There is no doubt that Electronic Medical Records (EMR), implemented successfully and used properly, are valuable clinical tools in any medical practice. Their benefits of reducing costs, streamlining workflow, improving medical care and increasing practice productivity are undeniable. However, we hear stories upon stories of failed implementations and deinstallations of these systems across the US. Per a study conducted by Health Leaders-Inter-Study that “The state of Arizona and the Phoenix area have experienced a high adoption rate for electronic medical records, but this has been followed by a “deinstallation” of the technology”. {….}
According to an MGMA survey of practices that track no-shows and late cancellations, these practices used the following patient appointment reminder techniques to reduce the number of no-shows:
{….}
AAR is a computer application that can be accessed online as SaaS (Software as a Service) or installed onsite. The application is used by medical practices of all sizes to automatically call their scheduled patients in advance and remind them of their upcoming appointments. These applications are getting very sophisticated in the features they provide. They can actually emulate a medical office receptionist in calling and reminding patients. They can detect if the call is answered by an individual, voicemail or answering machine and convey the right message. They can also accept responses from patients for cancelling or rescheduling their upcoming appointments. {….}
What is ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS? ICD-10-CM is the new US clinical modification standard of the International Classification of Disease ICD-10. It will replace the current ICD-9-CM by October 1, 2013. ICD-10-CM is maintained by NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics). It includes the level of detail needed for disease classification and diagnostic specification in the United States. It consists of more than 68,000 diagnosis codes while ICD-9-CM has a little more than 13,000 diagnosis codes. {….}
