Providing streamlined and efficient patient care is crucial for improving outcomes and satisfaction. Wasting time waiting for a fax from another office or tracking down patient information over the phone can impede the medical process and lead to dissatisfaction from both staff members and patients. That’s why healthcare interoperability plays such a large role in the operations of different hospitals and clinics.
In our latest article, Iron Bridge reviews five issues that healthcare integration addresses in everyday healthcare settings.
Top 5 Issues in Healthcare Operations That Are Addressed by Integration Services
Learn how healthcare interoperability can improve patient care
As medical technology advances, both healthcare staff and patients can benefit from streamlined care and reduced clinical burden. When it comes to healthcare integration, having a simple and fast connection among different providers, vendors, and payers is crucial. On a daily basis, healthcare providers are dealing with vast amounts of data.
But because EHR systems tend to follow different standards, it can be difficult to seamlessly access certain information. That’s where integration plays a key role. Health IT solutions can help bridge the gap between these different programs, thus allowing healthcare providers to efficiently access this information and provide high-quality care to their patients.
1. Streamlined Payment Collection and Processing
The Problem: Healthcare facilities are burdened with long payment processing times.
The Solution: Improve healthcare interoperability shortens payment processing times and helps them collect more payments.
Streamlining your billing services can make it less daunting for patients who need to manage a stack of hospital bills. Manually posting and collecting payments can also take its toll on your medical staff and increases the risk of medical errors. Because of the slow process of entering information manually, your payment system might not have the latest updates on patient payments. This can lead staff members to call patients inquiring about payment when they have already paid.
By setting up an integrated payment system, you can collect more payments, reduce the risk of losing information or incorrectly recording it, and increase patient trust in your organization.
2. Lower Rates of Patients Leaving for Other Practices
The Problem: Some healthcare practices experience high rates of patients leaving them for other clinics.
The Solution: Streamlined healthcare services can increase patient satisfaction, thus keeping them with their current provider.
Forming strong relationships between you and your patients is crucial for ensuring they experience the best health care possible. But if they aren’t satisfied with your services, they may end up leaving you for another practice. Patient dissatisfaction can be caused by a number of factors including:
- Unhelpful staff
- Long wait times in the waiting room or on the phone
- Confusing payment processing
- Slow return calls
- Difficulty scheduling appointments
- Inability to access health information
Improved healthcare interoperability can address these issues. For instance, online scheduling can make it easy for patients to schedule appointments without having to wait on hold for prolonged periods of time on the phone. By freeing up your staff’s time from manually scheduling appointments, they can spend most of their focus on the patients currently present at the office.
Implementing a patient portal designed for a user-friendly experience can make it easier than ever for patients to access their health results, fill out pertinent health forms, and contact the office whenever necessary.
3. Increased Patient Engagement
The Problem: Not enough patients are actively involved in their healthcare treatment.
The Solution: Having EHR’s easily available can encourage patients to take a more active role in their health.
Patient engagement is crucial for improving outcomes and empowering patients to take an active role in their health. Patients who are active in their treatment are more likely to successfully manage their care and reduce their overall cost by following preventative healthcare advice, thereby avoiding expensive procedures.
Other benefits of increased patient engagement include:
- Fewer ER visits
- Reduction in no-shows
- Better decisions about patient health on behalf of providers
4. Reduced Clinical Burden
The Problem: Staff members are bogged down with administrative work, which takes their attention away from patients.
The Solution: Healthcare integration saves staff members time on completing administrative work, giving them more time to focus on their patients.
No one really enjoys doing paperwork. But attempting to juggle tedious paperwork along with your responsibilities to your patients can make it all the more stressful and challenging. With healthcare integration solutions and automation, you can bring your focus back to taking care of your patients in-person and less time worrying about billing problems, scheduling, and other administrative tasks.
At Iron Bridge, we understand the importance of streamlined healthcare interoperability. Our state-of-the-art tech solutions are designed to improve patient care while also improving your clinic’s operations. For more information on our solutions, contact one of our team members today.
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