I thought I would talk a little bit more about
efficiency. Just recently, I decided to
buy a new software called Dragon Naturally Speaking. I thought that using
Dragon might make me more productive because I could dictate my posts in the
car while driving. This is my first attempt
using Dragon in the car, but so far I find this is a really a useful software.
I wanted to give this example of how I’m using the Dragon
software in order to improve my own efficiency. I find in many businesses that efficiency is
not a top priority. Perhaps, many businesses don’t realize the importance. As
I’ve mentioned in previous posts, efficiency helps to cut costs by cutting down
the amount of time that it takes people to complete tasks. And I can’t say that
Dragon is necessarily the solution for everyone, this is simply one example of
the way technology can improve efficiency.
Rule: The right technology can streamline any business and improve efficiency.
Technology can improve workflow and function in many ways. Before
I proceed, I think it’s important to let
the reader know about my personal bias. It should be known that I work for an
electronic medical record software company. With that, I like to offer you my
assurance that this blog is was designed to offer healthcare business
management tips that I’ve learned over the years. This blog will never attempt to sell anything.
This is simply a means of sharing my experience in the trenches in an attempt
to give the reader some common sense healthcare business management tips. In this post I will talk about electronic
medical records and other times, I will talk about other types of
efficiency-provoking software, but I will keep it relatively general with
regard to EMR to avoid seeming bias. To support my promise, I’ll do my very
best not to even mention the name company by which I am employed; however you
decide to go out and do a Google search on my name - more power to you.
Now with that said, I’m going to go ahead and give you my
perspective on EMR . I want to talk
about a common misconception that EMR causes practices to lose productivity. It
commonly said that when a medical practice implements an electronic medical
record productivity decreases because the workflow has to be reinvented. But
let me pose this question instead, is it possible that your workflow needs to
be reinvented? Just because something seems to be working doesn’t necessarily
mean that it is. How many areas in your business could be improved with simple
changes.
That’s what I have found every company with which I have
worked. It may seem like things are working but there were problems no one
bothered to notice. For example, many medical practices have a problem with lost charges. Lost charges equal
lost revenue. In another office the
problem was inefficient project management and working within budget. What was the solution? The implementation of
the appropriate technologies. Technology works like an extra brain outside of
your head helping keeping track of the details.
Now the biggest question of all… Did the new technology reduce
productivity? Yes, temporarily! Our productivity definitely went down for a
little while. As everyone was getting used to the new technology, productivity decreased
and staff complained. But, I didn’t budge. I reinforced the importance of using
the new technology. Then, after little while the staff became acclimated and guess
what happened. Productivity skyrocketed! That’s what you’ll find with an electronic
medical records.
For a little while, as you get used to using electronic
medical record, it’s going to take longer to do things. It is a change to your
workflow; however, in the long run you’ll find that the productivity will
increase in a way that you would never imagine. Here’s the caveat - you have to
use it right! A lot of medical practices have a tendency of implementing
partial technology. That’s wrong! if you
don’t use it right, it’s not going to work. That means that you have to take a little
break from your usual routine to get used to the technology and learn how to
use all of its capabilities. In the end you’ll find out that by using it fully your
workflow will improve. In the long run you will be more profitable because of
increased efficiency.
Unfortunately, people
have a tendency of getting comfortable in their workflows. Therefore, any
changes to that workflow are perceived as bad. But simply because you’re stuck
in a particular workflow above it doesn’t mean that that workflow is right. As
a matter of fact, for most medical practices, the workflow is just plain wrong!
The best thing you can possibly do is to talk to your technology vendor and ask
them what they recommend as the optimal workflow when using that software.
You’ll find if you are willing to be flexible you will improve your
profitability.
Here’s an example: I was working with a medical practice
just the other day. The doctor called me up complaining that he found that the practice
lost charges. The practice uses paper
super bills and maintains a secondary paper log book to track charges (the
paper log book served as a checks and balances system to make sure they
recorded everything). Still, for all this redundant, manual work, there were charges that were never billed to
the insurance company. I asked him why he wouldn’t be using the electronic
super bills that are available on the software that he’s currently using and
why he is duplicating efforts with the paper log? These checks and balances are
available in the software(no double entry required)! The doctor’s response to
this was ‘because I like my paper super bills’. But, obviously you like
something that doesn’t work – use the technology the right way or stop
complaining!
So perhaps you already have an EMR –the general concept can
apply are million areas in your business. It just requires simply stepping back
and realizing that maybe your current workflow is not as good as you think. Reassess your work flow and ask yourself these
questions: What is getting lost? What is not getting done on time? What is
taking too long? What efforts are redundant?
Now for the hard part. Be objective – it may be time to
realize that your workflow isn’t right, perhaps it’s very wrong. Just because
you’re comfortable in that workflow doesn’t mean that it’s profitable. Simple
changes and the implementation of the appropriate technologies can help
streamline your workflow, saving you time and money. You will have a little
downtime, you will lose revenue in the short term, but the long-term benefits
will greatly outweigh those losses and make it very worth it!
