Why Choose Cloud Technology for Your ASC?

Here’s how ambulatory surgery center software, including a cloud endo report writer, can help bring more efficiency to your business.

According to the 2018 Ambulatory Surgery Center Market report, the ASC market is projected to reach $40 billion by 2020. What’s behind this growth? A few of the factors involved include lower outpatient surgery costs compared to other healthcare settings, advancements in technology that help improve safety, and an aging U.S. population.

In addition, out of all the different medical specialties that ASCs serve, gastroenterology makes up the highest volume. According to VMG Health’s 2017 Multi-specialty ASC Study Intellimarker, GI/endoscopy procedures represent 29 percent of overall ASC case volume. These statistics demonstrate just how important ASCs are in GI health care, and will continue to be in the future.

With 51.5 million gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures performed annually, equipping your ASC facility with cloud technology, including endoscopy report writer software, can help you increase operational efficiency and improve both clinical and business performance at your gastroenterology ASC.

Reasons to Opt for Cloud Endoscopy Software

How does the potential for saving time, adding flexibility, and lowering costs sound to you? Pretty good, right? Let’s take a closer look at how opting for cloud endoscopy report writer software can help improve multiple aspects of your facility clinical and business operations and at the same time even provide you the opportunity to increase patient volume in your ASC. Let’s focus on several advantages of “going to the cloud:”

1. Get up and running faster. Compared to server-based endoscopy report writing software, a cloud endoscopy report writer typically is quicker to implement and, generally speaking, lets you get up and running faster. Why? Skipping a local server solution eliminates hardware setup, during which a facility may need to close. More often than not, your endo center can stay open (and continue to see patients) during conversion to the cloud and the go-live process.

2. Save on resources such as space, staff and costs. When you opt for a cloud software solution, you won’t have to concern yourself as much with the physical space that may be needed to “house” the software, as you will not need on-site physical servers. As with any electronic system, you will have to take into consideration space for laptop and desktop computers. Cloud technology frees up physical space that could potentially be used for another procedure room or staff work room in your ASC.

Now, think about costs. A server-based system requires local licenses and on-site maintenance expenditures, not to mention the very costly replacement of servers every 3-5 years. More likely than not, you will even need a dedicated IT team to manage your locally hosted servers.

All these costs can add up over time. With the cloud, they become things of the past. Also, make sure to ask your prospective endoscopy report writer vendor about how updates are handled and if additional costs would be incurred. The answer should be “no” to additional costs, as your contract should include general updates.

3. Experience increased accessibility and mobility. With a web-based system, you and your staff won’t be confined to a single location. Though it is ideal and advised that you complete your procedure note while in the facility, you would actually have the convenience to finish the task from virtually anywhere that you might have an Internet connection. In addition, cloud technology allows multiple users to edit a note simultaneously and avoid duplicate data entry – especially nurses and anesthesiologists when Nursing Notes and anesthesia notes are part of the endo report writer package.

If you have multiple facilities, you also want software that can have data sync in real time across all locations. If your ambulatory surgery center continues to add new locations, you want to make sure they can be easily added. A cloud system makes this possible, as you will have eliminated the need to purchase additional server hardware.

4. Help maximize your valuable time. Interested in documenting a routine procedure note in minutes? Or responding to a patient message within minutes of receiving it? Or how about seeing more patients and having less paperwork to complete at the end of the day? You should seek an endo report writer that was built from the ground up by gastroenterologists and has built-in GI knowledge. Your endoscopy image capture software should populate existing data from your office and hospital records, thereby leading once again to faster documentation.

5. Find an integrated and customizable endoscopy report writer software system. You should seek out a company that offers not just cloud endoscopy report software, but also additional technology solutions, such as a gastroenterology electronic health record (EHR) system, a practice management system, and analytics software that works for both for the clinical side and the business side of your practice or ASC.

When you use a fully integrated suite of GI software solutions, you can help close the gap between your endo center and your office. In fact, with an integrated EHR and ERW, you’ll be able to see a patient’s complete chart from your office, from your ASC, from your smart phone, and from your home, thereby eliminating the need to scan or fax documents that you can’t edit back and forth.

The key point here is that you should seek a product that not only provides superb cloud endoscopy software but one that also provides you with the simple future option of implementing an entire suite of cloud solutions for the clinical and business operations of your entire practice.

Also, when it comes to your endoscopy report writing software, you should look beyond just standardized industry templates and find one that offers the availability of easy customization. Every facility can have a different workflow, so you should work with a system that provides the flexibility for you and your staff to make changes without having to request them from the vendor. This can help bring added efficiency to what your individual facility both wants and needs. All of these features help eliminate work and stress for you, your providers and your staff.

Ready to Elevate Your ASC With Cloud Technology?

As a leader in the gastroenterology industry for over two decades, Modernizing Medicine Gastroenterology® can help you save time and improve your organization’s performance. And with our cloud-based version of gGastro ERW paving the way since 2014, it has served as the go-to solution for facilities around the country.

Opting for a cloud-based solution with gGastro ERW can help your ASC experience:

• Lower overhead costs. Reduce upfront costs since a cloud-based model eliminates the need to purchase, set up, maintain and manage servers, all while taking up less physical space.
• Faster documentation. Every minute counts, so an easy-to-use, integrated software solution with Quick Notes can reduce time-consuming redundancies other systems create, giving you more time to see more patients.
• Single vendor for software and cloud services. Experience streamlined communications with one point of contact and readily accessible, experienced GI support staff you can trust.
• Added mobility and convenience. Have the freedom to work from where you need to be, when you need to, while having concurrent users working in the system regardless of location.
• Greater scalability. Our gGastro ERW can scale to expand with you as your center grows and offers the same robust functionality as our on-premise option.

Here’s What Some of Our Gastroenterology Clients Have Shared About Our Endoscopy Report Writer (ERW) Software:

“Since switching to the cloud, we’ve experienced significant improvements, such as increased performance and less downtime, plus issues are quickly addressed. We’ve also saved over $200,000 in hardware and software upgrades, so it’s been financially strategic for our organization.” – David Smith, Chief Information and Security Officer, Capital Digestive Care

“Writing a note with the ERW takes me 30 seconds because the information is already there; I don’t have to rewrite it. Other platforms require you to flip back and forth between systems, which is cumbersome and a waste of time.” – Michael DiMarino, MD, DiMarino, Kroop, Prieto Gastrointestinal Associates

“As gastroenterologists, we receive multiple administrative tasks per day, on top of treating our patients. With Modernizing Medicine Gastroenterology’s EHR, Practice Management and Endoscopy Report Writer, we can easily access, prioritize and execute tasks throughout the day, with little to no work to take home after hours.” – Edward Jurkovic, DO, Digestive Disease Consultants

Arnold G. Levy, MD