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Soon after opening our first of five clinics in 1996, we realized that in order to be reimbursed properly and more quickly, our notes needed to be in an easy-to-read printed format. We started with a very simple system which we continue to improve and refine. Two years ago we started to develop our own scheduling system because we could not find anything on the market that was specifically for physical therapy clinics. Our system allows us to schedule any clinic from any terminal, to instantly know that a patient’s co-pay is due and to create a wide range of management reports.
At the same time, we noticed that it took a very long time to develop information about the daily activities in the clinics. We had one person almost exclusively dedicated to checking the daily notes against copies of each appointment book to determine if we had missing notes, which as we all know, leads to missing charges. By integrating the documentation software with the scheduler we were able to develop the ability to have instant information about our business. At any time, simply by accessing the system, we know how many patients have been scheduled on a specific day, how many have appeared, and how many have cancelled or were no-shows. We know at the click of a mouse if a daily note is missing, which allows us to address it right away instead of days later.
We have added additional refinements like a daily call-back list for the “front desk” person. No more having to leave files out on a desk as a reminder to call a patient or insurance company. This also helps with our HIPAA compliance. Here is the best part; by using our own software, we experienced a drastic reduction in documentation and billing errors, an average 7% increase in reimbursements, a reduction of administrative staff by 1 ˝ employees and a 25% increase in co-pay and co-insurance collections. We are now more efficient, with less administrative employees and our clinicians are spending more time with their patients.
Mike Ball, PT, the clinical director of our Naples, Florida clinic says of the system “It has completely replaced our paperwork and saves so much time.” When it comes to the documentation system, Mike says, “It is much easier to see what services have been rendered and coding is much simpler, allowing the practice to be reimbursed faster and at a higher rate.” The program was developed “in house” with a great deal of input from clinicians and front desk personnel.
This article was submitted to PREFERRED by Sports Specialty and Rehab. Although this practice is not a member of PREFERRED’s network, we found their efforts to be interesting and worth sharing. This article is not meant as an endorsement, but rather an example of how private practitioners are becoming more innovative in managing their processes in order to continue to provide good care to their patients.
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