Treatment Specialty Diseases

Posts Tagged ‘Integrated’

The government is providing stimulus funding to help cardiologists and other physicians transitioning to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR). The impetus to transition to the new system is occurring faster than some cardiologists are prepared to accept. Cardiologists need help to remain abreast of the changes in the medical billing process. Integrated medical billing is a way to assist with the transition.

How Does Integrated Medical Billing Help?
Current manual practices require knowledge of complex billing codes, time to resubmit bills and time to handle denials. This process is difficult without an EMR system in place to assist with the process. This system significantly reduces the amount of time required to manually enter this information. The stimulus money was provided to help physicians transition sooner than later.

What Should the Cardiology EMR Include?
The cardiology EMR should include the following to improve a cardiologist’s workflow and business practices:

ICD/CPT Codes
Pre-coded Cardiology International Classification of Disease/Current Procedural Terminology (ICD/CPT) codes allow physicians to scroll through and select them with minimal typing. This significantly increases the speed of submitting medical codes.

Drug Database for Cardiology
A cardiology drug database allows physicians to check for drug interactions and patient history.

Lab Interfaces
Physicians must order lab work to properly assess the health of their patients. After the lab work is ordered, a staff member is required to enter the patient’s information into the computer system. The process is tedious and can be affected by a single mistake. EMR or EHR solutions can help clients complete the process in the least amount of time.

EKG/ECG Software Integration
Physicians need the ability to view their EKG and ECG strips. Paper output systems often prove to be a logistical nightmare. They are difficult to transport and manipulate. The manual process is error-prone and tedious. Integrated billing solutions work in conjunction with an electronic solution for this process for more efficient workflow.

Cardiology SOAP Note Templates
This method of Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan (SOAP) records notes in a patient’s chart in an electronic format. Billing solutions are an instrumental part of the practice workflow.

Medical Templates
Hypertension templates, cardiac templates and pacemaker templates provide an electronic format to gather information about the patient’s condition. This information can be integrated with clinical software for a seamless billing process.