Physicians Practice - March 2008 - (Page 52)

TECHNOLOGY communicate, says Simmons. “You can always ﬁnd someone who can do the IT side, but you also need someone who can articulate it.” This means using accurate but layman-friendly terms, making eye contact, using humor appropriately, and knowing when and how to push an issue for the good of the practice. Simmons remembers one time when he was schooling all of his practice’s physicians on Dragon Naturally Speaking, a speech-to-text translator. One physician was proving to be a technical experts, the practice decided to outsource its IT needs. It chose a company called Computer Zone, which offers Medisoft practice management software, SpringCharts EMR, and automated billing and backup services. Since then, they’ve experienced virtually no downtime. “One of the big positives is we don’t lose our charts anymore,” says Shenell Hamilton, ofﬁce manager. Walker Urgent and Family Care our clients that there’s nothing they can break that we can’t ﬁx.” Outsourced IT help is available in all sizes. McKesson, for instance, offers a broad range of IT services. It emphasizes connectivity, revenue cycle outsourcing, coding, driving claims, managing contracts, implementing EMRs, and providing practice management support. That may sound rather intimidating to a small practice, but Tom Leonard, senior vice president and general manager of McKesson’s Ambulatory Solutions Group, says that every client, regardless of size, has a “single point of contact” with whom to build a strong relationship. So whether you prefer to employ an in-house IT specialist or pay for the support an outsourced IT services company can provide, the key is to choose a solution that best fits the specific financial and operational needs of your practice. Don’t rush when deciding. Choose carefully, and build a solid relationship with your IT experts based on open communication and trust. “Finding IT people is not difﬁcult,” says Simmons. However, “Finding IT people who ﬁt your organization takes time and effort.” SPECTRUM Everyone outside of the IT profession has a certain amateur technology skill level, from the pluggedin enthusiast pining for the newest gadget as soon as it’s released, to the techno-phobic curmudgeon who eschews most technologies as new-fangled frippery. also avails itself of Computer Zone’s auto-posting service, which has greatly sped up insurance payment posting to its bank account. “We used to wait 30 to 120 days; now it’s about 14 days,” says Hamilton. She appreciates the peace of mind she now has knowing that a group of experts is there to support her practice’s IT needs: “Now we can spend time seeing patients and offering better services.” Surely, such assurance is one major beneﬁt of outsourcing. “A clinic is so entwined with its daily activities, they don’t want to be bothered,” explains Computer Zone co-owner Sandy Huggins. The company offers its services on either a per-call or maintenance contract basis. “After they buy the product, we have nothing left to give but support,” says Huggins. “We tell • Shirley Grace is a senior writer for particular challenge, and Simmons had to schedule training sessions for him four or ﬁve times. Simmons ﬁnally told him, “‘Hey, Monday you’re going live.’ … He did, and it went ﬁne.” SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE? Physicians Practice. She can be reached at sgrace@physicianspractice.com. READ MORE ABOUT IT! Visit PhysiciansPractice.com for more articles and information on obtaining the IT support most appropriate for your practice’s needs: Having your own “IT nerd” on staff can certainly be a boon to your practice. But you may ﬁnd that outsourcing — which allows you to choose from a wide variety of service offerings and maintenance plans — works just as well or even better for your business. It certainly works for Walker Urgent and Family Care in Little River, S.C. Two years ago, the solo practice decided to automate, which naturally ramped up its IT needs. Too small for it to be ﬁnancially feasible to bring an IT person on staff, but wanting the guidance of 52 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | MARCH 2008 • For even more tips on bringing IT experts into your fold, read “Hiring an IT Specialist” in our January 2005 issue. by downloading the “Staffing Benchmarks” spreadsheet from our Tools section. • Check your staff-to-physician ratio • Start your next IT purchasing assignment by downloading “Decisions, Decisions: Your IT Shopping Checklist” from our Tools section. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://PhysiciansPractice.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - March 2008

Physicians Practice - March 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Try a Little Tenderness Second Opinion Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: The Value of First Impressions Noteworthy Cover Story: Your Complete Guide to Patient Service Billings & Collections: Rules to Code By The Administrators Desk: Selecting an EMR Technology: Learn to Love Your Nerd Ask The Experts Coding The Guide The Tech Doctor: All About Blogs The Great Practice Makeover: When Bad Things Happen to Good Practices Start It Up - NEW! The Law: Audits 101 In Practice: Do As I Say... Pretty Please? Healthonomics: Handling the Changes Wrought by Medicare D Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - March 2008

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