How Going Digital Can Help Improve Patient Relationships and Increase Revenue

Digital healthcare technology enables you to give your patients the services and experience they expect while helping you maximize patient outcomes and streamline your office workflow.

Digital applications like telehealth, electronic health records, e-prescriptions, patient portals, and digital patient evaluation & management platforms protect patients and improve the doctor-patient relationship. Importantly for your medical practice, these tools can also increase your bottom line.

Let’s briefly explore why these digital tools are not only improving patient outcomes but also generating practice revenue.

Digital Evaluation & Management

The most recent payment path released by the AMA CPT Committee is Digital E & M. This is non-face-to-face, patient-initiated communications through a HIPAA-compliant secure software platform. By implementing digital management technology to receive daily health status updates from your patients, you’ll know whether your patients are complying with their medication and care plan. You can more easily monitor chronic care patients, those with substance use disorder, and individuals in chronic pain and intervene if you see warning signs.

Daily evaluation and management systems not only lead to better outcomes for your patients, but this technology also improves your patient relationships, increasing their satisfaction and loyalty and improving patient retention. Using this technology is like offering your patients concierge medicine without having to charge them thousands of dollars a year.

And now with the advent of Digital E&M CPT codes, you can potentially bill for the time you spend monitoring your patients in between scheduled appointments. Just as a law office bills for the attorneys’ time, you may now be able to be reimbursed for the medical care, assessment, and management you provide to your patients wherever and whenever you provide it.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

Remote patient monitoring involves the use of digitally-enabled medical devices like blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, scales, and pulse oximeters to gather valuable data about patients. That data is then securely transmitted back to your practice for your review and analysis.

Many patients already use these devices in their home, so incorporating RPM into your practice can greatly improve patient outcomes. Patients also have the security of knowing that their data is available to their doctor instantly through a digital connection. Best of all, our platform PainScript can manage RPM devices through our clinical dashboard.

Telehealth/Telemedicine Video Visits

Surveys find patients who feel they have a positive relationship with their doctor report the greatest satisfaction with the quality of their health care. When you offer telehealth visits to your patients, you are reassuring them you:

• Value their time
• Care about their needs
• Are expanding access to care
• Are concerned with their health status

By offering telehealth to pain management or SUD patients, you can more closely monitor their situation without time-consuming in-person appointments. You are also sending a powerful message that you will do what it takes to provide the continuity of care your patients deserve.

The convenience of telehealth means fewer missed appointments, better patient retention, improved patient loyalty, and an opportunity to attract new patients. The result is an increase in revenue and a practice that continues to grow.

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

EHRs enhance patient safety, improve the quality of care, and promote the sharing of information between you and your patients. Use of EHR allows:

• Convenient patient access to test results
• Post-visit summary and information for patients
• Merged medical records and reduction of medical errors
• Timely reminders for annual or follow-up visits

The convenient sharing of information means patients become more invested in their care, which improves the doctor-patient relationship.

EHRs also increase practice revenue. By auto-generating appropriate billing codes along with supporting documentation, you enjoy faster reimbursement and fewer rejected claims. This process can save you and your staff valuable time. This allows you to see more patients, which translates to increased revenue.

E-Prescriptions

E-prescriptions improve patient safety by eliminating medication errors because of illegible handwriting. E-prescriptions can also:

• Reduce wait time, increasing patient satisfaction
• Alert providers to medication interactions or possible drug misuse
• Increase medication compliance

Patients appreciate the convenience of e-prescriptions and are more likely to pick up their medication when they don’t have to handle a paper prescription. E-prescriptions lower costs for you and your patients, increasing revenue for your practice.

Patient Portal

Patient portals enable patients to make appointments, pay bills, review their own health data, complete health insurance and medical history forms, use secure messaging to ask direct questions, and much more. Your office can proactively send appointment reminders and other pertinent information using a patient portal.

The flexibility and convenience of patient portals increases patient satisfaction, loyalty, and their desire to continue with your practice, all of which contribute to an increase in revenue.  

PainScript is the only Digital Evaluation & Management platform clinically proven to significantly increase medication and care plan adherence. It was built for physicians by physicians. Our system is whitelabeled to your practice brand and includes a clinical dashboard that streamlines your practice and allows for a potential ancillary revenue stream. The accompanying Practice Patient App provides a HIPAA-compliant and accessible connection for your patients.

‍