Author: Attune Technologies

4 pointers on how automation helps you track your clinic operations.

Decided to automate your clinic? Great decision! After all what better than speeding up your processes and sticking to the goal of making your clinic a preferred centre for medical care. But does automation mean that everything will be on autopilot and does away with supervision?

No. However, automation does make supervision easy, cost effective and much more effective than manual overseeing. Tracking processes at your clinic and taking instant decisions, if need be,at anytime or from anywhere becomes very easy. Here we take a peek into 4 critical pointers how automation helps you keep a track of the happenings at your clinic, all the time:

1. Ease In Scheduling& Managing The Schedule

One of the most crucial factors for the success of a clinic is how the appointments are scheduled and managed. Right from revisits to recommendations depends on this. With an automated system in place, scheduling is one major process that undergoes massive changes. Not only does the scheduling and appointments management at the clinic improve but automation also gives the option to view, edit, add or delete appointments 24/7 from any handheld device. It also enables tracking the movement of the appointments schedule in real-time, making it easier to get a birds-eye view of how it feels to be a patient in your own OPD.

2. Financial Decisions Can Be Real-Time

Whenever you want to take an overview of the discounts being given, automation makes it possible within seconds of executing the billing decision. And this can be tracked from anywhere and at anytime – real time or as a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly summary. Automation makes it possible for you to track and take critical decisions concerning financials, if need be, based on the real-time activity irrespective of whether you are at the clinic or at an international conference.

3. Approvals Can Be Escalated For Better Execution

The main intention of automating your clinic is to speed up your processes and improve the patient experience by many notches. For situations at a clinic where decisions need to be taken by the administrator, if the administrator is unavailable physically, traditionally the patient would have been made to wait till he arrives. However, with automation the administrator can take the decision or escalate the issue to his manager while being away from the desk. Thus, decisions can be taken immediately and executed, thereby putting patient satisfaction on top priority.

4. Tracking Through Analytics

Automation of the processes at the clinic effectively means a lot of data will be generated as everything happens through the software. Every click is recorded and translated into data. The end of the day dashboard can give you clear view of how your clinic is performing on parameters that matter go you. Just tracking this data in the form of different reports will help you keep a track of your clinic’s performance on a real-time basis.

While automating your system is in itself a game changer but its biggest utility remains being able to track the performance of the process from anywhere and at anytime. This flexibility is a big boon for anyone who runs a single clinic to someone who runs a chain of clinics. To be aware is to be in control and control is something that helps keep the quality of care consistent.

The system primarily ensures discipline in managing and tracking operations which is invaluable

The decision to automate your hospital processes and implement a Hospital Information System(HIS) is a big one. Not just because of the cost involved but also because it is going to be an irreversible culture change. While contemplating whether you really need an automated Hospital Information System implemented in your hospital, take a look at these 5 improvements that HIS invariably brings in:

1. Speed Up Processes & Results

Processes on HIS means that the standard operating procedures are strictly followed and there is no deviation from it. This also means better patient care with access to real time patient information as well as past clinical data that offers better patient outcomes. The overall speed of an integrated hospital processes increase and improve operational efficiency that impact the hospital positively in multiple ways.

2. Cost Effective

HIS cuts out a lot of manual work that are performed in hospitals especially the ones where documentation and record keeping is required. HIS helps in cutting down manpower costs because majority of work gets automated and does not require manual intervention to store or analyze the information. HIS also helps save on storage and related costs. A well implemented HIS makes a hospital paper free. Only the legally mandatory documents need to be maintained on paper to comply with the rules.

3. Lowered Errors

Because processes on HIS are automated and a lot of tasks are assigned to the software to perform with utmost accuracy and with minimal human intervention, the scope of error is reduced significantly. For instance, while generating the final bill of an IPD patient, in HIS implemented hospital every test that was performed on the patientor the samples is already billed under patient’s unique hospital ID and the billing executive need not comb the entire IPD file to enter every test to prevent revenue loss during billing. Chances of missing a service or of double entries are higher in manual entries. The billing in a HIS is faster, easier, transparent and accurate.

4. Better Data Retrieve-ability

In the age of evidence-based medicine, data availability and ability to retrieve it is extremely important. Retrieve-ability of data stored on a HIS server or Cloud is easy and only a matter of few clicks to ensure you have access to clinical, operational or even financial data of the hospital.

5. Improved Operational Effectiveness

Improved access to patient data and improved work efficiency means better and faster clinical decisions. The faster the clinician gets the diagnostic reports and the quicker her orders are implemented, the faster is the patient’s recovery and the better it is on the patient care index. With automation, all departments in the hospitals are integrated and inter-connected and the easy access to information further improves the quality of patient care and the resultant bed turnover in the hospital.

Among many reasons that validate the need of HIS in a hospital, we found these five as the most structural reasons why Directors/ COOs and CEOs decide in favor of implementing HIS. Above all, HIS helps hospital offers better patient care due to availability of clean, error free data that can make all the difference in a medical emergency situation.

How to get your revenue clock ticking fast and steady.

Good patient flow is the key to a profitable clinic is a fact that everyone in the business knows. Apart from great patient care and positive word of mouth, you need to follow basic marketing principals and strategies to create awareness about your clinic. However, there are other things that you could do to help your patient walk-ins going.

Let us give you a different approach. Here we give you 5 tips, which are aimed at increasing your clinic’s profitability but not the common way. Read on:

1. Customer Delight Is Not Just For eCommerce Sites

Your patient is undoubtedly the most important person walking into your premises and she needs to be taken utmost care of. Care that is beyond the medical care that is expected. Her impressions about you and your clinic begins with your reception desk. Ensure that the patient doesn’t feel the wait and offer a comfortable experience for her. Keep the clinic’s lobby supplied with drinking water facility, reading material, television and soothing interiors. This coupled with warm, empathetic and helpful behavior of your staff and good medical prowess exhibited by you will be a recommendable patient experience that the patient will voluntarily share with friends and family.

2. Use IT To Schedule

Waiting at a clinic is the most irksome experience for a patient and more so for the attendants who accompany them. The best way to delight a patient is by reducing the waiting time at your clinic.

Poor scheduling of appointments not just means that your patients will have a not-so-pleasant experience but also that you will lose out on the number of patients that could have been accommodated in the day. And not to mention the potential patients that you will lose out on the ‘high waiting time’ feedback your current patients will give. Using a good IT solution to schedule your appointments will help you communicate to your patients when exactly to come and will also help you accommodate walk-ins in a much smoother manner for vacant slots as well as missed/ did not turn up ones. Smoother operations will mean better patient experience, which unquestionably equals to higher revenues.

3. Network with Allied Services Professionals

Do not just network in your fraternity. Seek unexplored pastures. Complete medical care to patients does not only involve a doctor. It involves many others – Pharmacists, Physiotherapists, Counselors, Pathologists and many others. Depending on your specialty, network with professionals in allied medical services and form a team. A team that is well networked can support each other with references.

4. Become a Point of Offer

In your marketing campaigns, offer. Create consumers for your service by offering something unique. Offer free checkups, offer to analyze the reports, offer advice. In a health conscious environment that we currently have, offer better health. This will help people experience the professionalism and care given by your clinic and the doctors and will certainly help them remember your clinic at a time when they might need it.

5. Automate and Have Central Control

You need to be in the know how of how things are working at every corner in your clinic. While delegation is certainly important, however central control is essential. Reports are the best form of control possible without being physically present at all times, everywhere. Since you don’t have a lot of time to spare for administrative concerns, you must get a process going to ensure you get real time clinical and operational information. Get an automation solution as per the requirements of your clinic and train yourself to understand what the numbers spell out. This will be an investment that will truly help you monitor, control and scale your operations.

Get started on your marketing plan and include some of these tips to get the returns that you truly deserve for the time, investment and effort you spend on making your practice a success.

6 Reasons why HIS is a necessary change you need in your hospital.

Why automate your hospital processes when your staff has the caliber and expertise to perform them manually? Why the unnecessary cost? Aiming to clear that confusion, in this post we explore the advantages of implementing a hospital information system and the changes the hospital processes undergo as a result.

1. Easy Access To Patient Data

A well-implemented Hospital Information System means readily available patient data to the care providers. It is only a matter of few clicks and all the requisite information about a patient, from various departments in the hospital, can be available on the screen. If the treating doctor needs to re-check the test reports of a patient, she need not go looking for the IPD file; logging into the HIS will give her instant access to those reports and timely treatment decisions ensue.

2. Cost Effective

HIS, when implemented well, cuts out on a lot of manual work that are essentially performed in hospitals, especially the ones where documentation and record keeping is required. It helps in cutting down manpower because a lot of work gets automated and does not require manual intervention to store or analyze the information. It also saves much on storage and the related costs.

3. Improved Efficiency

Processes automated using software would mean that the processes will be taken care of mechanically without any human intervention and this will instantly ensure improved efficiency. The software will not face human problems like fatigue, miscommunication or lack of focus; it will perform every task assigned to it with the same accuracy day in and day out.

4. Reduces Scope of Error

Because processes on HIS are automated and a lot of tasks are assigned to the software to perform with utmost accuracy with minimum human intervention, the scope of error is reduced dramatically. For instance, while billing an IDP patient for the drugs used with HIS, the bill can hardly go wrong because the drug the nurse indents is what is billed for until and unless there is a shortage in stock or change in drug order after the indent has been sent. Per unit rate of the drug is saved in the software as part of standard operating procedure of automation. Just selecting the drug name and the quantity will enable the software to calculate the amount due,accurately.

5. Increased Data Security & Retrieve-ability

Record keeping in hospitals is a mandatory bane with two challenges: keeping the data safe with only authorized personnel getting access to it and retrieving it in the minimum possible time. Add to these the perennial problems of space shortage, protection from natural elements and protection from pest damage etc.

HIS is the perfect solution for these problems. All the data is stored on the server or cloud, keeping it safe. Since HIS works on logins, data security is becomes a non-issue offering data access based on the role of the person – Receptionist, doctor, nurse, radiologist etc. Retrieve-ability of data stored on a server or cloud is only a matter of few clicks and the data will appear on the screen within seconds.

6. Improved Patient Care

Improved access to patient data and improved work efficiency means better and faster clinical decisions. In this age of evidence based medicine, the faster the clinician gets the diagnostic reports and the quicker her orders are implemented the faster is the patient recovery and the better it is on the patient care index. With automation, all departments in the hospitals are inter-connected and the faster information access further improves the quality of patient care and the resultant bed turnover in the hospital.

HIS is more than an IT solution, it helps you offer clear information, rapidly for better patient care while ensuring that the hospital operates efficiently and improved profitability by plugging revenue leakage. Additionally, an excellent complementary solution to an HIS is a hospital insurance claims management solution to streamline the way your hospital manages patient insurance claims and settlements. Click here to see what HIS can do for your hospital.

Choosing the right Clinic Management Software is anything but easy. However, it is one of the best decisions you will ever make that will help you enhance patient care and maximize revenues.

Considering the enormity of the decision and the impact it will have on your clinic’s operational performance, there are critical factors that you may want to consider before the actual buy.

Read through this guide to know the 7 most important factors to consider while buying a Clinic Management Software:

1. How Much Automation Are You Looking At?

There are a lot of options available as far as automating your clinic is concerned. There are exclusive billing or patient records or OPD scheduling software’s available; there are also complete clinic automation software available which include all the modules like billing, patient records, OPD scheduling, stores, pharmacy and much more. Depending on your budget, the ability to embrace change by your staff and your confidence on automating your processes, choose the right combination for you.

2. How Much Customization Will Be Needed?

No software will come custom made for your clinic because you will have some of your unique processes, which will need customization in your Clinic Management Software. After deciding how much automation you need, next logical step is to decide how much customization would you need and how confident is your vendor of delivering those. Be sure to choose a software that can accommodate all your mandatory requirements.

3. How Integration Friendly Is The Software?

A critical point for consideration while buying a software is how easy will be the transition from your old system to your new system. It is important not to lose any data and choose a software that allows a hiccup free integration. Be sure to consider this factor and also ensure the time it will take to integrate, the downtime involved and the additional investment involved, both in terms of time and money.

4. How Much Time Will Implementation Take?

Timeline for automation goes well beyond buying the product or the hardware and software installation; it is the total implementation including training of the staff and getting them to use all the features of the software. Timelines with target dates for each level of implementation and the cross checking of each level needs to be considered and discussed with complete clarity before the purchase decision is made.

5. How Much Post-Sales Technical Support Will Be Available?

Bought. Installed. Trained. Implemented. What about an unforeseen hiccup after implementation? Each staff member would have understood the technicalities in a different way and there could be a hiccup owing to wrong use or there could be a situation that was not a market reality while implementing the software? It is crucial that technical and training support should be available at a cost, post-sales. Be sure to negotiate a profitable association for the clinic while considering technical support post-sales.

6. Get Clarity

Be clear on how and at what cost will the software and hardware upgrades be implemented, what will be the downtime while the upgrade/s are happening and what will be the training routine post the upgrade/s? These are some critical questions to ensure long-term effective performance of the software and the answer needs to be clear before the buy decision is made.

7. Check Credentials and Certifications

Once you are satisfied with these performance points of the software, do a background check of the company you are finalizing to buy the software from. Check how long they have been in the business, check their clients list and see if they have serviced a clinic of your capacity in terms of specialties and turnover, do they have an experienced team to support you in your automation journey etc. This is to ensure that you have all the information to make the right decision for you.

Given that there are hundreds of points that can be considered while buying a Clinic Management Software, these are the most critical 7 points that cannot be ignored. Ensure these are on your checklist when you initiate your clinic’s automation journey.