is your practice ready to automate?

Is Your Practice Ready to Automate?Presented by: Dr. Susan Linton & Rob Gilpin

Simplifying and Unifying Communications Through Technology

Agenda

• Introductions

• Housekeeping Rules

• Is Your Practice Ready to Automate?

• Q&A

• Automated Communications

• Webley MD Reminders: Automated appointment reminders

• Webley MD After Hours: Automated answering service

• Q&A

Simplifying & Unifying Communications Through Technology

Housekeeping Rules

• Length: 45 minutes

• Type your questions at any time

• Copies of presentations will be sent to participants


Characteristics of Top Performing Practices

The Annual MGMA Performance and Practices of Successful Medical Groups Report found that better performing medical practices excelled in four areas:

1. Profitability and cost management– Business and strategic planning, careful monitoring of costs

– Looks at and adjusts payor mix, terminates relationship w/ poor payors

2. Productivity, capacity and staffing– Better performing practices were more likely to use automated telephone

reminder calls (40.3% vs. 18.8%)

– More procedures & high revenue per physician

– Higher physician compensation and benefits

3. Accounts receivable and collections– Understanding & improving billing

4. Patient satisfaction


Key Ways Practices are Automating

Practice Management

EHR

Claims/Billing

Appointment reminders

Lab results reporting

Patient registration &

scheduling

Message management

Eprescriptions


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Adoption Patterns by Practice Size

1 to 2 MDs

3 to 5 MDs

6 to 10 MDs

11 to 20MDs

21 to 50MDs

Over 50 MDs

EMR 38% 49% 69% 72% 64% 77%

Ebilling 63% 71% 77% 74% 70% 75%

Eprescribing 28% 33% 42% 39% 52% 59%

Appointment scheduling software

70% 77% 80% 80% 77% 83%

Source: Webley MD 2009 survey of medical practices, n = 938


Key Benefits of Automation for Practices

• Instant access

• Better organization of information

• Save time looking for charts, slips of paper, etc.

• Error reduction

• Save space , less paper

• View information without being in the office

• Send information to others quickly

• Improved, secure record keeping


Quantifiable Benefits of Automation for Practices

• Average cost to pull and refile a paper chart = $5

• Average number of chart-pulls for nonvisiting patients (prescription refills, lab results, phone calls, correspondence) = 60% of the daily pulls

• Average amount of staff time spent to fulfill a medication request manually = 15 minutes

• Average amount of time to fulfill a medication request with computer automation = 3 minutes


Quantifiable Benefits of Automation for Practices

• Average time it takes to report one lab result manually = 3 minutes

• Average time it takes to report one lab result automated = 30 seconds

• Medco Health Solutions survey of Boston physicians found that 88% of those surveyed spent almost 1/3 of phone time responding to calls from pharmacies regarding prescriptions.


Key Risks of Automation for Practices

• Can be expensive

• Requires extensive staff training

• Disrupts workflow

• Equipment, software that becomes outdated, broken

• Integration issues

• Lack of technical support

• Patient privacy concerns

• Uncertain reception by key stakeholders


MGMA 2010 Health Information Technology Tips

1. Establish your internal EHR/HIT Team and include a nursing representative

2. Information gathering. Explore other applications of HIT in your practice; identify opportunities to streamline your practice and qualify for incentives

3. Identify a physician champion who will rally clinician support

Source: Keynote address by MGMA president, William Jessee, MD, State of the Medical Practice 2010


Health Information Technology Evaluation Tips

As you consider applications of HIT in your practice, evaluate each option based on the following:

1. Value/ROI – does the application bring real value to your practice? Consider the vantage point of key stakeholders.

2. Price/payment terms – are installments an option?

3. Set up/installation time – how long does it take and does it fit with your needs?

4. Training – will it be easy for your staff to learn how to use the application? What type of training is provided?

5. Ongoing maintenance – do you have to worry about updates? Is technical support included?

6. Reputation of the vendor – will the vendor be there a year from now, 5 years from now?


Unsure about Automation?

• It’s okay to start small with routine tasks where automation can save considerable money and/or time

• Be sure to track results

• As you see the benefits of automation, others at the practice will be more open to additional investments in automation


The Webley Mission: Automating Communications

Webley provides certainty, convenience, and clarity by simplifying the communications experience for our customers one vertical market at a time.

Webley MD After Hours (Inbound Messages)

• Message management

• Unified communications

• Message notifications sent to pager, e-mail, phone

• Custom caller greetings

• On call status changes by phone

Webley MD Reminders (Outbound Messages)

• Automated reminders by voice & e-mail

• Send notifications after hours when patients are home

• Lowers no show rate by 30%

• Better tracking of cancellations, confirmations


Webley MD Reminders Best Practice Goals


Grow Revenues

• Decrease no shows by 30% or more

• Increase revenue

• Generate additional visits

• Improve cash flow

Improve Office Efficiency

• Less time spent on the phone

• More time for in-office patient care

• Reduce postage costs

• Easy tracking of appointment confirmations & cancellations

Increase Patient

Satisfaction

• Flexible , personalized communications (voice, e-mail)

• Provide greater convenience to patients

• Improved communication

• Shorter wait times

Traditional vs. Automated Reminders


Manual Automated Savings Qty/Month

Phone Calls $0.55 $0.15 $0.40 ?

Postcards $0.50 $0.15 $0.35 ?

Letters $1.00 $0.15 $0.85 ?

Standard Appointment Reminder


“Hello, this is XYZ Health Clinic calling to remind <Patient First / Last Name> of your appointment with us on <Day> <Month> <Date> at <Time>. To confirm this appointment, please press the one key now.

If you are unable to keep this appointment for any reason, please call us as soon as possible at 444-646-8888 to cancel or to reschedule. This will allow us to offer that appointment time to another patient. Again, that number is 444-646-8888. We look forward to seeing you!”

Examples of Response Options


• To confirm this appointment, press 1 now.

• To hear this message in Spanish, press 2 now.

• To repeat this message, press 3 now.

Example of a Typical ROI for 3 Physician Practice


Appointments Per Day:

Cost of Lost Appointment:

Average No Show Rate:

Total Monthly Revenue Generated:

Revenue Lost Based On 5% No Show:

Webley Recoverable Revenue @ 30%:

Cost of Webley @ $0.19 / Call

Net Profit/ Month:

Net Profit/ Year:

Save Time, Money, Improve Office Efficiency & Patient Satisfaction!

75

$75

5%

$118,125

$5,906

$1,772/ Month

$299/ Month

$1,473

$17,676

Webley MD Benefits Patients and Practices


• Increased access to caregivers

• Enhanced patient experience

• Shorter wait times

Patient Benefits

• Saves time & money

• Improves cash flow

• See more patients in less time

• Reduce print & postage costs

• Creates competitive advantage

• More time to focus on pressing matters

• Accommodates practices of any size

• SAAS model, no equipment to purchase or administrate

• Immediate ROI

Practice Benefits

The Importance of After Hours Care

What happens when your patients call after hours?

• Patients still require timely clinical advice. • Studies have shown that 22% - 44% of after hours calls involve

potentially serious problems.

• Urgent calls are not always forwarded to on-call physicians. • According to a study in the Journal of Family Practice, 50% of calls

not forwarded by the answering service to the on-call physician could be classified as needing immediate contact with the physician.

• Answering services usually fax call reports to offices the next business day. • In other words, physicians usually receive the message hours after

the patient calls, if the answering service did not forward the call.


The Traditional Way of Handling After Hours Calls

Live Answering Service* Inconsistent customer service skills, high turnover rates

* Inaccurate message transcriptions

* Price typically includes fixed number of minutes, additional minutes billed at a much higher rate

* Costly overages every month

Answering Machine / Voicemail

* No find me or follow me features

* Risk that box/machine is full & can’t record new messages

* Providing another phone number to call poses an additional obstacle for an anxious patient

* No or limited notification of new messages


The Advanced Way of Handling After Hours Calls

Webley MD After Hours:• Faster, more accurate messages, notifications by pager, phone, e-mail

• Every call handled courteously and consistently

• Caller ID, call screening features

• 9 custom greetings allow you to greet each caller with a familiar voice

• Lets callers tag messages as urgent

• Better call routing. • Set up voicemail for different departments/functions, physicians, etc.

• Change on-call status with a quick phone call

• Natural language interactions allow callers to state what they want the system to do. • As easy as having a conversation.

• Service is monitored 24/7 with backup and disaster recovery services.

• Subscriber based, no equipment to purchase, nothing to maintain


Key Benefits of Webley MD After Hours

Better Message Management• Better call routing

• Easier, unified message management

• Change on-call status with quick phone call

• Screen all callers

Better Patient Care • Improved communication with patients

• Quicker response time to after hours calls

• Eliminate inaccurate messages

• Hear the message exactly as conveyed

• Never miss or lose an important message

• Ensure continuity of care


Webley MD After Hours Script

“You have reached the office of East Bay Family Medical. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 4 p.m.. If this is a medical emergency, hang up and dial 911. If you have an urgent medical problem and need to reach the on-call physician, please stay on the line and the on-call physician will be notified of your call. Thank you for calling our office.”

Create multiple message types for holidays, weekends, lunch, or emergency closings.


Example: Checking Your Messages

1. Call the Department Mailbox toll-free number

2. When your Personal Assistant begins speaking, press the * key

3. Say or enter the Department’s 4-digit security code

4. When your Personal Assistant says “What would you like to do?” say “Listen to Messages” or touch-tone (10)


Example: Setting the Doctor On Call

1. Call the Department Mailbox toll-free number

2. When your Personal Assistant begins speaking, press the * key

3. Say or enter the Department’s 4-digit security code

4. When your Personal Assistant says “What would you like to do?” touch-tone 7710

5. When prompted say the name or touch-tone the extension number of your Profile Mailbox


Webley MD After Hours Summary

What happens after your office closes? Webley MD After Hours is there to:

• Replace or supplement your existing after hours service

• Lets you hear and save the patient messages, much faster than an answering service

• Available any time (nights, weekends, holidays, lunch)

• Find and follow me feature ensures you get each message

• Immediate notification

• Notify home, office, cell phone, pager, e-mail and more

• Call to quickly change on-call status

• Record your own custom greetings


Webley Corporate Overview

• Founded In 1997

• Industry Pioneer in Advanced Speech Applications:

• Unified Communications

• After Hours Messaging

• Broadcast Messaging

• 7 Advanced Speech Patents

• 50,000 Active Customers

• Delivering 180,000,000 Transactions Per Year

• Fully Redundant Data Centers

• Numerous Awards For Technology Product of the Year


For additional information contact:Rob GilpinNational Sales Director, Webley MDPhone (866) 220-9754

[email protected]

www.webley.com

Simplifying and Unifying Communications Through Technology