Patients Benefit When Your Practice Chooses the Right GI Software

Opt for gastroenterology patient engagement solutions.

In today’s healthcare environment, the focus on satisfied and engaged patients has grown exponentially. Value-based care and the consumerization of healthcare have greatly influenced this trend. Part of the equation to meet these patient needs requires the use of the right gastroenterology software tools. It starts with a gastroenterology electronic medical record (EMR) system, and then expands into more direct patient facing solutions that should integrate with your gastroenterology EMR to help create a seamless practice workflow and elevated patient experience.

A patient kiosk, patient portal, appointment reminder service and reputation management surveys fit together like pieces of a puzzle to help increase a patient’s overall satisfaction while simultaneously helping your staff and practice, too.

The Solid Foundation: Gastroenterology Software

The conversation around GI software should begin with an EMR system. A gastroenterology EMR system can help increase efficiency, ease of use and provide a single, unified solution when compared to paper records or a non-specialty specific EMR. The benefits of a seamlessly run and technology-forward practice trickle down to patients and can help positively shape their experience at your office.

When selecting a gastroenterology EMR, look for a system that has a proven track record of success as well as one that also comes with added tools such as a kiosk, patient portal, appointment reminder service and reputation management assistance. These services from your GI software vendor will directly benefit your patients.

Eliminate Paper and Select a Kiosk

You can eliminate the notorious clipboard and the seemingly endless pieces of paper when instituting a patient kiosk in your waiting room. Providing patients with a tablet for check-in, checkout and discharge can help eliminate the dreaded paperwork shuffle for both patients and staff. Using a kiosk, patients can more easily complete consent forms, demographics, clinical data, signatures and more all with tapping and swiping their way through a paperless tablet.

Your staff would no longer have to worry about manual data entry and deciphering handwriting— they can be free to focus on other important business operations. It’s a win, win! Do find out if your selected gastroenterology EMR system offers an integrated kiosk solution so the data collected gets stored directly in the patient’s medical record.

Provide Your Patients Access to Their Health Information

Patient portal technology serves as another tool to help your patients and practice go paperless. Streamlined communication from your office to your patients through a portal can help improve patient satisfaction. A robust portal can help make the process smoother when it comes to patients managing appointments, requesting refills, paying bills and viewing lab results. Patients won’t have to wait for a returned voicemail, but instead can see updates right in the portal. It enhances patient engagement when it comes to their health as they can readily access information from virtually wherever they are.

gPortal™, our patient portal for our clients’ patients, can make a positive impact for patients and staff alike.

An Automated Appointment Reminder Service

How does reducing no-shows and improving convenience for patients sound? An automated patient reminder service can help you achieve those goals. Patients have the ability to confirm, cancel or reschedule appointments all via text which provides patients with added flexibility and convenience. Plus, it won’t add to your staff’s workload and can help decrease call volume. When investigating options for this service, do make sure it will work with your patient scheduling software and practice management system so your office reaps the full benefits, too.

gReminder+™ from Modernizing Medicine Gastroenterology does just this. It functions as part of patient scheduling in our practice management system, gPM™, and let’s staff see if patients have confirmed or cancelled appointments with a quick glance.

Know More of What Your Patients Think

Your practice is a business and whether you like it or not, your patients – as your customers – can play a role in your success. With the proliferation of social media and physician review sites, your reputation both on and offline can affect your practice—both positively or negatively. If you can proactively discover what patients have liked or disliked about the service received, you can use that constructive feedback to implement changes, if needed, to help improve future visit experiences. Your patients will feel as though they are making a difference especially if you acknowledge your feedback.

Modernizing Medicine Gastroenterology understands the value this type of platform can provide and offers gSurvey to its gastroenterology clients and in turn, their patients.

By selecting the right GI software, which starts with a solid EMR foundation, you should have the added tools to provide your patients with an elevated experience which in turn benefits your staff and your overall business operations.

Arnold G. Levy, MD