EHR and Billing Practices

Most physician practices already have extensive computerization of billing.  Billing is a mysterious world of insurance codes and arcane criteria.   Practice Management Systems generally focus on revenue cycles, facilities usage, and possibly now offer EHR modules.  Depending on your needs the billing or practice management system that you may already be using, may not be the best solution for your clinical and electronic health needs.  Solutions that require integration from multiple vendors are typically problematic, but a poorly chosen system will be regretted by everyone in your practice. 

A common scenario is that someone is convinced that using the EHR module for the current Practice Management System is the way to go.  This may require that several “specialty” screens be created in order to accommodate clinical needs.  Without the additional screens the doctor needs to continue to maintain paper records.  The system is considered cumbersome because each different kind of patient care requires development of additional specialty screens.  The ability to retain and display test results needs to be constantly tweaked in order for clinical staff to handle basic patient needs.  This is a very common situation. 

At Technology Deltas we take pride in our independence.  If using the EHR associated with your current billing system is the best solution for you, we will tell you that.  Our goal is to help you make the best decision given the way you practice medicine.

Many billing practices have evolved in order to accommodate insurance reimbursement practices.  With the adoption of EHR there will need to be closer alignment between billed services and what gets recorded in the clinical record.