By Alison Foster bio
There was a notable increase in the adoption of healthcare technology by practices and providers in 2020. This continues in 2021, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up. Many practices are short on both human and financial resources and need to increase efficiency to the maximum.
Here are some forms of healthcare technology you can rely on to optimize your practice’s efficiency in 2021.
- Cloud computing
Keeping patient data safe and accessible is critical in healthcare. Traditional methods of storing patient data often have challenging retrieval and sharing processes. Cloud computing solves many of these problems and is fast becoming the go-to choice for many practices. Electronic health records stored on the clouds means that providers and authorized personnel can access patient data remotely from any compatible device. Cloud-stored data is also easier to share and makes for better collaboration with other providers on a patient’s care team.
- Data analytics tools
Modern data analytics tools can improve a practice’s operational efficiency and bottom line. Typically integrated with the practice’s EHR system, data analytics technology generates insights that help you discover opportunities for extra revenue and easily identify and address operational inefficiencies in the practice. You can also use them to generate reports that give you a better view of your practice’s performance, and how close you are to your business goals.
- Collaboration and communication platforms
With COVID-19 vaccines now being distributed, efficient communication and collaboration with life science reps is now significantly more important than before. Advanced technology platforms can schedule and simplify vendor meetings—with minimal effort required from practice staff.
- Online payments
Patient collections can be made significantly faster and more efficient when patients can make payments online.
And with many medical services now provided virtually, there’s almost no reason why billing patients shouldn’t be done primarily online. Many technology vendors offer practice management software-integrated platforms through which practices can offer their patients online payment options. This eliminates the need for you to have staff tasked with preparing and sending out snail mail bills for amounts owed. Some platforms even allow practices to offer flexible payment plans. When choosing an online payment platform for your practice, remember to make sure it is HIPAA compliant.
5. Bonus: Practices can leverage the CDC COVID Data Tracker to anticipate patient volume and prepare clinical resources accordingly, whenever needed. The COVID data tracker provides state and county-level views of cases and is updated daily.
