Posted by Brad Veach on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 Patient portals are becoming a mainstay of how healthcare providers connect with patients. However, patient adoption can be challenging – if only for the reason that it’s another username and password for the patient to remember (we all have too many of those!).

When seeking to make a patient portal as useful and attractive as possible, access is paramount. Access to medical records, past appointment information, prescriptions, etc… are all important, but many portals leave out the most important thing – access to providers.

Are your web analytics telling you what you need to know?

Posted by Brad Veach on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 Metrics are important. And when it comes to providing a service, conversions are one of the most crucial metrics to understand. Analyzing your data, understanding your results and comparing them against a benchmark for success is a critical process to growth. Analytics provide you with essential information needed to understand the funnel of activity by your consumer, what’s working and what isn’t. With new tools becoming available for healthcare like digital care coordination, the need to track consumers’ web traffic is even more important. With online scheduling in place, healthcare websites can actively track conversions and see how many visits turn into booked appointments. To look at this the right way, healthcare organizations need to take a page out of the retailers’ web analytics book.

Digital Care Coordination is the Future of Healthcare

Posted by Brad Veach on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Digital care coordination is the application of smart technology to improve the appointment-making experience for healthcare patients and providers, and there is no question that every practice will someday embrace it. The myriad of short- and long-term benefits of the technology, as described below, far outweigh any growing pains and start-up costs.

Posted by Jay Scheinberg on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Undoubtedly, EHRs provide a tremendous step forward for healthcare. They help improve quality, efficiency, operations, safety, and ultimately the care provided to patients. Data suggests that providers and health systems are fond of them as well. As of 2015, nearly 9 out of 10 office-based physicians had adopted an EHR (HealthIT.gov). And according to a report by SK&A, 67% of all providers reported using an EHR in March of 2017. Clearly, EHRs are delivering high value, yet, there is a rub – the cost. In fact, the vast majority of providers categorize EHR spending as one of their biggest line items and they expect it only to increase.

How health plans can use self-scheduling

Posted by Mary Tackbary, RN, MSN on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 No one can argue that self-scheduling of provider appointments is a bad idea. It is like Uber – once someone does it, they keep doing it and won’t go back to the old way. It provides a convenient and fast way to book appointments and corrects a persistent source of frustration and complaints related to access. And as a bonus it improves quality and reduces costs.

However, it isn’t easy for a health plan to determine the best role they should play with this technology. There are many options:

Self-service in healthcare is a game changer

Posted by Brad Veach on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 When’s the last time you booked a flight without knowing how much it cost?

If you’re like most people your answer is probably, “What?! Are you crazy?!” – In the information age it’s easy to compare options and find the best flight at the lowest cost using online services. For most industries this is the norm; consumers have knowledge prior to purchase about what it includes, how much it costs, and even how it compares to other options. However, when it comes to healthcare, consumers are forced to make uninformed decisions, and the cost is often times closer to that of an all-inclusive cruise around the Caribbean rather than a single flight!

Empower online scheduling with business rules

Posted by Brad Veach on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 Chances are, if you ask a provider to open their schedule for patients and other providers to access at will, they’re going to say, “No”.

“But”, you might say, “this is going to bring more patients and more revenue to you and your practice!”

Doesn’t matter. The answer is still, “No”.

While it may seem confusing or hard to understand why a provider wouldn’t want more revenue, the truth is that they have good reasons to say no. If patients and other providers have unrestricted access to a provider’s calendar, then the provider loses control.

What your EHR can’t do

Posted by Daniel Collins on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 An electronic health records system (EHR) is typically a healthcare organization’s largest IT investment. And generally by a wide margin.

EHRs have the potential to provide substantial benefits to physicians, clinic practices, and health care organizations. But when it comes to patient access, they are more limited than you realize.
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