Any business wants to see growth, and medical practices are no exception.
Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions is here to help offer tips on how specialty physician practices can attract new patients, keep current patients happy, and improve your chances of growing your medical practice in 2019.

Start Growing Your Medical Practice ASAP!

Fortunately, you do not have to wait until tomorrow to start down the journey of growing your practice. Rather, you can start taking steps today to actively build up your practice revenue and keep your growth moving forward sooner rather than later.

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

— Benjamin Franklin

Market to Your Target Patient Audience

When building your medical practice, you want to make sure you are marketing to the right target audience of potential patients as well as their caregivers. If you own and run a specialty practice such as an OB/GYN practice, marketing to men is most likely going to be a moot point. Therefore, you need to make sure you are on target with your marketing techniques to reach women local to your practice who are within the age of conception so that you are reaching and attracting potential new patients to your practice.

Every medical practice only has so many dollars to put towards marketing in their overall budget. Use them wisely, but use them to inform potential patients and don’t be afraid to answer their questions.

Make Sure Your Team Is On Board

Many times, your medical team is responsible for making the first impression your patient has with your practice. As a result, you need to develop a compassionate medical team who represent and reflect the same goals and values of your overall practice.

When your patient first walks in the door, is he or she greeted with a smile? Or, is your front office staff too busy dealing with insurance companies and billing needs? Are they laser-focused on collections or quality patient care?

Give your front office staff the chance to make a strong first impression on your patients. Improving your front office processes and coaching your front office staff, you can increase your clinic output.

If this is a major concern or pain point for your patients, MEREM Healthcare Solutions can serve your medical practice’s front office staff with patient pre-collections and staff training. Contact Us for more information on Consulting Services.

Additionally, you should consider lightening that burden by allowing a third-party to deal with your medical billing, so that they can focus on benefit verification and up-front collections and most importantly,

• giving your patients a warm welcome
• listening to their needs
• helping them with questions or concerns they might have walking into your medical practice.

For the most part, patients visit medical practices when sick. They are already nervous and anxious about what is to come. By having your team warm and inviting from the beginning of their visit you can help to settle patients nerves and set the tone for a positive and comfortable visit.

Patient Care Doesn’t End when the Patient Leaves

Patient Care Doesn’t End when the Patient Leaves. In fact, the moment your patients walk in your medical practice, is only the beginning of building a relationship with your patients. Follow-up communications is key in establishing stronger bonds with patients so that they have the ability to gain trust in you and your medical practice.

Patients who feel they can trust your medical practice will continue returning when they need your expert care, as well as telling their family and friends.

In the world of social media, word-of-mouth plays a huge role in attracting new patients to your medical facility. Patients will check-in at your clinic on social media, give countless recommendations and leave positive reviews when they have a great experience. So you may also want to email a follow-up message after a patient’s visit to ensure a positive experience and to foster that relationship and trust with your patients.

POSITIVE PATIENT EXPERIENCE = TIMELY PAYMENT

Patients will also be quicker to pay their bills after a great experience.

What are current patients saying about your medical practice right now?

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions can help your medical practice.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a medical practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of healthcare solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check out our website or feel free to call us to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post Keep your medical practice moving in the right direction—forward! appeared first on MEREM Health.

When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was approved, all healthcare providers (both public and private) were required to adopt the use of electronic medical records (EMR). Since January 1, 2014, EMR systems have assisted several healthcare organizations in maintaining health-related information on patients, as well as improving workflow and the quality of care provided to patients and their safety.

Unfortunately, though, adoption of EMRs across America has been low, which is why it is vital for all healthcare organizations to realize the importance and extensive need of EMR systems in all medical practices within the United States.

Is Your Medical Practice Utilizing an EMR?

When it comes to patient care, there are many medical “players.” An EMR system allows for communication on a patient to be had in one, centralized location, which also includes all services billed on the patient by each medical professional.

“An EMR system is extremely important for billing purposes, especially since it provides an audit trail of all necessary documentation,” explains Jennifer L. Smith, CPC, Director of Billing Operations at MEREM Healthcare Solutions. “With so many people involved with the patient, it is easier to be able to electronically locate medical records, authorization/referral approvals, records release, and payment receipts. All paperwork involving the patient and his or her care should be accessible at any time by anyone involved with the care of the patient.”

The Benefits of an EMR

If your medical practice has yet to utilize an EMR for its medical practice, what are you waiting for? Particularly since there are several benefits associated with an EMR system, including:

• Easily accessible for all parties
• Provides an audit trail (if needed)
• Eliminates the need for paper charts since everything is electronic

It is important that when an EMR system is being used, the process and/or workflow designates a person(s) to upload documentation daily, including what type of documentation and where it should be uploaded.

Avoid EMR Issues with Our Help

As with anything, the EMR system has some cons. However, even with the risks associated with an EMR system, medical offices can prevent problems with billing, coding, and other areas by:

• Making sure to have signed documentation from the patient regarding release of information,
• Staying within HIPAA compliance, and
• Verifying all necessary information on accounts.

Of course, even with an EMR system in place, it is good practice to have a backup via a paper chart or a computer disc in the case of a power outage or technical failure.

“MEREM Healthcare Solutions can assist with issues associated with EMR and billing among medical facilities,” Smith explains. “Our team can help implement processes and workflows regarding your EMR, ensure your medical practice remains in HIPAA Compliance, and send out notifications regarding missing documentation.”

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, we want to be your strategic partner in making sure your billing, coding, auditing, and other needs are met. Contact us today to learn how our knowledgeable and experienced professionals can help assist with issues associated with EMR and billing among your medical facilities.

The post The Vital Role EMR Plays in Medical Billing appeared first on MEREM Health.