5 Modern Must-have Features in Urgent Care Technology

Technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. As patients become more dependent on their mobile devices to live their lives, they expect their service vendors — from retail to banking to healthcare — to keep up. In addition, technology provides the absolute most efficient, thorough way to run your urgent care. If you haven’t updated your tech stack in a while, or if you’re ready for new technology, here are some of the latest capabilities in urgent care technology and what they do for your business.

1. ePrescribe Integration

You may already have an ePrescribe vendor that integrates into your EMR/PM, but an embedded ePrescribe that integrates into your provider workflows is next-level efficiency. But before we dive into specifics, let’s make sure we’re on the same page with our terminology.

What is ePrescribing?

According to HealthIT.gov, electronic prescribing, or ePrescribing, allows healthcare providers to “enter prescription information into a computer device – like a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer – and securely transmit the prescription to pharmacies using a special software program and connectivity to a transmission network. When a pharmacy receives a request, it can begin filling the medication right away.”

What is embedded ePrescribe?

For some urgent cares, the ePrescribe (eRx) tool is embedded directly within the EMR, creating a more streamlined process with reduced administrative burden. The provider does not need to leave the EMR to send a prescription, though some urgent cares use systems that do require logging into a third-party system to conduct eRx.

What is integrated ePrescribe?

For EMR/PMs like Experity’s, the eRx tool is now not only embedded, but also integrated into provider workflows, creating an even more streamlined process. This gives providers and administrators access to Discharge Order Sets which can be quickly created, customized, and utilized to your practice preferences for minimal-click charting and consistent discharge instructions.

Customizing Discharge Order Sets means that the clinic can tailor the standardized Advice, Referrals, Rx, and Exit Care sets created by Experity’s consulting physicians (and based on AMA recommendations.) Users can also customize their order sets to match their workflows at the practice, clinic, or provider level.

What about ePrescribe for controlled substances (EPCS)?

Most states mandate that if you are prescribing controlled substances, you must do it electronically. This typically means you need to purchase a license to use EPCS.

2. SMS Revenue Capture

Not only do text messages make payment easier for the patient, it also cuts down on paper costs and manual efforts. Once the patient is eligible for an invoice, you can configure up to three payment reminder texts. If the final text does not result in a payment, a paper statement is mailed. And every time a paper statement is mailed, the patient gets a text about that, too. Ultimately, this functionality improves margins and revenue capture by reducing:

• Paper statement costs
• Staff labor
• The percentage of claims going to collections/written off as bad debt

And it does this while increasing the speed and volume of patient responsibility payments. Plus, it provides a better patient experience, which leads to repeat visits. (*Note: Experity’s SMS Rev Capture is currently only available to SaaS clients.)

3. Credit Cards on File at the Account Level

In payment management, there is a difference between having a credit card number on file for that day’s visit and having a card on file at the account level. In the first instance, pre-authorization capabilities may be referred to as keeping credit cards on file. What this really means is that you can collect a card number during the visit, and it’s automatically billed the balance once the patient’s insurance claim processes. The card number does not remain associated with the patient account for future visits.

While this definitely helps you optimize revenue cycle management, keeping the credit card actually on file and associated with the patient’s account allows you to improve more of your process. By simply eliminating the need for a patient to present a credit card at each visit, and for your staff to preauthorize every time, you are:

• Speeding up the registration process
• Providing a better patient experience
• Providing a better front desk staff experience

But where this feature is worth its weight in gold is that now you’re able to use it to set up payment plans. This means there is less for the patient to have to think about, you’re reducing other invoicing efforts, and you’re more likely to get paid with a payment plan the patient can afford.

4. Urgent Care Business Intelligence

Business intelligence (BI) is not new to EMRs. This functionality simplifies data analysis so you can make informed decisions for better patient and business outcomes. Most EMR/PM BI gives you operational and financial data. But companies like Experity are also building in clinical data and self-service functionality.

By putting clinical data on equal footing in BI, you can think about patient outcomes in addition to business outcomes. As one of the prebuilt dashboards, you have a quick and convenient way to put your data to use.

If you have the resources to dig deep into your personal analytics, the self-service feature is a robust tool that lets you build your own reports and dashboards to monitor metrics for your specific practice. Anyone at your practice can build their own personalized dashboard, so everyone has visibility into performance and empowerment to drive positive change.

Not sure what differentiates BI from reporting? We wrote a blog about it >>

5. Collect and Manage Patient Feedback

There are an average of 720 Google searches every month on how to collect patient feedback. This is such important data to not only to improve, but also to ensure that your reviews are helping you get more business. Now there is technology that can not only automate this collection of feedback, but let you manage your Google reviews right from your patient engagement system.

Text-based surveys and reputation management

If you’re not already using text-based surveys, they’re exactly what they sound like. After a patient visit, your system automatically texts a survey (sent a defined number of hours post-visit that you choose) that collects feedback on the location, provider, and visit-type.  What’s newish is the ability to encourage the patient to post an online review.

The flashy newest technology does far more for your reputation management, however. Here are some highlights:

• Survey feedback is scanned to generate team scorecards and engagement metrics that show providers a snapshot of their NPS relative to other providers in the organization, as well as verbatim comments related to their visits.
• AI-powered ticketing system scans feedback and automatically opens tickets and assigns to specific clinic managers for follow-up (specifically for complaints.)
• Dashboards let you see and manage Google reviews from inside your system – so you can sort Google reviews by your chosen metric, and also reply or leave comments as needed, all in one place.
• Dashboards also let you compare your clinic to up to three competitor star ratings in one place.
• The text surveys can ask questions specific to the patient’s provider, so managers can gauge the overall experience vs that with the individual provider.

Looking for tips on how to choose the best EMR for urgent care? Check out this resource page >>

Take a Closer Look

See something that could transform your practice? Learn more in a custom demo. Get immediate answers to your burning questions and the info you need to make the right decision for you — just click the button below. Or you can check out Experity’s made-for-urgent-care products here.

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