referral closure and feedback – The referring provider can close the referral when it gets completed. The receiving provider and the patient can give a feedback on the referral process to the referring provider. Thus the referring provider can make it easy for the other the next time.
5. Multi-channel referral consolidation – The HealthViewX solution can capture fax, phone, email, online form referrals or any other referrals in a single interface. It makes it easy to monitor and manage all channels of referrals in a single queue.
6. Patient coordination framework – After finding the receiving provider, the referral coordinator refers the patient. When the receiving provider receives the referral, the provider will get notified of the referral. Even the patient will be notified of the referral. The receiving provider can schedule appointments based on the patient’s comfort. This will cut down patient no-show rates.
7. Referral Analytics – Helps in tracking the number of referrals and gives complete information about the referrals processed, missed, scheduled etc with the help of a Referral Data-centric Dashboard. It helps the operations manager in taking informed decisions.
8. HIPAA compliance – The solution is completely HIPAA compliant which enables secure patient data exchange.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management solution smooths the referral process and solves challenges faced by people in different designations in healthcare. Do you want to know more about HealthViewX HIPAA compliant Patient Referral Management solution? Schedule a demo with us.

How Can Hospitals Improve Their Patient Referral Management By Complying With Meaningful Use

What is meaningful use?

Meaningful use (MU) is a health information technology (HIT) term that defines minimum U.S. government standards for

Using electronic health records (EHR)
Exchanging patient clinical data between health care providers, between health care providers and insurers, and between healthcare providers and patients

It has a set of rules known as meaningful use measures or meaningful use criteria. It determines whether or not a healthcare provider receives federal funds from the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or both.

Almost 99% of the hospitals in the U.S. use EHR systems. It is a huge leap by EHRs compared to 31% of hospitals back in 2003. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain the medical and treatment history of patients, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care. EHRs can:

Contain a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results
Allow access to evidence-based tools that providers can use to make decisions about a patient’s care
Automate and streamline provider workflow

Impacts of EHR on Care

Electronic Health Records create a greater and more seamless flow of information within a digital healthcare infrastructure. It encompasses and leverages digital progress and transforms the care delivered. With EHRs, hospitals experience improved,

Patient Care and participation
Care Coordination
Diagnostics and Patient Outcomes
Practice Efficiencies and Cost Savings

Three stages of Meaningful Use (MU):

Meaningful use is divided into three stages.

Stage 1, which began in 2010, focused on promoting the adoption of EHRs.

Stage 2, finalized in late 2012, increases thresholds of criteria compliance and introduces more clinical decision support, care-coordination requirements and rudimentary patient engagement rules.

Stage 3, which the CMS is writing from late 2014 through early-to-mid 2016, will focus on robust health information exchange as well as other more fully formed meaningful use guidelines introduced in earlier stages.

What are the incentives and penalties for meaningful use?

Under the HITECH Act enacted under the 2009 Recovery Act, incentive payments are available to eligible professionals who successfully demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

The Recovery Act specifies three main components of meaningful use: The use of a certified EHR technology

In a meaningful manner
For electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of healthcare
To submit clinical quality and other measures

According to Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, the practices receive incentives if they meet the meaningful use requirements. If they do not meet the meaningful use requirements, they will be penalized.

Medicare EHR Incentive Program

Medicare incentive payments are equal to 75% of a practice’s annual Medicare Part B allowed charges up to a maximum yearly amount.

After 2015, providers who were eligible for the Medicare Meaningful Use program but did not successfully demonstrate Meaningful Use were penalized. The penalty started at 1% of Medicare Part B reimbursements and increased each year to a maximum of 5%.

Medicaid EHR Incentive Program

In the case of Medicaid patients, a practice can earn up to $63,750 in incentive payments over the six years that they choose to participate in the program.

If you start in 2015, you can earn incentives through 2020. Practices can consult their state’s agency for information about a specific payment schedule.

Providers who are eligible for Meaningful Use under the Medicaid program are not subject to payment penalties unless the provider is also eligible under the Medicare program.

How can a Patient Referral Management Referral Management enhance an EHR system to achieve meaningful use?

FQHCs prefer working with EMR/EHR systems because they are comfortable with it. So they do not wish to move out their EHR/EMR system. An EHR/EMR system has many advantages but when it is complemented with a Referral Management software practices can experience many more benefits.

How great it would be if a Patient Referral Management software could integrate seamlessly with an EMR/EHR system? It can help in ensuring end-to-end Patient Referral Management without disturbing the existing system.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management solution provides easy steps to integrate with a practice’s EMR/EHR system. It also enables easy and safe transferring of patient demographics, diagnostic reports, test results or any sensitive information. The solution is HIPAA-compliant with complete data security.

HealthViewX can enhance a practice’s EHR capability by making it achieve meaningful use. The practice’s scoring can also improve by using HealthViewX Patient Referral Management solution.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management solution features

It has the following features,

Inbound and Outbound Referrals – HealthViewX Referral Management Solution can integrate with both the receiving and referring end. For inbound referrals, it helps in channelizing various sources into one single queue. In case of outbound referrals, it facilitates integration with the existing system to read the patient data and send out referrals.
Referral Timeline – Any referral has a timeline, to capture the progress of the referral. It is common to the referring and receiving provider. A referral will be mapped to a status which helps in tracking it better. For e.g. – If a patient does not show up for the appointment, the status of the referral can be changed to no-show and an appropriate reason can also be given. With the help of a referral timeline, the providers can always be aware of what is going on with the referral.
Workflow and Task Management – A workflow can be defined on how the referral flow must be(business rules). Providers can create tasks to manage referrals by assigning it to the respective person.
Improved communication – HealthViewX Referral Management Solution supports messaging and calling features for the referring and the receiving providers to stay connected.
Data Management – The solution is HIPAA compliant and enables secure data exchange of all patient-related documents.
Seamless Integration – The solution can seamlessly integrate with any EMR/EHR/RIS or Third Party application thus providing minimal disruption in the existing referral flow.
Referral Data Consolidation – The consolidated data regarding the referrals and the referral history of any patient can be printed as a hard copy at any time in pdf/excel.
Smart Search – HealthViewX Referral Management solution has a smart search facility that helps in finding the right provider for the treatment required.
Referral Data Analytics – Referral data-centric dashboard gives clear figures regarding the number of referrals flowing in and out, the number of referrals in various status, patient follow-ups, etc.

HealthViewX Referral Management solution helps in building a secure referral network in no time. Our expert team will guide you in changing to a Patient Referral Management Software with minimal effort. Schedule a demo with us to know more about our solution.

Reference

https://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/ehr/survey-nearly-all-us-hospitals-use-ehrs-cpoe-systems

Attract And Retain Patients Within Your Network In Seven Simple Steps

Did you know? More than 80% of the patients rely on online reviews to evaluate patients. 8 out of 10 Americans internet users have researched topics including diseases, treatments, health insurance, a particular doctor or hospital. They do not go to the specialist just because they were referred to. Indeed patients spend a lot of time researching about the hospital and other options. Hospitals try to seek the attention of the patients through advertisements. But in this world of growing technology, ads through radios and billboards have become old-fashioned. So the hospitals are quite lost with the following questions in mind,

How can we reach our ideal patients at the right time with the right message?
How can we keep them happy and loyal?
If potential patients are no longer reacting to traditional advertising and promotional methods then what are they responding to?

It is through Patient Value Journey.

The way a patient chooses their health care provider shows what consumers want from a product or service. Below is the 7-step Patient Value Journey that can help practices turn patients into appointments and advocates of their practice.

The Patient Value Journey

Millions of Americans are embracing technology. From online search to wearables, they are transforming the patient journey at record-breaking speed. Google receives 63,000 searches per second on any given day and health care is the third most searched topic.

Considering the present reality, how can a practice drive more patient appointments both online and offline? The best marketing strategies begin and end with how a patient finds a practice and the process that flow after their first appointment.

1) Attaining Patient Awareness

A potential patient first becomes aware of the practice and its doctor(s) during the Patient Awareness Stage. Perhaps they have a health problem or concern, are researching a health condition and potential treatment.

In this early phase of the patient journey, the patient has a problem. The practice must present their solution while showing them what differentiates them from other practices. Potential patients can become aware of a practice in the following ways:

Seeing an advertisement
Finding the practice on social media
Receiving a referral from another doctor, friend or family member
Viewing the practice website as a search result on Google
Meeting at a health fair or community event

All these avenues present significant opportunities for a practice to reach potential patients both online and offline.

2) Patient Engagement

After becoming aware of the practice, a potential patient will take action to learn more of their doctor(s). After grabbing their attention, the practice must trigger them to interact with you or their social circles. Downloading a digital asset (white paper, checklist or eBook) from your practice website

There are numerous ways patients can engage with the practice including:

Searching specifically by name for the practice on Google
Visiting physician review sites to check their overall score
Sharing, commenting or liking one of their social media posts
Clicking on an ad or post that drives back to their website
Asking peers (online or offline) about their experience with the practice
Visiting the practice website

Digital marketing, social media, and website strategies are critical for bringing the patients to the subscription phase. When new visitors arrive at the practice’s website, it must impress the users in a few minutes. The site must have an eye-catching design, have killer content, and be easy to navigate. In addition to being desktop-friendly, the website must also be mobile-friendly.

3) Patient Subscription

In stage 3, potential patients will opt in to view or receive additional content from the practice. Here, a prospective patient likes what they have seen so far, but isn’t ready to commit to an appointment just yet. They are, however, seriously considering that practice for their health care needs.

What patient actions can the practice expect in this phase of the journey?

Joining an email list for the practice’s newsletter
“Liking” the page(s) on social media to receive updates in their newsfeed
RSVPing to attend a talk or seminar
Signing up for a webinar discussing a particular pain point or treatment option

There are several tactics a practice can employ to optimize patient subscriptions.

Keep blogs updated and post relevant content that readers can share across their social networks
Respond (ideally in real-time) to comments on their social media pages
Add social sharing buttons to their blog posts, newsletters, and general emails
Encourage readers to share their posts on their social media networks

4) Conversion

In the Conversion phase, the potential patient is satisfied with their research and is now ready to become a patient of the practice with a scheduled office visit. Upon entering the conversion stage, a patient will:

Book an appointment and schedule an office visit via the website or by phone
Set up a time for an in-office consultation about services
Not cancel the appointment

To ensure a patient’s smooth flow from subscription to conversion, the practice must make the transition easy for them.

If a potential patient spends precious minutes on the website trying to figure out how to contact or book an appointment, they’ll just give up in frustration. The site must make it easy for patients to schedule a visit on every single page.

5) Achieving Diagnosis and Treatment

In the diagnosis and treatment phase of the patient journey, the medical team diagnoses and prescribes treatment to the patient. The patient receives immediate value in the form of a diagnosis or treatment plan following the appointment.

Depending on the condition, the patient is under observation or conservative treatment over multiple visits and monitoring.

6) Ascension

As part of their journey, patients may or may not be prescribed additional treatments. It depends on their condition and their response to initial treatment(s) in the diagnosis and treatment phase.

Some patients will receive continued treatment as needed. Some others may be referred to supplementary services in or outside of the practice. While others may require surgery and rehabilitation.

7) Advocacy

In the Advocacy stage, the patient has completed their treatment protocol and is satisfied with the outcome of their care. They are now in a position to advocate for the practice both online and offline.

Patients can share positive feedback with the world by:

Providing an online review or rating on the physician(s) review website(s)
Taking part in a video testimonial to share their brilliant outcomes and benefits with other potential patients
Become the subject of a case study

Patient advocates are one of the most valuable assets for a practice. Patient success stories create a connection, build trust, credibility, and interest to motivate potential patients to answer a call-to-action.

Making the Patient Value Journey Work For You

The patient-physician relationship is a symbiotic two-way relationship. The patients can provide transparent feedback which can positively impact the start of other patient journeys.

Mapping the medical practice’s goals with Patient Value Journey helps in understanding the audience’s mindset and behavior. It can hone the practice’s short-term, quarterly wins and activities that contribute to reaching their long-term goals.

Using technology to solve patient-related problems

If your practice is facing problems related to managing patient traffic, patient referrals, chronic care management, remote patient monitoring or anything at all, HealthViewX is always there to solve your operational issues and optimize the workflow. To know in detail about our solution, schedule a demo with us.

References

http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/pew-study-health-information-third-most-popular-online-pursuit

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077086/t/more-people-search-health-online/#.W4zdVc4zbIW

https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/how-patients-use-online-reviews/

How Can A Hospital Tackle Their Operational Problems With The Help Of A Software?

Hospitals are crucial in giving care to patients who come to them with various problems. With increasing health problems, the number of patients visiting the hospital is also increasing. As per the survey by Statistics Portal, Community hospital expenses per inpatient stay in the U.S has been increasing. Are hospitals doing enough to manage the increasing number of patients? Many hospitals are still managing their process and workflows manually. So what challenges do they face in handling such huge patient data and process manually?

Challenges faced

Let us a scenario based example to understand the challenges better. James is suffering from a headache for the past two days. He thought it would get better if he takes rest but it only became worse. He realized that he was running a high temperature and decided to visit the doctor.

The patient is trying hard to fix an appointment with the doctor – James had heard about a famous doctor nearby. Nothing was mentioned online about their opening or closing hours or if they were working today or not. Luckily he found the contact details. James calls up the doctor. The line was engaged. It was a holiday so many patients were trying to reach the clinic. He tried for half an hour before his call got connected. By that time most of the appointments were booked for the doctor. James finally got a slot to meet the doctor at 4 pm. This did not go well with James as he was already suffering from a severe headache. He felt that the hospital must have some means of scheduling appointments without any hassle during busy days.
Patient waiting to visit the doctor – James reached the clinic at 3.30 pm. He thought that his visit would be fine as he had already booked an appointment. He was surprised by the crowd. He found that there were ten more patients before him waiting to visit the doctor. He was not happy with the clinic as he had to wait for one more hour to visit the doctor. Why should he wait even after having booked an appointment? He regrets choosing this clinic as his headache is getting worse. The clinic had nothing interesting like magazines or tv to while away the time. That one hour of waiting was really bad for James. After meeting the doctor, James felt better. He finally came out of the clinic at 5.30pm after getting his medications.
Patient engagement – The clinic does not collect patient feedback about their visit to their health. James was looking for something like a feedback to make the clinic aware of his concerns. It seemed like they were too busy to hear him out. He went out of clinic thinking to never return to this place.

It is obvious that James is going to tell some other friends and family about his bad experience in this clinic. The chances of patients visiting the clinic after listening to him are less.

The above were the challenges faced by patients. But what challenges prevent the clinic from meeting the patients’ expectations?

Appointment scheduling – The clinic has an outdated method of fixing appointments over phone calls. There are no systematic methods of collecting patient requests and processing it as appointments. There is an extent to which appointments can be managed manually. When the number exceeds and when managed manually, it leads to patient dissatisfaction and also affects the workflow of the clinic.
Patient no-show rates – Many patients do not show up for appointments. The reason can be anything. The patient might have forgotten, visited another doctor or might have got better. There is no way of tracking which patients did not show up and why. The patients do not get reminders of the appointments which is an important reason for the increasing no-show rates.
Remote patient monitoring – There is no chance for the patient to get in touch with the physician in case of an emergency. Physicians are usually busy and are not available to patients for support. Though they are busy, it is good to make them available to the patients. It might be a case of emergency and the doctor’s advice might be crucial in that case.

How can a Software help in solving the challenges in the healthcare industry?

With the above-mentioned challenges, it is not good for a practice to manage its workflow manually. This is when Information Technology can help. Many physicians are skeptical about the cost a software will incur. They are not aware that healthcare software can solve their challenges and thereby reduce manpower. HealthViewX solution has the best features that can easily solve the problems of any practice.

No change in the current process – The HealthViewX solution can be integrated with EMR/EHR and can write data of referral into any system if required. It is almost zero deviation from the current workflow a practice is using.
Appointment scheduling and management – The HealthViewX solution has an application for the patients. They can conveniently fix appointments with the doctor depending on the schedule. The application also gives timely reminders to the patient and the physician about the appointment. It reduces patient no-show rates, patient waiting time and patient leakage. It has a positive impact on the workflow and patient’s experience.
Electronic Care Plans – The solution enables care plan creation. It helps in monitoring patient’s vitals, measurements, etc. If required, it can also be printed and handed over to the patient. This feature is in order to keep the patients engaged and encourage them to stay healthy by adhering to the care plan.
Audio and Video Calling features – It has an inbuilt audio calling and messaging application which is secure and enables faster communication. In case of an emergency, the patients can easily contact the doctors.
Patient Reported Data – Patients can record data for all attributes in the care plan. Summary graphs and table data helps the provider in monitoring the patient’s vitals. The patient medical records can be anytime printed in pdf or excel report form.
Health Device Integration – HealthViewX solution can integrate with any wearable device like Fitbit, Apple watch, etc. Hence the patients need not waste time in logging data in the application if they are already using wearables.
Report Consolidation – The data regarding the patients’ health attributes can be printed as a report anytime in pdf/excel form.
HIPAA compliant data security – The solution is HIPAA compliant and offers secure data exchange. It supports almost all formats of files and keeps the patient documents safe.

HealthViewX software solves most of the challenges faced by the practices. It increases the revenue and efficiency reduces manpower. Do you want the solutions HealthViewX offers in detail? Schedule a demo with us.

References

https://www.statista.com/statistics/459772/community-hospital-expenses-per-inpatient-stay-in-the-us/

Why Is HealthViewX The Next-generation Software In Patient Referral Management

What is Patient Referral Management?

When patients need advanced treatment or additional diagnosis that is not available within the practice, physicians refer them to a specialist/imaging center. The process of managing all the patient referrals that are received or sent is called patient referral management. It is a laborious process for FQHCs who refer patients to other specialists or imaging centers.

Challenges faced by FQHCs

One of our established clients based out of California is an FQHC who faced the following challenges in their patient referral network.

1. No single system for Referral Coordinators

The PCPs can create referrals on their EMRs. However, the referrals coordinators have to extract the referral lists that have been tasked on to their workgroup. They must manually pull down respective documents from patient chart to get the referral packet ready for Insurance pre-authorization. Then the referral coordinators must manually bundle the referrals and send those to the insurance company via fax. Post receipt of pre-auth acceptance, they have to manually track the rest of the activities. They have to communicate and coordinate with the specialist and patient, etc thus driving the referral to closure. In this workflow-intense process, the referral coordinators must hop through multiple systems like EMR, eFax, and spreadsheets etc. There is no system for the Referral coordinators to maintain and track the further status of the referral through the rest of its life cycle.

2. Cumbersome Insurance Pre-Authorization

Our FQHC client sends about 600 plus authorization requests per day to 15 plus different payers. Every authorization or referral packet has 14 plus pages. Some payers have their own physical forms that have to be manually filled in. These forms must be attached to the rest of the patient documents pulled from the EMR manually. Some payers have online portals for the above process. Considering the volume of authorization requests sent every day, it is not advisable to rely on a fully manual function. It makes the process cumbersome and prone to errors.

3. Specialist & Patient Referral Communication

From their EMR, referral order letters go to the patient. But the EMR has issues with its patient referral order template. Hence the referral coordinators have to manually design the template using MS Word and send it out. Specialist cover letters and reminder notifications in the EMR do not meet the requirements of the referral coordinators. They wish to customize and automate it.

4. Referral loop closure

Following up with the Specialists, receiving the reports back from the Specialist, and attaching it back against the patient chart in the EMR are completely manual time-consuming. Relying on only Fax & phone based communication for the same makes it cumbersome to manage as it has no effective means for tracking

5. Meeting Meaningful Use (MU) requirements with the EMR Share feature

Though the EMR SHARE’s main purpose was to help providers meet the MU requirements. In order to meet MU, the FQHC has to get the specialists to enroll on a direct message service so that they can use SHARE to transfer all orders. Though the FQHC already has the technology to meet the MU requirements, the issue is on the specialists’ side. Hence the EMR SHARE is not helping them meet the MU requirements.

HealthViewX is the Next-Generation Patient Referral Management Solution

1. End-to-End referral lifecycle management with bidirectional EMR/EHR Integration HealthViewX platform supports dynamic forms, workflows, task lists, reports, data visualization and has great integration capabilities. It has enabled our FQHC client to automatically pull referral orders from their EMR in real-time. It has also helped them in configuring all other referral coordinator workflows and tasks with maximum automation. Thus our platform has helped them achieve an efficient end-to-end referral management system.

2. Payer-specific prior authorization process automation

HealthViewX platform has a payer management module that maintains and manages

different payer details
their modes of prior authorization
direct authorization procedures
payer forms
online portal links

With this information already present, it provides the referral coordinator the capability to automate

prior authorization submission
status checks coupled
fax integration

3. Automated Specialist / Patient Notification & Reminders with Customizable templates and configurable channels of communication

HealthViewX – Template engine platform along with the communication engine gives the flexibility to the referral coordinators to

choose the relevant format and mode of delivery for Specialist / Patient communication
tie it along with the referral workflows by setting trigger rules and reminder rules.

4. Secure Online referral portal for Specialists with easy touch points via Fax /SMS/Email

HealthViewX clearly understands the specialists’ referral preferences by,

Multi-channel referral consolidation that brings all the referrals from every possible source into a single queue.
Detailed referral information through which that the Specialist receives all the necessary referral details.
Ability to communicate back and forth (electronically or via fax) in a simple and secure way.

These are few notable features of HealthViewX that have enabled referral loop closure from the specialist side.

5. Free secure Specialist online accounts with both sides integration capabilities to meet Meaning Use requirements

As mentioned earlier, the problem with MU requirements was not, it was not met by the specialists. HealthViewX solution provides free online accounts for such specialists. It was highly useful to our FQHC client as we supported seamless integration between both ends. It helped the specialists meet the MU requirements.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management application is the next-generation software for patient referral management. It has provided the best solution to the challenges faced by FQHCs. To know more about HealthViewX solution, schedule a demo with us. Our patient referral management experts will guide you through our HIPAA compliant solution.

Does A Referral Management Software Really Enhance The Patient Experience?

When patients need advanced treatment or additional diagnosis that cannot be given within the practice, they are referred to a specialist/imaging center. The process of managing all the patient referrals that are received or sent is called patient referral management. There are many challenges faced by the patients in the referral process.

Challenges faced by patients

Let us review a typical referral process including the challenges faced by the patients.

Patient visits the PCP – Andrews met with an accident recently. He met his PCP, Dr. John the next day as he was experiencing pain in his knee joints. After examining him, Dr.John wanted him to consult an orthopedic. The doctor then initiated the referral.
PCP initiates the referral – John created a referral in his EMR. He did not have time to do the insurance pre-authorization so he left it to Andrews. He then found an orthopedic and gave him referral information verbally. Now when he met the specialist, Andrews had to again elaborate his condition and problems to him. This increased the efforts he took to meet a specialist. It did no go well with Andrews as he was already in pain.
Patient Disorientation – John had instructed Andrews about the specialist he should visit, tests he should take and how to explain his condition. Andrews found these instructions too complicated to comprehend. He left the clinic with lots of confusions and doubts.
Patient visits the specialist – Andrews then called the specialist a number of times. The first two times, the line was engaged. Finally, when he got through, all appointments were booked for the day. to confirm his appointment. He had to wait for 24 hours in pain to meet the specialist. He spent another two hours in coordinating with the insurance company. At last, He met the orthopedic after long hours of waiting in pain. He got treated but was not happy with the waiting time and negative experience. He did not get back to the PCP to share referral updates and plans to visit some other PCP next time.

Challenges faced by the physicians

What factors stop Dr.John from giving the best patient experience to Andrews?

Insurance Pre-authorization – John runs a practice where he treats many patients in a day. He has not adopted a referral management software. So he has to do the insurance pre-authorization for his patients. It is time-consuming and tedious.
Finding the right specialist/imaging center – The clinic has no effective approach for finding the right specialist/imaging center. The chances of missing out on a good specialist/imaging center are high as it is done manually as they are not updated regularly.
No referral updates – John is not up-to-date with the progress of the referrals which makes referral loop closure impossible.

The lack of a systematic referral workflow increased the manual effort and makes it tedious to follow-up with patients and receive referral updates.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management System

Considering the challenges faced by the patients, an automated Healthcare Patient Referral Management System is the need of the hour. Electronic healthcare referral management system helps healthcare organizations in the seamless processing of the referral process.

Let us review the same instance with HealthViewX Referral Management solution in place,

Patient visits the PCP – Andrews met with an accident recently. He met his PCP, Dr. John the next day as he was having pain in his leg. After examining him, Dr.John wanted him to consult an orthopedic. The doctor then initiated the referral.
PCP initiates the referral – John created a referral in HealthViewX system. HealthViewX does the insurance pre-authorization automatically in the background. With the help of the “Intelligent Smart Search” feature, he found an orthopedic. After giving the necessary information, John created the referral. The specialist got notified of the referral and all referral information were easily accessible by him.
Patient Disorientation – Andrews left the clinic with clear information about the specialist and appointment details. There was no need for him to call up the specialist for appointment as everything is automated. The patient will be notified about the appointment and tests to be taken.
Patient visits the specialist – Andrews met the orthopedic soon after the appointment was fixed. He got the best treatment and was satisfied with the referral process.

If you were Dr.John, would you not want Andrews to have a better experience? By using referral management software, you can ensure that Andrews’ knee pain heals while he also develops a positive opinion about your practice. Using a referral management software, you as a PCP can retain patients like Andrews in your network.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management Solution features

Insurance Pre-authorization – HealthViewX solution supports automated insurance pre-authorization that reduces the manual work of the referral coordinators.
Intelligent Provider Match – The solution supports an “Intelligent Provider Match” Feature that helps in finding the right specialist/imaging center easily.
Seamless communication – HealthViewX solution has an inbuilt audio calling and messaging application which is secure and enables faster communication
HIPAA compliant data security – The solution is HIPAA-compliant and offers secure data exchange. It supports almost all formats of files and keeps the patient documents safe.
Referral history – The timeline view provides the history and current status of the referral. A status helps in knowing the referral progress.
Referral loop closure – Referral updates are hard to miss that makes it easier to close the referral loops on time.

HealthViewX Patient Referral Management application solves most of the challenges faced by the patients and PCPs. This increases patient satisfaction and revenue. To know more about HealthViewX solution, schedule a demo with us. Our patient referral management experts will guide you through our HIPAA-compliant solution.