The Ultimate Guide to Medical Practice Management Software

Medical Practice Management (MPM) software can dramatically improve a practice’s workflow efficiency, schedule appointments, performing billing procedures, and even boost reimbursements from insurance companies. Also called Physician’s Office Management and Medical Information Systems (POMIS), it can be a force multiplier in supporting the administrative tasks that practices of all sizes face.

Modern Practice Management software has been embracing new technologies to better and more robustly serve physician and staff organizational needs.

Primary Features of Practice Management Software

Patient Management

Practice management software helps track patient demographics, diagnosis, and visits. MPM software also contains the ability to manage code sets, including:

  • Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS)
  • Common Procedure Coding (CPT)
  • International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

Payment Management

Practice management software can help with all stages of the revenue cycle. Starting with collecting patient information and storing billing data. Some interface with patient insurance card scanners, reducing errors and fraudulent claims.

Billing can be performed automatically, and insurance verification can happen in real time. Claims can be submitted to payers and tracked within the system, reducing administrative overhead.

Appointment Management

Practice management software can assist in the management of appointment scheduling. Custom schedules can be maintained with individual physician calendars, tracking duration and time of appointments.

Automated reminders can be sent to patients by SMS or email, reducing no-shows and maintaining a more optimal volume of appointments.

Cost Effectiveness

Practice management software can reduce the time to complete many tasks and effort in administration thus paying for itself in the near term. Additionally, there are free online offerings that can reduce expenses even further, depending on the needs of the practice.

Report Generation

Practice management software can generate a variety of customized reports. Typical reports include billing information, general scheduling, and ICD codes.

Cloud Integration

Some practice management packages are moving towards greater integration with the cloud services. Internet-based cloud software can provide an even greater array of features at lower cost than many more traditional practice management solutions.

Cloud integration often features convenient management right from your internet browser, such as Automated high-speed collection, budget forecasting analytics, and drag-and-drop appointment scheduling.

Advantage of Using Practice Management Software

When choosing a service as critical as transcription for your practice, there are a number of important considerations that should be evaluated. This guide will give you some points of reference by which to compare different services.

Faster Reimbursement

Coders and billers can operate more efficiently and with more robust error checking. The need for paperwork can be eliminated, and reimbursements can be issued more quickly. Insurance information reports, claim advice reports, and remittance reports can all be easily searchable.

Accelerated Operations

Maintaining all relevant documentation online, physicians can quickly create progress reports, capture patient information, track insurance claims and accounts receivable. Managing these processes effectively can significantly boost time and energy spent on patients.

Healthcare Practices of All Sizes

Maintaining all relevant documentation online, physicians can quickly create progress reports, capture patient information, track insurance claims and accounts receivable. Managing these processes effectively can significantly boost time and energy spent on patients.

Important Considerations

When choosing a service as critical as practice management software for your practice, several considerations should be evaluated. This guide will give you some points of reference by which to compare different services.

Deployment Strategies (Cloud vs Local)

Practice management software is typically deployed locally on machines in-office or hosted on the cloud with a web-based interface. Cloud solutions tend to use a subscription payment model but have lower upfront costs.

Locally deployed systems tend to have a higher immediate cost, but require subscription payments less typically.

Mobile

Increasingly, more medical software is going mobile as physicians desire to have more control over their practices data even when working remotely. Specifically, there are more solutions that integrate seamlessly with iPhones/iPads and Android phones and tablets.

If remote access is essential to your practice, then there are options.

Portals

Patient communication is also going digital. Having easy integration with secure HIPAA compliant websites, can help patients access their records, see physician notes, and get appointment reminders. These services can improve the patient experience while simultaneously reducing the administrative costs of doing so.

Security

Medical software is a security critical enterprise. Patient data must be protected from unauthorized access. Any medical software service must adhere to HIPAA regulations and safeguard patient confidentiality.

Local Access Control

Different levels of security and access should be able to be specified. Also, is the information stored in an encrypted format?

Remote Access Control

Does the software company store information on their servers? Do they allow their employees to access these records? If they do, under what circumstances and are these interactions recorded?

You should also have an understanding of how long they retain patient data if you should choose to change software vendors.

Digital Security

Web-based communication should use SSL encryption with at least a 128-bit key. Check the URL bar in your browser for the padlock symbol when visiting their site.
If another method of communication is used, ask for the steps they take to make the communication secure. Unencrypted email is not a secure method of transmitting medical information.

Physical Security

The security of your data while held by the service is also essential. Ask if they ensure the safety of the information on their site’s physical premises and data centers.
Medical software companies should be careful about their employee screening and hiring process.

Costs

Local Deployment

There are two primary models for medical practice management software. Local and cloud-based. Local installations usually have a higher upfront cost but lower long-term costs. The long-term costs depend on the inclusion and duration of service contracts.

Cloud Deployment

Cloud-based medical practice management software is accessed over the internet, usually by a web browser. The initial costs can be very low, or even free. These vendors often charge a subscription fee for continuing service. This practice, known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), is becoming increasingly common and can provide pricing that scales with the needs of the individual practice.

Training

Training costs can be included in the deployment or additional. Online training is often readily available, but some practice management software companies offer in-person training as well to those who request it. In-person is not as common and typically more expensive.

Other Options

Some medical practice management can integrate with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, while others provide integrated solutions.

A practice management system that only focuses on billing, appointments, and claims management is going to be less expensive than one that also has full patient records functionality. However, the convenience of having a fully integrated system can be beneficial.

Learn more about Medical Practice Management Software