Automate Your Way to Compliance

Tin: Roi.i-: oi; insuranct: companies within the walls of a practice is both a boon and a bane on the daily dealings of most chi­ropractors. On one hand, many patients who could not or would not otherwise seek care can flow freely into your prac­tice under the soft, generous hand of a good medical plan. On the other hand, the paperwork, auditing, and restrictions that follow suit are not always in line with how we'd prefer to spend our time prescribing and inscribing for our patients. To fall in line with insurance requirements, we must also practice within constraints of care that seek to limit the pa­tient's need for our service. This means ensuring we provide active vs. passive care, and that we accurately and succinctly report on our patient's progress toward a precisely outlined and attainable goal. This means provid­ing evidence-based, quantifiable results within standardized measures. Without measurable results, we cannot defend our patient's need for care. Outcome assessments, patient input capturing, and documentation automa­tion are just three ways you can begin to precisely monitor and reflect the course of your patients' care. Electronic Health Re­cords (EHR) systems that provide these tools for you can help you remove the headache and realize the full benefits of your relationship with insurers. One of the key terms we hear repeated over and over again when navigating the relationship between our practice and our payers is "compliance". But good documentation is about more than simply complying with a set of standards. Regardless of the quality of care you provide and the results that your patients experience, your documentation is the only time-stamped, longstanding testament to the success and effectiveness of the care you offer your patients. With the transition to EHR systems breaching the horizon, automating the task of documentation will no longer be just a luxury which accompanies those who transfer to an EHR system—it will be a requirement. But, the amplified focus on iron-clad documentation doesn't mean that we have to start spending more time with our notes than with our patients. Take the time now to carefully review systems and their documentation tools, and you will find that the latest systems provide macro buttons and subjective screens for patient input to guarantee consistency and thoroughness, so there's no longer any need to labor over your notes. With a well-equipped EHR system, you can complete a thorough, accurate, and compliant chart note within seconds. Outcome assessment tools can also help keep us on track in our efforts to provide active care to our patients by quantify­ing the results of our treatment plans. These evidence-based reports can be sent directly to a patient's insurance company to provide the proof necessary to allow for continuation of care, keeping both the chiropractor and the insurance company on the same level and reducing some of that uneasy "room for interpretation." With the internet's ever-spreading web, we don't have to wait until our patients are in our office before we reach out and con­nect with them. Websites, e-mails, phone apps and online forms can do much of the work for us, reducing the time that each patient has to spend within the four walls of our office. Patient intake forms, subjective portions of outcome assessments, and compliance with treatment plans can all be captured online through web pages, e-mail forms, and web-integrated EHR tools. Offer your patients the option to fill out this informa­tion at their leisure, and you'll experience substantially more thorough records as a result. Using a variety of available automation tools which include online, in-office, and on-the-go solutions, you can offset the work and retain the value of the comprehensive and compliant chart note. This, in turn, will improve your relationship with your insurers and promote the bond between your patients and your care. Dr. Michael Failla is the CEO and Co-owner of Inte­grated Practice Solutions, the makers ofChiivTouch. Dr. Failla graduated from Life University College of Chim-practic in Atlanta, GA and went on to run a highly suc­cessful chiropractic office in Seattle. IVA. for 25 real's. He sold his practice in 2007 and continues to promote health ami wellness by helping chiropractors run streamlined and successful practices with more lime for their patients and less lime with their paperwork. Go to www.chirolouch.com for more information. EZS