The accumulation of regular duties such as paperwork, scheduling, and invoicing may get in the way of caring for patients as a healthcare worker. What exactly is patient management software? Clinic management software, patient manager software, medical patient software, and medical practice management software are all terms used to describe a patient management system (MPM). Within healthcare institutions such as medical clinics or hospitals, it refers to a multitude of efficient automated systems meant to track patient information, diagnosis, prescriptions, interactions, and encounters.
Some of these software programmers are focused on patient care in general, while others are focused on specific operations like inpatient tracking or blood tests. They all have one thing in common: they make your work as a caregiver easier and more manageable. The FDA now classifies software like this as a medical device in its own category, so it’s critical to know what’s what in this industry!
Benefits
Providers of all sizes can benefit from patient management information systems. Here are a few examples:
Overburdened Ease
One of the major factors of high healthcare expenses is administrative staffing. Medical clinics and hospitals can save administrative costs by automating common activities like patient flow management. It accomplishes this by lowering the number of data entry jobs required by your front-desk workers, allowing them to make the most of their working hours. It also aids efficiency by allowing the same number of employees to conduct better, more meaningful work by lightening burdens.
Practice Management
Because of their limited resources, solo practices benefit greatly from patient/practice management systems. A patient management software can make a medical practice’s recordkeeping, charting, patient scheduling, claims processing, and billing operations run more smoothly. While bigger businesses may need to acquire separate software solutions for each of these requirements, small businesses may receive all they want in one simple bundle. Providers have fast access to patient information as well as a dependable means for updating charts, marking prescriptions, and other critical information with MPM. Billing and bookkeeping that is accurate keeps the practice operating smoothly and ensures that your financial status is in order.
Timely Patient Care
Larger clinics and hospitals can reap the same benefits as smaller ones, with the extra benefit of streamlining patient-related activities. Because big practices have a high volume of patients, MPM’s scheduling tools are critical to their operations. A well-organized patient intake flow may make the difference between a peaceful, orderly waiting area and a crowded hotbed of annoyance and aggravation. A thorough management programmer allows for fast record transfers, improves efficiency, and avoids treatment mistakes caused by incomplete or erroneous paper records. The greatest patient management software enables healthcare practitioners to give fast, accurate, and high-quality treatment to their patients.
Organization
Do you recall when hospital charts were housed in filing cabinets in the basement? It’s astonishing that anyone was ever treated well. Those days, thankfully, are no longer with us. Charting modules (or seamless integration with your own EHR/EMR module) are available in practice management software to preserve patient data, charts, appointments, and billing information in a single digital file. Digital storage saves space, resulting in a cleaner, more pleasant office, as well as fewer stressed personnel. Patient management tools also assist clinics and hospitals in complying with HIPAA privacy rules since digital information is more secure than paper files.
Day-to-Day Operations
Many administrative activities are streamlined and standardized using automated process management, allowing medical professionals to focus on what they do best: patient care. As a consequence, employees may notice enhancements that make their occupations more satisfying. Patients benefit from a higher level of value-based medical treatment when people delivering care are happy and healthy.
The facility’s bottom line benefits immediately from efficiency, precision, and fewer mistakes. Patients who receive excellent care from a dedicated and competent medical staff are more likely to stay with the clinic and refer their friends. Clinics and hospitals may grow their patient capacity while still offering high-quality treatment with management tools in place. More patients equals more money.
Key Features
Not all of the capabilities mentioned below are available in every patient management software package. Each function, however, is included in some of the existing patient management systems. This thorough list might assist you in better understanding your practice’s specific needs and getting a head start on the software decision process.
Download our Software Requirements Template for Patient/Practice Management.
Medical Records
Any healthcare professional has to be able to monitor, store, and access their patients’ electronic medical records. Some patient monitoring software includes a charting module, while others work smoothly with third-party EHR/EMR software. Before you choose a patient record management software package, figure out which you require.
Charting features should record, update, and preserve critical patient data within the system for access during future visits, whatever option you pick. It generates flow sheets for each patient that include information such as vaccines, past diagnoses, surgeries, test results, chronic conditions, and other pertinent information.
Some MPMs interact with other medical applications, making electronic health records transfer between providers simple. Keep in mind that not all software solutions provide this, so keep that in mind while selecting software.
Scheduling
Scheduling is one of the most useful components of a clinic management system. The days of contacting and arranging appointments over the phone are coming to an end, which is great news for those who want to embrace practice management. Patients may arrange appointments online with a patient scheduling module and have access to a patient portal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They may also use the system to cancel and reschedule appointments, so your front desk personnel doesn’t have to.
Patient management software may send automatic appointment reminders through email, SMS, or phone call once an appointment has been made, minimizing the possibility that patients would miss their appointments.
When routine preventative care appointments are needed, the system may even send out automatic warnings. My eyesight prescription, for example, is about to expire, and I received an automatic email from my doctor reminding me that it was time to renew it. It’s convenient for patients and employees, and it promotes the single most important thing individuals can do to keep healthy: seek regular preventative care.
Patients aren’t merely scheduled in patient management programmers. When appointments are made, the system can reserve the necessary equipment and space for the appointment. Some doctor-patient management software even allows you to schedule your employees and physicians in the same system, eliminating the need to switch between multiple software platforms.
Patient Encounter
This collection of clinical management software features keeps track of and controls the patient contact before they ever enter the building. Electronic intake forms are generated by patient check-in software modules for them to fill out prior to their appointment. This streamlines a patient’s first clinic or hospital appointment and cuts down on time spent filling out paperwork in person. Patients may check in online once they arrive, and the system will track their wait times in order to collect data for performance analysis.
Patient management software keeps track of exam room availability and the progress of each test. Users can take notes immediately within the system using the transcribing facilities, which are usually in standardized SOAP format.
Patient management software automates the checkout process, including copay collection and patient follow-up appointment scheduling, once an appointment is completed.
