Software allows documentation on the go
Monday April 9, 2012
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Just as therapies evolve to correspond with emerging science, documentation software is quickly changing to meet the needs of a more mobile, tech-savvy healthcare workforce, experts say.
From interconnected interfaces, to web-based platforms and tablet-enabled applications, features offered by software companies allow clinicians to spend more time with patients on the floor and less time doing paperwork behind a desk.
Integration
Among the biggest trends in applications for physical therapists are those integrating different activities and services, said Angela Wilson Pennisi, PT, MS, OCS, managing editor of Impact magazine, a publication of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Private Practice Group.
Whether linking billing to documentation, scheduling to patient appointment reminders, or note-taking to correspondence, integrated systems are fast becoming the industry standard.
"It’s a shift from separate documentation to a more full-practice model," Pennisi said. "Everything works together and there are checks and balances in the system, so when you check a patient in, it automatically creates a document; and when you finish with a patient, it generates a bill."
Time savings
The time-saving aspect of integrated models cannot be overstated said Syed Ali, project manager with Princenton, N.J.-based PT Billing Solution, which offers a fully integrated software model. "The documentation automatically generates charges and relays the information so you skip the step of data entry," Ali said. "That was a tedious process — essentially one person writing it down and giving it to someone else to do data entry — quite inefficient."
Integrated programs also save time by automatically prompting PTs to send progress notes to physicians, and appointment reminders to patients. "Within WebPT we have PT email and text reminders within the scheduler, so you can set up automatic reminders to call the patients when you set them up for a new evaluation or with a treatment time," said WebPT co-founder and COO Heidi Jannenga, PT, MPT, ATC/L. This feature has been shown to reduce cancellations and no shows by 30%, she said.
Like its competitors, Cedaron Medical’s APTA Connect features a patient portal, which allows therapists to securely send information to patients, such as functional outcomes, exercise flow sheets, posttreatment reports and patient satisfaction surveys.
"But it’s not like a typical portal, in which companies send patients forms, and patients have to come in with paper, and someone else has to re-enter the data," said Karen Bond, founder and CEO of the Davis, Calif.-based firm. "All of it’s through the software, so once you send something, if the patient fills it out online, it automatically comes into the database ... and never has to be re-entered. This is different from what everyone else does."
Quality of care
More than improving efficiency, automated medical reasoning can improve effectiveness, Pennisi said. For instance, if a PT were to enter that a patient was a fall risk, the program would send a prompt asking whether a home health hazard evaluation had been done. "So those types of checks and balances in patient care can also help you provide a higher quality of care by making sure you cover all those details," she said.
Cedaron’s APTA Connect, which was developed in the mid-2000s in partnership with the American Physical Therapy Association, also gives users the ability to customize forms, said Bond, adding that spell-check is built into the data entry process. "We learned a long time ago that therapists like to work in their own way and like to do things in their own way and we allow them to build goal kits and treatments kits," Bond said. "So if you’re a therapist who just does lower back, you can build a lower back kit. You can design treatment protocols for each pathology."
The efficiency offered by integration is further enhanced by Web-based platforms — another trend in software, said Pennisi, who is director of Chicago’s Lakeshore Sports Physical Therapy PC, which uses an in-house server. Because Web-based servers don’t require in-house professionals or IT storage capacity, less initial investment is required, she said. "The downside is these programs do come with increased overall operating expenses. But studies are showing that over time you save more from the investment," she added.
Added security
Another benefit of Web-based servers is transference of the security burden to the software provider. "It does ease the practioners’ minds in terms of making sure they are compliant with security measures," Pennisi said.
PT Billing Solution recognized that many practioners wanted little to do with managing software and, from its inception 13 years ago, offered a Web-based program, Ali said. "You’re a therapist, not an IT company," he said. "We take the risk out of your hands and give it to someone who specializes in it and let it run."
More important, Web-based platforms enable PTs to document from any Web-enabled device, Jannenga said. PTs "are out on the floor treating patients and we need to be able to pull up documentation at the point of service and not have one computer you have to go back to," she said.
Remote accessibility
When integration and Web accessibility meet, a variety of time-saving possibilities become available to users. Among favorite features, offered by both WebPT and Cedaron, is the ability to fax and email directly from mobile-enabled devices to another provider’s office.
Jannenga recalled an incident when a vacationing PT was called by a physician and asked for a patient note. Although that PT was nowhere near home, she was able to log into the network on his smartphone, pull up that patient’s record, and automatically fax the document to the doctor.
"From day number one, the most loved feature in the system is the fact that you can email or fax documents straight from WebPT with the click of a button," Jannenga said. •
Robin Huiras is a freelance writer.
From interconnected interfaces, to web-based platforms and tablet-enabled applications, features offered by software companies allow clinicians to spend more time with patients on the floor and less time doing paperwork behind a desk.
Integration
Among the biggest trends in applications for physical therapists are those integrating different activities and services, said Angela Wilson Pennisi, PT, MS, OCS, managing editor of Impact magazine, a publication of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Private Practice Group.
Whether linking billing to documentation, scheduling to patient appointment reminders, or note-taking to correspondence, integrated systems are fast becoming the industry standard.
"It’s a shift from separate documentation to a more full-practice model," Pennisi said. "Everything works together and there are checks and balances in the system, so when you check a patient in, it automatically creates a document; and when you finish with a patient, it generates a bill."
Time savings
The time-saving aspect of integrated models cannot be overstated said Syed Ali, project manager with Princenton, N.J.-based PT Billing Solution, which offers a fully integrated software model. "The documentation automatically generates charges and relays the information so you skip the step of data entry," Ali said. "That was a tedious process — essentially one person writing it down and giving it to someone else to do data entry — quite inefficient."
Integrated programs also save time by automatically prompting PTs to send progress notes to physicians, and appointment reminders to patients. "Within WebPT we have PT email and text reminders within the scheduler, so you can set up automatic reminders to call the patients when you set them up for a new evaluation or with a treatment time," said WebPT co-founder and COO Heidi Jannenga, PT, MPT, ATC/L. This feature has been shown to reduce cancellations and no shows by 30%, she said.
Like its competitors, Cedaron Medical’s APTA Connect features a patient portal, which allows therapists to securely send information to patients, such as functional outcomes, exercise flow sheets, posttreatment reports and patient satisfaction surveys.
"But it’s not like a typical portal, in which companies send patients forms, and patients have to come in with paper, and someone else has to re-enter the data," said Karen Bond, founder and CEO of the Davis, Calif.-based firm. "All of it’s through the software, so once you send something, if the patient fills it out online, it automatically comes into the database ... and never has to be re-entered. This is different from what everyone else does."
Quality of care
More than improving efficiency, automated medical reasoning can improve effectiveness, Pennisi said. For instance, if a PT were to enter that a patient was a fall risk, the program would send a prompt asking whether a home health hazard evaluation had been done. "So those types of checks and balances in patient care can also help you provide a higher quality of care by making sure you cover all those details," she said.
Cedaron’s APTA Connect, which was developed in the mid-2000s in partnership with the American Physical Therapy Association, also gives users the ability to customize forms, said Bond, adding that spell-check is built into the data entry process. "We learned a long time ago that therapists like to work in their own way and like to do things in their own way and we allow them to build goal kits and treatments kits," Bond said. "So if you’re a therapist who just does lower back, you can build a lower back kit. You can design treatment protocols for each pathology."
The efficiency offered by integration is further enhanced by Web-based platforms — another trend in software, said Pennisi, who is director of Chicago’s Lakeshore Sports Physical Therapy PC, which uses an in-house server. Because Web-based servers don’t require in-house professionals or IT storage capacity, less initial investment is required, she said. "The downside is these programs do come with increased overall operating expenses. But studies are showing that over time you save more from the investment," she added.
Added security
Another benefit of Web-based servers is transference of the security burden to the software provider. "It does ease the practioners’ minds in terms of making sure they are compliant with security measures," Pennisi said.
PT Billing Solution recognized that many practioners wanted little to do with managing software and, from its inception 13 years ago, offered a Web-based program, Ali said. "You’re a therapist, not an IT company," he said. "We take the risk out of your hands and give it to someone who specializes in it and let it run."
More important, Web-based platforms enable PTs to document from any Web-enabled device, Jannenga said. PTs "are out on the floor treating patients and we need to be able to pull up documentation at the point of service and not have one computer you have to go back to," she said.
Remote accessibility
When integration and Web accessibility meet, a variety of time-saving possibilities become available to users. Among favorite features, offered by both WebPT and Cedaron, is the ability to fax and email directly from mobile-enabled devices to another provider’s office.
Jannenga recalled an incident when a vacationing PT was called by a physician and asked for a patient note. Although that PT was nowhere near home, she was able to log into the network on his smartphone, pull up that patient’s record, and automatically fax the document to the doctor.
"From day number one, the most loved feature in the system is the fact that you can email or fax documents straight from WebPT with the click of a button," Jannenga said. •
Robin Huiras is a freelance writer.
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Monday April 9, 2012