The tools you use as a chiropractor have a powerful impact on your practice, and that doesn’t apply to chiropractic treatment alone. The software and systems you use to communicate with patients, host your patient health records, and stay in compliance all have an immediate effect on your practice’s success.
Determining which chiropractic EHR to use can be overwhelming. There are a lot of options on the market, and they all claim to be the best. At Platinum, we are always evolving, and have perfected what we believe to be the most valuable aspects of an EHR. We are the pioneers in chiropractic EHR software, and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of our chiropractors.
A chiropractic EHR is simply an electronic health record. It’s a software system that manages patient information, scheduling, and a wide variety of other things, depending on which EHR you use.
The electronic health record replaces paper records, which can easily be lost, altered, and tedious. There’s no worse feeling than going to look for a patient’s paper file and not being able to find it. Going paperless ensures that you can’t physically lose a patient’s file, including during a fire or natural disaster.
Patients come to a chiropractor for a wide range of issues. The complexity of this makes it important to keep track of every element of the patient’s care. Keeping as much information in one centralized, digital location ensures that you know all of your patient’s past injuries and health issues and don’t inadvertently hurt them.
Having all the information you need about your patient — from insurance information to SOAP notes — at your fingertips allows you to determine the correct treatment plan. Platinum’s EHR software ensures that patient information is up-to-date and easily accessible. A patient’s visit history, SOAP notes, and even X-rays are available for review immediately.
Keeping all this information organized and easily accessible — all on one screen — reduces stress on both your staff and your patients.
But there are many other benefits that come from a robust EHR software.
Choosing an EHR software program that works the way you do saves you time. The less you have to think about, the more you can focus on your patients.
A streamlined EHR allows you to grow without experiencing growing pains. You’re able to scale your practice while preventing anything from slipping through the cracks. Lexington Spinal Care’s owner Dr. Edward Carpenter switched to Platinum when he experienced an explosion in growth.
“We could not find a software program that could keep up with our growth,” he said. “This program has answered all of our needs, and continuously expands with our growth. We had literally tried 10 different patient accounting programs, one of which had a $40,000 price tag (in the 1990s) and they would inhibit our growth because they were not efficiently designed to allow us to treat more patients. Platinum has resolved the majority of our needs. It has enabled us to double our practice size easily, affordably, and efficiently."
Many time-consuming tasks go into treating patients. Whether that’s basic paperwork, taking sufficient notes, scheduling or adding new patients to your practice, every little thing adds up. What if you could streamline those tasks?
That’s what Platinum does. Our software is designed to provide you with the tools you need to stay organized and keep your appointment book full. Our system uses two screens, saving you time and allowing you to easily access all the information you need.
An EHR helps you streamline communications with your patient. A truly robust EHR allows you to collect as much of your patient’s information as possible when they first make their appointment. This can be as simple as asking for your patient's insurance and personal information. All of their forms and records can then be waiting for them when they get there, and the patient doesn’t have to spend time filling it out when they arrive.
One thing that Platinum’s EHR offers is the opportunity to proactively send patients an email requesting their information. That information is then auto-populated into Platinum, which eliminates the need to email forms back or bring physical copies with them. This is an example of reducing friction in the patient experience. The less they have to do or think about, the better.
But it doesn’t stop there. Communication goes beyond the initial appointment. We offer integrations that allow you to directly text or email a patient appointment reminders. Patients can also book or reschedule their appointments online, and can reach out to your practice that way as well.
Platinum’s appointment reminders can be sent out through text or email, and there’s no limit to what you can share with your patients.
You know your practice inside and out. But your patients don’t. Coming to a new practice can be overwhelming, and can cause anxiety. Let patients know exactly what to expect. When you reach out to your patients about their appointment, let them know ahead of time where to park, where to enter the building, and what information they will need as they approach the front desk. You could even map out where the restroom is if you want to go the extra mile!
These are things that can be automated through an EHR. Platinum also offers a patient routing system, which automatically calls the patient to the exam room. This saves time for the patient and your staff!
Humans are prone to error. We are forgetful and, sometimes, inefficient. The more things that can be automated, the easier things become for your staff and your patients.
EHRs are great at increasing efficiency. The best way to learn areas you can improve upon is to track everything. For example, discovering how long each doctor takes per visit helps you know how many patients you can book in a day.
Platinum makes this easy through its reporting feature. These reports can include not only how long the visit with the doctor takes, but the entire time the patient is at the practice, from check-in to check-out.
Tracking time spent at each phase of the patient experience is the perfect way to discover where time can be saved, and where systems can be improved. Consider using your EHR to run reports weekly and gather the information at the end of a month to see trends and averages.
Reporting is one of Platinum’s most powerful features. Our reporting includes insights into:
You can also create graphs that track overall trends, such as how many new patients came to your practice within a certain time frame.
Reviewing these reports allows you to see where you can improve. If you have a 30% no-show rate, you’ll know that you need to step up in your communication or confirmation of appointments. If you have more walk-ins than appointments, you’ll know how to tailor your marketing efforts. But without knowing trends, there’s no way to create a plan to improve.
Every second counts when it comes to office visits. If you see 60 patients every day, and save one minute per patient, you’re saving an hour at the end of that day. That’s time you could spend at home or pursuing rest and relaxation. Or, another patient!
If you see 60 patients every day, and save one minute per patient, you’re saving an hour at the end of the day!
SOAP notes — which stands for subjective, objective, assessment and plan — can be very time-consuming. SOAP notes allow doctors to record and share information in a standardized format, and document the patient’s progress over time. Equally important, SOAP notes ensure accuracy in coding and billing.
Keeping detailed SOAP notes is important for a number of reasons. Keeping a record of treatment is necessary for insurance claims. It also keeps you compliant. Without a way to capture SOAP notes efficiently, this can take doctors hours at the end of appointments or at the end of the day.
The possibility of missing something important is high. As a doctor, you should be able to reference your SOAP notes and have a strong understanding of what the next step is in your patient’s treatment plan. That involves things like your patient’s level and source of pain, tests that have been done, assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and plan of treatment.
Platinum’s software allows chiropractors to enter SOAP notes in 30 seconds or less. When it comes to subjective questions, Platinum’s software provides a portion of those questions for the doctor automatically. It’s one less thing for you to have to think about, and ensures you don’t miss a thing when it comes to treating your patients.
SOAP notes are crucial to getting reimbursed by Medicare. The denial rate for Medicare chiropractic reimbursement averages around 60%, and is 100% for some practices. The main reason for the low reimbursement rate is simply faulty documentation of SOAP notes. That wastes your time and also costs you revenue.
The Medicare manual changed the definition of medical necessity in 2009 to: “The patient must have a significant health problem in the form of a neuromusculoskeletal condition necessitating treatment, and the manipulative services rendered must have a direct therapeutic relationship to the patient’s condition.”
That means your SOAP notes need to show improvement as well as a reasonable expectation of recovery. Medicare is looking for results. One way to do this is to document what your patient’s pain level was prior to their visits with you, and then document how you restored them to that level after your treatment.
Platinum makes SOAP notes fast and simple. We make it easy to document your treatment, making reimbursement fast and more likely to get approved.
Contrary to what many people believe, just because your EHR says it is “HIPAA-compliant,” does not mean that you are HIPAA-compliant. You have to ensure that each staff member is trained, everything is recorded, and your risk analysis is complete.
In 2013, when the OMNIBUS rule went into effect. According to an article in Dynamic Chiropractic, “the omnibus rule has streamlined authorization requirements for the use of individuals' protected health information (PHI) for research purposes. It also set new limits on permissible uses of information for marketing and fundraising purposes and also sets new prohibitions on the sale of individuals' Protected Health Information (PHI) without their permission. Penalties have been increased for noncompliance.”
Basically, it made HIPAA compliance even more complicated than it was. It can also be costly.
Platinum has partnered with HIPAAMATE, a software company that makes HIPAA compliance affordable and simple. You know how many agonizing hours can be put into something that you're still not 100% sure is correct if you've tried to keep up with all the documentation required to remain HIPAA compliant yourself.
All the paperwork you need is included in Platinum through HIPAAMATE. Your practice as a whole, and each individual staff member will be kept in compliance if you follow the simple steps in the software. HIPAAMATE’s dashboard shows you if you’re up-to-date, behind, or if there is an upcoming deadline when it comes to compliance. You don’t have to worry about logging in and checking to make sure you’re in compliance; the system will email you upcoming deadlines.
Billing insurance can be a tricky process. The specific codes required for billing Medicare in particular, but commercial insurance as well, are complicated and time-consuming. It’s easy to make mistakes that add up over time and reduce your revenue overall. Most practices lose around 3% of insurance collections due to delayed filing or rejected claims, and it can take your staff hours to manage it.
An EHR software that includes billing specialists relieves all of that, and that’s what Platinum offers. We provide a team of people dedicated to handling your billing needs, making invoicing and receiving payments a breeze. Our in-house specialists are trained to validate insurance information, follow up with carriers, submit claims, and post payments. It saves you time and money.
Platinum processes $22 million in claims per month for our clients, and our rejection rate is less than 1%!
Whether you’re billing an insurance company or the patient directly, billing issues can sneak up on you. If you’re not getting paid in a timely fashion, your practice is at risk of becoming insolvent.
With Platinum, even online eligibility can be done directly through our EHR. You don’t have to take the time to call and verify that your patient is covered. Less work for you and your staff and more money coming in… it’s a win-win!
Dr. Aliya Gard, owner of Gard Wellness Center, said in a testimonial for Platinum that the convenience of Platinum saved them time and helped them with their insurance codes.
"We needed to have everything needed on the treatment side on one screen without clicking,” Dr. Gard said. “From the doctor's screen we can see their frequency, if they missed visits, we can see the entire spine with what areas we're adjusting and which ones if any are contraindicated. We can see the main complaint, and even X-rays! Additionally, we needed to not miss any CPT codes. We can hard code visits so nothing is missed on the billing side.
“We highly recommend Platinum to any colleagues looking for EHR. The biggest benefit has been time! We're not having to do SOAP notes at the end of a shift."
Patients come and go for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they’re just too busy to continue their appointments, while others may struggle financially and need a break. These things will happen, and are out of your control. There are plenty of things you do have control over, however.
As we have already mentioned, making the check-in process smooth is a great way to reduce anxiety for your patient. If check-in is a hassle and there are long wait times, your patient may start looking for another chiropractor.
With Platinum, everything you need is right at your fingertips on two screens. One screen includes a place for SOAP notes, X-rays, spinal levels, future appointments, and patient education. A second screen allows the front desk to see all patient information, the account balance, and schedule book.
Happy patients are, of course, key to maintaining a thriving practice. One of the worst things about going to a doctor’s appointment is the wait time for many people. Fortunately, Platinum provides a way to reduce a patient’s wait time.
For many people, any type of medical appointment can cause “white coat syndrome,” which is when a patient’s blood pressure goes up when they’re at a doctor’s office. Minimizing wait time does more than just save your patient’s time — it reduces their stress as well.
To reduce wait time, take the following steps:
Platinum makes all these things simple. Your staff can send out an email through our system that requests your patient’s information, which is then auto-populated into the Platinum system as soon as they send it. That eliminates the need to email, upload or download forms.
Our EHR software keeps the patient’s information up-to-date and at your fingertips. Everything from their visit history, SOAP notes and test results are available for immediate review in an organized and accessible way.
We also offer patients a Chiropractic Health Card that can be scanned at check-in, eliminating the need to search for their records. It’s also more sanitary, which is an important feature in today’s world. It’s quick, easy, and reduces contact.
There will always be somewhat of a wait before a patient’s appointment, even if the process is flawless. Make sure your lobby and the appointment room is welcoming and comfortable.
No matter the size of your practice, Platinum saves you time and money, allowing you to scale your business and keep your patients happy. If you’re ready to make the switch to Platinum, book a demo with us today!