PatientHub Scheduled Maintenance Notification
We want to inform you about upcoming scheduled maintenance to ensure the continued reliability and performance of PatientHub. Maintenance Details: Dates: January 17–19, 2025 Start Time: 4 PM ET Expected Duration: 48 hours During this time, PatientHub will continue to function normally. However, any new patients or appointments will not sync to PatientHub. Once the sync is restarted, PatientHub will catch up and the sync will continue normally with no intervention needed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding as we work to enhance our services.
Computer-aided Patient Scheduling
Without a computerized scheduler, a practice has less than a 2% chance of earning the title of a “better-performing practice,” according to the Medical Group Management Association. Computerized scheduling helps decrease service costs, provide fairness in service delivery, increase patient satisfaction, and reduce waiting times (Zhang et al., 2019). A massive investment in scheduling features across a wide spectrum of billing products indicates the importance of computerized scheduling. Convenience and front office efficiencies are two obvious benefits of a computerized scheduling system; without them, the only manual way to find out if a specific patient has a scheduled appointment is to flip through the appointment book page by page. Worse, manual scheduling hurts both patient satisfaction and practice financial performance because of scheduling inconsistencies and unbilled (and therefore unpaid) visits. But the benefits of integrated computerized scheduling stretch far beyond convenience, front office efficiencies, and better charge follow-up of stand-alone, albeit computerized, scheduling. A well-designed and integrated scheduler allows preferential patient scheduling, which, along with improved controls, helps revenue optimization and practice compliance. Next, we review key aspects of computerized scheduling and demonstrate the important benefits of integrated scheduling, billing, and compliance management. Scheduling Policies Computerized schedulers allow a combination of single- or multiple-interval scheduling, with open-access scheduling subject to various priority constraints. Such priority-constraint-driven, open-access scheduling creates preferential appointments based on patient demographics or insurance coverage. Typical time-slot-based appointment systems essentially divide a physician’s schedule into finite slots in a day, which can be allocated according to appointment requests. However, such systems are limited by the risks of schedule fragmentations in late shows or no-shows (Chen et al., 2019). Examples of time-slots-based scheduling include single-interval scheduling and multiple-interval scheduling. Single-interval scheduling allocates appointments at regular intervals of 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the specialty. The downside of single-interval scheduling is that as soon as one appointment takes longer than the allocated slot, all subsequent patients must wait. Multiple-interval scheduling also sets appointments at regular intervals; however, unlike single-interval scheduling, it allocates the appointment length depending on the chief complaint. Such scheduling requires up-front categorization of key appointment types and their projected lengths. For instance, an initial appointment might take 30 minutes, while a routine injection might take only 5 minutes. According to the CAHPS survey database, about 12% of patients who called in did not get appointments for urgent care that they needed at the time. Forjuo et al., (2001) also showed that inadequate access to primary care providers was a leading cause of patient dissatisfaction. These challenges are mitigated by open-access scheduling. Open-access scheduling requires holding several appointments open every day. These open appointments are filled only within 48 hours of the appointment, catering to same-day or last-minute patient requests. Open-access scheduling improves access to the physician, reduces no-shows, and eliminates patient screening time. The downside of open-access scheduling is, of course, the potential for longer patient waiting lines or physician idle time because of the inability to maintain a predictable patient flow. A novel scheduling variant is the overlapping appointment scheduling (OLAS) model (Huet et al., 2020). OLAS model refers to deciding the optimal overlapping periods between the patient appointment and allocated service times. The model is formulated as an optimization problem to minimize the total cost of patients waiting and doctors’ idle time. One way to balance the practice workload is to schedule group, routine, or repeat appointments during slow hours. For instance, pediatric well-child visits or patients with a particular chronic disease—such as congestive heart failure or diabetes—could be scheduled for early mornings when there are typically fewer patients waiting in line. These scheduled visits include educational components and often involve multidisciplinary teams. It also helps save time since standard advice need not be repeated to individuals, improving on the efficiency of care delivery (Jones et al., 2019). Patients also benefit from the socialization aspect of group visits; members encourage one another, exercise together, and so forth. A good scheduler allows a repeat appointment schedule subject to total frequency and time slot constraints. Compliance Process An integrated scheduler verifies the filing of a signed patient consent form—and, in certain cases, a signed ABN form. An ABN (Advance Beneficiary Notice) serves three goals: To protect the beneficiaries from liability for services denied as not reasonable (depends on the frequency or duration) and necessary (depends on the diagnosis and the provider’s specialty) To protect the provider’s revenue by shifting financial liability for denied services to the patient To provide documentation for a Medicare audit For more complex procedures, the scheduler warns the front office about the need to obtain all required diagnostic test results and clearances up front. Billing Interface The integrated scheduler avoids unbillable patient encounters and reconciles visits with patient balances. It checks outstanding patient balances and verifies coverage and eligibility at the point of scheduling before the appointment. AI-driven computerized coding and billing systems can accurately provide the code for a particular disease condition and help with appropriate automated billing (Venkatesh et al., 2023). In many cases, such a test discovers data entry errors too, reducing the payment cycle at later stages. Additionally, the insurance company may require referrals or separate pre-authorization/certification for certain procedures, refusing the payment if the procedure was performed without a referral or preauthorization. The integrated scheduler can access medical records to supply necessary background and diagnosis information to obtain pre-authorization. Finally, without the ability to reconcile visits with payments, the practice owner cannot be sure that every visit resulted in a payment. Practice Flow Interface The integrated scheduler manages the entire patient flow, continuously updating arrival lists, checkoffs, and office/room tracking. Further, the scheduler tracks no-shows and follow-up actions. Detailed reports include daily schedules, load reports, missed appointments, free time, canceled appointments, etc. With AI-integrated schedulers, different color codes and status flags can be used for different appointment types, whether emergencies or routine or based on the specialist to be seen by the patient. This offers a good visually appealing summary by just glancing over the
Customizable 2nd Appointment Schedule Alert Pop-ups
Introducing the Newest Feature of Genesis Chiropractic Software: Customizable 2nd Appointment Schedule Alert Pop-ups We are excited to announce the release of our latest feature in Genesis Chiropractic Software: customizable alert pop-ups. This new setting allows users to have more control over the alert pop-ups that appear on the schedule page when scheduling a patient for a second appointment. Previously, the pop-up would appear every time a patient was scheduled for a second appointment, regardless of the practitioner or schedule they were booked with. With our new optional setting, users can now choose to schedule the patient with a different practitioner or on a different schedule without the pop-up alert. However, if a second appointment is made on the same schedule, the pop-up alert will still appear. Users also have the option to turn off the pop-up alert altogether, allowing them to schedule patients for multiple appointments without being alerted each time. If you’re interested in changing how your pop-up alerts currently work, simply contact our training team, and they will update the setting for you. This new feature provides greater flexibility and customization options to our software, making it easier for chiropractors to manage their patient schedules and improve their overall workflow. We are thrilled to introduce this new feature and hope that it will enhance the user experience for our customers. Stay tuned for more updates and exciting features from Genesis Chiropractic Software.
Creating a Fee Schedule for Your Private Practice
Creating a profitable and fair fee schedule is crucial for private practices. It should cover true service costs, not just insurance reimbursement. Align your rates with insurance provider maximums and industry standards. Ensure consistency and notify patients in advance of any fee changes. Consider your practice’s operating expenses for an accurate fee structure. ClinicMind’s EHR/RCM platform simplifies fee schedule management and practice operations.
