5 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Practice's Administrative Burden

"Administrative tasks are such a great use of my time!" said no provider ever.

Many smaller medical and behavioral health practices try to do everything themselves.  Because of this, it is inevitable that problems will arise.  Managing operations, answering phones, scheduling, billing, responding to patient and other provider requests, refilling medication requests, reviewing notes and other documentation and on and on and on can be exhausting and downright burdensome for staff.  In the worst scenarios, it may even overshadow your core purpose of providing care.

The good news is that there are a few things you can do to help reduce the burden on your providers, clinicians and other staff.  By doing so, you will alleviate a lot of the stress and burnout so often found in smaller practices.

A previous discussion among MGMA Members Community provided some valuable feedback with tips on how to streamline operations to reduce the burden.

Here are 5 tips they recommended:

Hire competent staff– A competent workforce can work miracles.  With so much required of practices these days, a small practice should invest in experienced and competent staff to handle the administrative work.  This would allow providers to focus on enhancing the quality of care rather than burning up their time on daily administrative-type tasks.  Be sure to provide thorough training to increase efficiency and coordination.

Prioritize and delegate– Sometimes workflows and tasks get away from us over time so it's important to take an assessment of what work is being done and by whom.  Review what type of administrative tasks you have, then determine if they are actually necessary.  If yes, decide who's responsibility they best fit under (provider, clinician, staff etc.), if there's a better way to do them and when they should be done.  Take the time to stop, refresh, rethink, reorganize, prioritize and divide.

Avoid postponing tasks– When providers postpone administrative tasks for later in the night or on the weekend, generally they end up not getting done.  After you determine which tasks actually need a provider's response, purposefully and consistently carve out a little time in each day for them to focus on those tasks you need them to handle.  

Use an effective EHR software solution- One of the beautiful things of the right EHR solution is that it will reduce your need for a large administrative staff.   EHRs can shift time-consuming, manual tasks into quick, stream-lined ones.  They weed out bottlenecks in workflows, create increased efficiency and reduce burden.  Systems that work with your existing workflows and practices can be installed more quickly and run more smoothly with less training time needed.

Seek the advice of a mentor– Competent providers who have experienced successfully managing large workloads over a period of time are a great resource.  They can provide advice on how to streamline operations, delegate administrative duties, and help you devise a strategic plan to increase productivity.

By redefining and organizing the administrative tasks in your practice, you'll be better able to focus on providing the exceptional service you desire for your clients, while remaining profitable and preventing staff burnout.

8 Key Questions to Ask Potential EHR Vendors

You understand the differences between an EHR and EMR system and you probably secretly accept that an EHR solution would help your organization.  However, the thoughts of transitioning to one can be daunting - if not outright overwhelming!  Take a deep breath.  There are things you can do to position yourself in the driver's seat prior to talking with potential EHR vendors.

The key is to understand what you do, why and how.  By keeping your focus on your organization's purpose, you'll be better able to determine early on if a particular EHR system is worth looking at in more detail.  By understanding how your providers and staff interact with your clients, you'll be better able to whittle down the plethora of features and requirements within the EHR system.

Before contacting potential vendors, define the following for your organization:

1.  What is the primary service(s) your organization offers?
2.  How many locations, providers, clinicians and office staff do you have that would use the system?
3.  How does your work flow from the initial referral to final discharge?
4.  What are the biggest challenges you face when serving your clients?
5.  What is your realistic budget?

After you've answered these questions, you can be more confident in talking with potential EHR vendors.

So what should you ask as you talk with them?   Here are 8 key questions to start your discussions:

1.   How does their system function for your organization and the services you offer?
Does it handle the key components of your visits or impose limitations on your practice?  Does it provide features you don't need or can they customize it specifically for you?

2.  How will the software interface (connect) with key systems you use regularly?
Do you have a scheduling or billing system that needs to talk to the EHR?  Are there any outside  providers or agencies you need to share data with?

3.  How will your data populate in the new system?
How will your existing data (paper or electronic) be entered into the new system?  How will data for new visits be entered and what will the final documentation look like?

4.  Where does your data reside?
Does the EHR software and company comply with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules?  Will it reside at a secure data center or on your premises?  What are the vendor's policies towards data storage and recovery, data access and data ownership?

5.  How will the system be implemented?
How much time does the vendor need to set up the system?  What is their "go-live" process?  Will your case load need to be adjusted during implementation?  What kind of equipment and network requirements are needed?

6.  How will your providers and staff be trained?
Will the vendor provide on-site or on-line training?  How many hours of training will be provided, and what happens if you request more training?  Will training materials be provided?

7.  What kind of post-installation customer support is provided?
How do you contact them for support and what is their turn around time to respond?  Are upgrades and maintenance to the software provided and how is it rolled out?  Is the vendor responsible for hardware or network changes?

8.  Are all costs understood and documented?
Is the software pricing based on per user licenses?   Are there separate costs for different features or services?  Are there any recurring monthly costs, one-time costs, maintenance or software upgrade fees?  Are there costs if you purchase new hardware or make network changes?

This information should give you a good starting point when beginning your EHR journey.  Don't be afraid to ask more questions or to ask for more clarity on things you may not fully understand.  Finding an EHR system that best fits your organization's needs while keeping your blood pressure in check is possible!
   

Top 4 Challenges Facing Behavioral Health Organizations

A 2015 survey cited four of the biggest challenges facing behavioral health organizations were centered around an organization's culture, administrative tasks, regulatory compliance and collaborating with external sources for billing or client care. With the constant changes in behavioral healthcare, things probably haven't changed very much.

1. Culture

Roughly 10% of those surveyed stated some sort of culture-related frustration as its biggest challenge. Interpersonal conflicts in the workplace often result from frustration in navigating inadequate or antiquated processes. With paper records, most processes are generally governed by SOPs (standard operating procedures), These procedures tend to change as new management comes on board they can easily become non-standardized as providers and staff interpret these processes in their own way.

2. Administrative Tasks

Close to 20% of respondents stated specific administrative tasks as their organization’s largest challenge. This challenge included all types of functional duties performed by staff, including patient registration, documentation, and filing claims. Some of the organizations confessed many of these tasks were being performed by the care providers themselves. Administrative tasks represent a significant portion of any behavioral health organization’s time, that's just how it is.

3. Regulatory Compliance

Around 30% of those surveyed replied that keeping up with state or federal regulation was its biggest challenge, no surprise here! Behavioral health care is subjected to regular revisions in both state and federal requirements on a constant basis which often results in necessary changes to forms or workflows.

4. Collaborating externally

The most common survey response (40% of survey respondents) was that collaborating with external resources for billing or care was the biggest organizational challenge. With behavioral healthcare having so many different yet interlacing facets, it’s not surprising that the cooperation between care providers, billing services and insurance companies was a major pain point for the respondents.

Does your organization struggle with any of these issues?  The right EHR vendor may be able to help.