Practice Management: Integrating PMS, EMR and Surgical Scheduling Platforms

What is practice management software? Why do surgical practices need to use it? Is it different to EMR and surgical scheduling software? What are the benefits of using healthcare management systems for practices, patients and surgeons? How can you successfully integrate PMS, EMR and surgical scheduling tools?

In the article below, we will explore the topic of healthcare practice management software and answer all these questions plus more! Read on…

Integrating Practice Management Software, EMR and Surgical Scheduling Tools

Today’s surgical practices face a number of challenges when it comes to efficiency. Practice overheads have increased significantly over the past 15 years – as much as 60 to 70% of charges –  putting small and medium size practices under increasing financial strain. 

Careful practice management is the most significant way of reducing surgical practice overheads, largely through increasing productivity, reducing costs, and improving business operations. 

Healthcare practice management software is a critical tool for surgical practices to achieve all this in a cost-effective way.

The Challenges of Managing a Surgical Practice

The day-to-day running of the average surgical practice involves multiple repetitive, low-skill tasks such as: 

• updating schedules 
• calling patients, and 
• filling out forms. 

With the complexities of medical insurance, healthcare advancements, and third-party processing, this administrative burden keeps increasing. 

These low-grade activities consume vast amounts of time and resources that could be saved or redirected through effective practice management. Managing a practice well involves establishing effective and efficient processes that ensure a smooth workflow – from the patient’s initial contact with the practice to surgical appointment scheduling, through to accounting and reporting. 

Various tools on the market can help practice managers optimize their medical office systems and upgrade their businesses on all levels.

What Goes into Managing a Practice?

To run an efficient and profitable practice, it is necessary to have good systems in place to manage surgical practice administration and medical record keeping, as well as surgical scheduling. 

Surgical Practice Administration

This includes all the activities related to the day-to-day running of the practice, for example:

• registering patients 
• booking appointments 
• ensuring that all the information is stored correctly 
• billing and accounting. 

Reporting on patient numbers, length of appointments, and other critical data is also an important part of surgical practice administration. 

Medical Record Keeping

This involves the proper recording of the patient’s treatment. A thorough medical record  includes active diagnoses as well as past medical and surgical history. Such records may have to be submitted to outside parties including other medical professionals, surgeons, specialists, courts of law, or anyone else who needs to know about the patient’s past medical history. The medical records must adhere to the legal and medical standards required by the state in which the practice is located. 

Surgical Scheduling 

There are many moving parts involved in scheduling a surgical procedure – from booking the OR and the surgeon, ordering equipment, and getting insurance authorizations to billing and record keeping. 

With everything that it entails, it is easy to see how practice management can become a burgeoning cost and a challenge to practice efficiency. Managing a practice manually requires a lot of effort, patience, and time and can lead to wasted resources and errors. Software solutions for each area of practice management have helped automate most of these activities, and have become indispensable tools for running a healthy surgical practice.

The Necessity of Using Healthcare Practice Management Software 

Technological advances have moved medical practices from largely paper-based endeavors to ones based on cutting-edge software that has streamlined and automated many of these administrative tasks. 

Healthcare software has become critical for small and medium-sized practices, and a range of solutions are being offered both for practice management and medical record keeping.

Practice Management Software (PMS)

What is practice management software?

PMS systems  are designed to streamline and automate all the administrative functions associated with running a practice. There are a multitude of features that PMS developers offer, and which platform a practice chooses depends on their specific needs and specializations. 

At its core, however, most PMS systems will offer: 

• A calendar for scheduling and managing in-office appointments
• A database for patient demographic information
• A notes function for keeping clinical notes
• A place to upload patient correspondence
• A place to upload test results 
• A system that sends electronic appointment reminders
• The capacity for billing and financial reporting

Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

EMR software allows medical providers to create, store, and update patients’ clinical records on a digital platform. Core features of this type of software often include: 

• The ability to access digital records anytime from anywhere
• The ability to share records and communicate with other providers safely and confidentially
• The ability to create and send prescriptions electronically 
• A portal where patients can have access to their information and test results 
• Integration points with laboratories for the safe and efficient uploading of test results

Sometimes there is an overlap between EMR and PMS systems but in general, the EMR system is used for assisting the practice with clinical matters, while a practice management program is used for administrative and financial matters.

Surgical Scheduling Software

Surgical scheduling software is a more recent addition to practice software solutions. Surgimate, for example, offers a revolutionary platform that enables practice staff to efficiently book surgeries, maximize block time, & increase surgical revenue.  A good surgical scheduling software will offer: 

• A calendar function for the effective scheduling of surgeries. Surgimate’s surgery scheduling calendar allows all stakeholders at the practice to see block time, the ability to move surgeries to optimize time, and to view the calendars of different surgeons and facilities.

• A patient status tracker that enables the practice staff to manage all items required pre-surgery and to highlight patients who require follow-up. 

• A form management feature allowing practice staff to generate all forms (pre-populated) and letters with one click. 

• Full reporting features on different aspects of the practice’s performance to enhance efficiencies and drive better decision-making. 

• Integration into the other PMS and/or EMR systems in the practice. Surgimate integrates with all major platforms, ensuring a seamless flow of patient management – from the first appointment scheduled through to surgical follow-up.  

Benefits of PMS, EMR and Surgical Scheduling Systems

It is obvious that the management of medical practices has been made much more efficient and streamlined through the use of practice management software, EMR and surgical scheduling systems. A huge number of tasks involved in ensuring that a practice runs smoothly can now be automated, reducing the number of resources needed for these previously time-consuming events, and lowering the number of mistakes and oversights that inevitably occur when running a medical practice. 

Let’s take a closer look at some of the specific benefits for the practice, patients and surgeons:

For the Practice

• Saves time – Automated workflows mean that less time is spent on administrative tasks, and doctors and staff can focus on patient care and interaction. 

• Reduces errors – Patient management software systems dramatically reduce the number of errors in tasks such as scheduling and billing, creating better efficiencies and reducing frustration. 

• Increases profitability – With a potential 40% of tasks being automated, less administration is required for practice management. Add to this greater efficiencies (i.e. fewer errors, a reduction in missed appointments, and more effective time management) and the result is increased profitability for the practice. 

• Improved billing – These systems allow for more efficient interaction with medical insurers and treatment approvals, as well as faster payment; a distinct advantage for any business’s bottom line. 

• Document management – Automated systems mean the automatic generation of documentation, a highly critical part of managing a healthcare practice. No information gets misplaced or lost, and a digital footprint of all interactions with patients is available.

• Patient loyalty – A more efficient and error-free practice means satisfied and loyal patients – willing to return to the practice and even refer friends and family.

For Patients

• Easy access – The automation of booking appointments is a great benefit to patients. Some practice management systems allow patients to make bookings directly online, making it much simpler to book and change appointments. 

• Less waiting – Optimized workflows and improved time management on behalf of the practice means less time sitting in the waiting room for patients – one of the biggest complaints of patients around the world. 

• Better patient engagement – Practice staff who have less administration to do and fewer frustrations and errors to deal with result in improved patient interactions. Higher quality communication and engagement improves the patient’s experience, often at a time when they need it most. 

• Better healthcare – A practice that is running efficiently provides a higher standard of care to the patient – everything from fewer frustrations, great record keeping, and efficient communication with other healthcare professionals involved in their treatment mean that patients are getting better health care. 

For Surgeons

• Optimal block time usage – Efficient scheduling means that valuable operating room time is not wasted. By using software to assist in the scheduling of surgeries, block times are maximized and profitability is enhanced. 

• Reduces cancellations – All pre-surgical requirements – such as insurance authorizations, patient prep, medical tests, and consent forms – can all be managed from one place. This reduces the number of surgeries that need to be canceled and again improves efficiencies and profitability. 

• Makes it easier to track KPIs – Like with PMS systems, surgical scheduling platforms allow for reporting on key performance indicators, allowing surgeons to track efficiencies and adjust practices for better performance. 

Create an all-round better experience for your patients with an EMR, PMS and Surgical Scheduling system.

PMS, EMR, and Surgical Scheduling Software – A Powerful Combination for Surgical Practice Management

The different types of practice management systems provide multiple benefits, but the real value of automating your workflows can only be realized when all the different systems work together. Practices with limited technology budgets have been known to  invest in one system – an EHR, for example – and try to use it to help with another function such as surgical scheduling. As each tool is designed to excel in its specific purpose this rarely offers optimal results. 

As surgical scheduling and coordination is an essential element of any surgical practice, many practices are interested in purchasing this type of software. It is important to ensure, however, that the surgical scheduling solution you adopt will be able to integrate seamlessly with any PMS or EMR system you are already using.  Surgimate’s API / HL7 engine, for example, imports key information for the surgery from your PMS or EMR system into Surgimate Practice™ to make surgical scheduling seamless.

An integration between your PMS, EMR and surgical scheduling systems is the best for ensuring your practice thrives.

Adoption of software platforms is on the rise in surgical businesses and for good reason. Given the numerous challenges that healthcare providers face trying to provide appropriate levels of patient care while remaining profitable, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that small to medium-sized surgical practices could remain competitive without good electronic systems in place. 

By adopting practice management software, EMR, and surgical scheduling software, many of the most pervasive challenges can be effectively addressed.  Interoperability, however, remains essential. A major advantage of Surgimate’s surgical scheduling platform is that it can integrate seamlessly with your PMS and EMR, drawing data from these solutions and using it to provide a truly seamless and efficient practice management experience.