Ear, Nose & Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center Experiences Excellent Customer Service and Operational Benefits by Using ModMed® Otolaryn

Learn how one ENT practice benefits from all-in-one ENT software and improves operational efficiencies.

At The Ear, Nose & Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center, a combination of doctors and audiologists strive to help patients hear, breathe and sleep better. The comprehensive practice serves patients’ ear, nose and throat needs, offers facial reconstructive and facial plastic surgery, and provides allergy testing. The group also has a Hearing Resource Center to provide professional guidance and fitting for hearing devices.

The practice was using a popular electronic health records (EHR) system that wasn’t specialty specific or user friendly, so documenting and collecting data for quality measures was a daunting task. Leadership decided to research other systems with the goal of implementing an ENT EHR software that would increase efficiencies. Operations Director Crystal Johnson shares why they decided on the *award-winning otolaryngology EHR, EMA®, and Practice Management (PM) systems by Modernizing Medicine®.

FROM BASIC TO SPECIALTY SPECIFIC

We used our previous EHR system for 14 months and knew we needed to make a change. Even though we spent countless hours creating templates, the system was not an ENT EHR, so charts weren’t as detailed as they needed to be to meet quality measures.

We narrowed down our ENT EHR software search to three vendors, including Modernizing Medicine. We liked that EMA was built by an otolaryngologist and is more customized to our specialty than other systems we’d seen. The intuitive ENT EHR had everything we were looking for, and our physicians love that it runs on a native iPad application. We successfully implemented EMA in 2017, followed by Practice Management earlier this year.

SUPERIOR TRAINING AND ONGOING CUSTOMER SUPPORT

The best parts about Modernizing Medicine are the training and customer support teams. Our EHR implementation went so smoothly because we were prepared and fully supported by the Modernizing Medicine team. The trainers were extremely helpful and communicative throughout the EHR implementation to help ensure a seamless transition. They set up a test environment, so we could practice in the sandbox, and supplied us with a detailed training itinerary.

The EHR implementation training format was excellent. We started with online training, which consisted of a trainer guiding us through various features and real-life scenarios. Then, we had a trainer come onsite and our staff participated in two days of learning. This recommended style of training

If we ever have a problem, the customer support team is always responsive. We also designated internal superusers for EMA and PM. Those staff members are tasked with training and onboarding new hires, notifying our team of software release updates and troubleshooting issues prior to calling support.

Modernizing Medicine actually implements customer feedback to enhance products, and that’s not something I’ve experienced with other companies I’ve worked with. EMA isn’t cookie-cutter and features are always evolving. What better way to improve the otolaryngology EHR than to listen to its daily users.

IMPROVE OVERALL PRACTICE PERFORMANCE

Having all-in-one ENT software has helped optimize business processes and improve overall efficiencies. Increased accessibility to patient charts, the ability to task orders electronically and fax notes to referring physicians has improved communication for the entire office. Any staff member can open a chart and clearly read the note. The ENT EHR software has enhanced our coding because the ENT-specific codes are built in, which has helped increase revenue. Also, our claims submission process is much smoother because we can easily view claims, allocate the money and drop in the patient details with ease.

Our providers love how intuitive EMA is and that it adapts to their preferences. The otolaryngology EHR shows their top codes and diagnoses. They can quickly tap on a diagram and drill down to the specifics of the problem. They also use the Nuance feature, so they can dictate and not have to wait for transcription, which saves time. Most of our providers don’t have to take charts home in the evening, and save an hour to an hour and a half each day compared to our previous system.

My favorite time-saving feature within PM is the ability to copy and paste appointments. Our previous system required us to reenter the patient’s information for every appointment, which was time-consuming. Our appointment schedulers save at least four minutes per phone call, across an average of 350 calls per day, because the ENT software is designed so efficiently.

THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING

The patient engagement tools offered by Modernizing Medicine have helped improve the patient experience. Our time is optimized by those patients that use the Portal to enter demographic information prior to their visit. The ability to sign forms electronically saves paper, expenses and time. We also use Patient Reminders that are compatible with PM. I love this variable because it’s helped to decrease our no-show rate and increase communication with our patients.

The patient experience is everything. We wanted the total package, and we found that with modmed® Otolaryngology. Our patients are more involved in their care and seem happier, which contributes to our growing success.

*Black Book™ Research