Technology continues to make advancements that affect many different aspects of our lives, including how healthcare practitioners run their behavioral health practices. There are many different ways practitioners can use technology to improve business efficiency and profitability, which in turn allows them to reinvest in their practice and help it grow.
Learn more about how various healthcare and business improvement technologies can improve a practice’s operations.
1. Storing patient information on electronic health records
Electronic health records (EHR) are digital patient records that allow authorized individuals to access a patient’s health history via digital platforms. These digital records offer many benefits over traditional paper-based patient files. The advantages include faster access to current patient information, the ability to update patient records in real time, less risk of loss of vital medical data, and helping keep your practice HIPAA-compliant by ensuring you’ve taken the necessary steps to protect a patient’s sensitive data.
2. Provide a telehealth service for remote healthcare
Telehealth is another way you can better connect with your patients, even if you are unable to meet them face-to-face. But what is telehealth, actually? How does telemedicine work? And what are the benefits of telehealth? We answer these questions below.
Telehealth is a method of providing healthcare to patients remotely by using technology. No matter where your patient is, as long as they have access to the internet, a healthcare practitioner can set up an online appointment via video call. The patient can then access the virtual appointment via a desktop or laptop computer, or a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. It’s also possible to provide telehealth via an audio-only appointment on a phone. While the use of VR in telehealth is still in its infancy, it could also become an incredibly useful way for patients to connect with their healthcare practitioners, with a VR environment providing additional immersion compared to existing telehealth technologies.
Benefits of telehealth
Telehealth can benefit the patient and the healthcare practitioner in several important ways.
- A way for a patient to connect with a healthcare practitioner that better suits their schedule, especially if the patient is unable to visit the practice or healthcare practitioner in person
- Healthcare practitioners can perform scheduled checkups on their patients without having to meet in person
- Telehealth sessions are more affordable than in-person appointments for patients
- Allows a healthcare practitioner to reach more patients
- Is a useful tool for healthcare practitioners to improve patient engagement and overall satisfaction with their treatment
Whether you’re a telehealth therapist, occupational therapist, ABA practitioner, or any other healthcare provider, there’s no doubt that telehealth services will offer your practice many advantages.
3. Improve staff productivity with practice management software
Practice management platforms provide you with a mix of digital tools that help simplify many of the time-consuming tasks that you or your staff need to perform daily. These tools help your practice streamline workflows through automation and reduction of errors and steps needed to accomplish a task, resulting in incredible time-savings and improved productivity for your staff.
For example, a client can book an appointment online without ever needing to engage with your staff, notifications are automatically sent to patients to remind them about scheduled appointments, and claims are automatically submitted and tracked once they are completed.
4. Providing patients with more accessible educational resources
There’s no doubt that one of the biggest challenges a healthcare practitioner has to deal with is educating their patients. Whether it’s in regards to why they need to regularly take their medication or the benefits of certain recommended practices, there are many barriers, such as culture, language, or literacy levels, that affect how your patient receives information from you.
Thankfully, technology can help overcome these and many other challenges in patient education. Here are two ways technology could help.
Firstly, important information can be more easily accessible to individuals with access to the internet and a basic computer or a mobile device. This allows an individual to go through the information at their own pace so that they fully understand why medication is required or why they need to follow a specific practice.
Secondly, information can be presented in different formats, depending on the needs of your patients. For example, a video may help a patient with poor literacy, while a person who is partially sighted or blind could be given instructions via voice recordings on an instant messaging app.
Ultimately, by empowering your patients using technology, they will have a better experience and probably better outcomes.
5. More efficient billing
Electronic medical billing is another technology that can help streamline your practice’s day-to-day operations, either by complementing or replacing paper billing.
Electronic billing is much more efficient than traditional paper-based billing methods due to its ability to integrate with digital practice management platforms, it being easier for data capture (no more trying to decipher poor handwriting or claims codes), and the payment process being much quicker since it’s all processed electronically. This results in improved efficiency in your practice, and also reduces the need for various items such as paper, envelopes, and additional filing space, offering additional cost savings.
Partner with a trusted ABA Therapy billing services provider
If you’re looking to improve your ABA therapy practices’ billing systems so that you can improve your revenue cycle, it’s important to consider the benefits that a dedicated ABA therapy billing services provider can offer.
Missing Piece is a provider with over 10 years of experience in assisting ABA providers across the United States. By partnering with Missing Piece, you’ll unlock a number of benefits for your practice. These include access to payer and billing expertise, a flexible billing solution, and optimized reimbursement, all which help provide you with more time to provide higher quality care for your patients.
Contact us to learn more about our services and how Missing Piece can enhance your practice.