As technology continues to change, medical facilities are working hard to keep pace. With meaningful use incentives providing financial reimbursements to organizations that integrate new systems, more establishments are trying to stay as current as possible. It’s also important to ensure that communication with patients remains a priority.
According to a recent survey, a majority of doctors reported that their practices have greatly improved with the addition of new technologies.
Practice Fusion, the free, Web-based EMR platform released its third annual “State of the Small Practice” report. After interviewing over 1,000 medical professionals, the company found that 62 percent of small practice medical professionals found new technologies like EMR made things easier in their practices. However, almost 50 percent of those surveyed said that they had little to no understanding of meaningful use incentives.
The results also showed that meeting meaningful use deadlines was the main motivation for EMR adoption (54.9 percent), followed by improving care through new technologies (45.3 percent).
“Small medical practices are critical as the first line of care,” Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion, said in the press release. “As these practices struggle for survival in a turbulent time, we see it as Practice Fusion’s duty to do everything we can to empower them to adopt and utilize new, lifesaving technologies. With an estimated $100 million paid to our doctors so far, it’s clear we’re on the right track.”
It’s important for medical facilities of all sizes to ensure they have thorough communication with their patients. Working with a third party answering service can help organizations devote more time to properly integrating new systems – and training staff – while still maintaining contact with patients.
Not only can a live answering service balance phone, email and text message inquiries from patients, it can use a comprehensive scheduling system that can greatly benefit a medical practice. This can help organizations properly balance their time while still keeping patients informed on their medical histories.
