|
|
Best Choice for the Practice
Two years ago, the staff of Oncology Hematology Associates PA (OHAPA),
which operates two offices approximately 15 miles apart in
Clinton and Greenbelt, Maryland, started the search for medical
oncology software. They began with the formation of a committee
charged with its selection. Explained Dr. Harvey Katzen, “If I
didn’t have total buy-in by the staff, I realized it wouldn’t
work. At the start, some staff had no computer experience, but
by the time we reviewed IMPAC, the last vendor we saw, we had a
very educated team who did a good job of satisfying my
criterion: selecting what was best for the practice.” That was
IMPAC, because its billing system was not simply an add-on but
was integrated into the whole fiber of its software system.
“This was crucial,” said Dr. Katzen, “and we’re very pleased. As
we move through a morning, we record our work, and the exact
information is immediately presented to the billing part of the
program.”
Efficient Billing
Physicians use wireless tablets and enter their own charges,
making billing instantaneous and speeds reimbursement while
freeing staff to spend more time with patients. Before IMPAC,
physicians would circle procedures on a fee ticket, write out
prescriptions, and take the sheets of paper to the billing
office, where 1.5 personnel spent 75% of a day manually entering
them into the billing system.
Measurable Savings
“All this information is now immediately available for billing,
so turnaround time is reduced, and billing that used to take
well into the following afternoon is now entered before patients
leave the office,” noted Katzen, adding that, ultimately, the
billing personnel will primarily be reviewing the data for
accuracy. Katzen said he expects annual savings from cutting
costs for paper from converting four-page NCR paper superbills
into electronic format at around $7,000, with more savings from
reducing copying orders in triplicate to making single copies
for nurse clipboards. Orders will be maintained electronically
for billing, insurance, and permanent records.
Integration
OHAPA plans to use IMPAC for patient charts as soon as possible,
but, for Katzen, IMPAC already offers a further benefit: “I
believe our organization works as a team, and IMPAC helps us
integrate the team, since information is easily accessible to
all of us. And for me, even though we haven’t yet gone live to
the electronic medical record, if the emergency room calls me at
home, I am able to pull up the billing information from our
server to determine what chemotherapy has been given in order to
advise the ER if they should anticipate low blood counts or not.
This decreases the number of times I must ask the staff to find
a chart—a major efficiency issue.” |
|
 |
|
Oncology Hematology Associates PA, Clinton, MD
Office Manager Margaret Balcer, and
Oncologist Harvey Katzen MD of
Oncology Hematology Associates PA |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Email
Us] |
|
|
