Gastroenterologists need sophisticated technology to meet regulatory requirements and support business growth in today's healthcare environment. As GI practices look to improve daily practice efficiencies while also planning for long-term success, technology platforms play a key role in helping an organization to flourish financially and operationally.
This article is sponsored by gMed.
"You have to have good technology and a product that responds well, innovates and continues to improve," says Arnold Levy, MD, an advisor for Modernizing Medicine. "Then your staff will have a much better work experience which will result in improved job performance because you’ve provided them with the tools to do their jobs more effectively."
A strong technology partner makes it easier for gastroenterologists to confidently set on a path to success for the future. gMed, a Modernizing Medicine company, is GI specific and can therefore equip GI practices with the right technology to position their organizations for better patient care, enhanced profitability and future growth. This article describes how gMed's technology helps GI groups support business growth, enhance practice management, improve employee experience and add value to the overall patient experience.
How technology supports growth
Dr. Levy knows firsthand the unique challenges GI practices face when integrating with new groups through merger or acquisition while also maintaining daily operations. Dr. Levy co-founded Washington, D.C.-based Capital Digestive Care and spent the last decade growing the group into a 60-physician, 300 employee organization. The group was a merger of 7 practices and presently has 18 office sites and 8 ASCs – with plans to continue growing in the future.
Patient record integration, interoperability between locations, workflow efficiencies and data gathering for quality reporting pose difficult challenges for GI practices as they become larger and larger organizations. When Dr. Levy and his partners began to grow Capital Digestive Care, the group implemented gMed's gGastro, a customizable EHR solution with integrated practice management software, to keep track of patient records and, ultimately, improve patient care. Practice physicians also use gMed's Endoscopy Report Writer, a documentation software that streamlines the integration of clinical notes and images directly into the EHR thereby meeting Meaningful Use stage 2 requirements.
"The entire suite of gMed products allows GI groups to do things better clinically and businesswise, resulting in a better experience across the board for patients, employees and providers," says Dr. Levy. "gMed has the best GI product on the market and the company is not sitting still; further product enhancements and improvements are on the way."
Practices can implement either a server-based or cloud-based version of gGastro, with intuitive functions designed to reduce the number of clicks to navigate from one screen to the next. "The number of clicks is important when considering how physicians and staff members move from point A to point B," says Dr. Levy. "You want to minimize the number of clicks it takes to get through the EHR and move through the office visit note as fast as possible."
He has seen the gMed suite grow over time to support long-term growth as well as optimize daily tasks and revenue cycle management. The suite's Nursing Notes are also fully integrated in the gGastro platform to promote efficient data exchange between offices and visits — an imperative for multifacility organizations. The tools comply with hospital and community information exchanges, allowing clinicians to provide a high level of care from a variety of settings. After the patient visit, providers can use gCharge, embedded in gMed's practice management software, to enter charges at the point of care through mobile devices. The charges are immediately submitted to billing to reduce errors and shorten the billing cycle.
Efficient data gathering, benchmarking and quality reporting
Besides supporting GI practices' daily and long-term business needs, gMed's technology platform helps organizations gather, analyze and report data to enhance quality outcomes and make better business decisions.
gMed’s gInsights provides a customizable platform for GI practices to input clinical data and track specific quality measures as well as analyze the data to measure performance indicators, such as:
• Referring physicians who send the most patients or have the most no-shows
• Schedulers who make the most colonoscopy screening appointments
• Differences in same-day cancellation rate by scheduler
• Average task completion time per provider
• Endoscopy room turnaround by provider
Gastroenterologists can also use the platform to benchmark themselves on a local, regional and national level in real time, and practice leaders can generate a detailed digital report that provides insight for optimizing operations and revenue. gInsights can provide advanced analytical data on patient population management and clinical data as well as billing and financial information with just a few clicks.
"You can search clinical and financial data with gInsights and ascertain how well you're doing," says Dr. Levy. "When the group needs to make a big decision, they can use facts and figures instead of gut feelings to build the business."
The right technology platform also can help GI groups meet quality reporting requirements. CMS requires healthcare providers to track and report outcomes through advanced value-based programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). MIPS ties Medicare reimbursement to clinical outcomes, paying bonuses to top performers and penalizing those at the bottom.
As a companion to gInsights, gMed's gAdvisor connects certified gMed MIPS specialists with providers to support MIPS reporting efforts. "gMed has superbly built within the EHR many of the compliance requirements that are mandated by the federal government and payers," says Dr. Levy. "The MIPS platform allows providers to do less work to comply and get paid at the level they deserve."
Enhancing patient engagement and experience
Dr. Levy has seen the patient experience evolve over his 40-plus year medical career up until the time he retired from clinical practice and his post as CEO of Capital Digestive Care in March 2017. gMed's technology suite provided Capital Digestive Care with the tools to better serve and care for its patients. These tools can help GI practices meet patient expectations today, from the first patient encounter with the practice to the scheduling of the visit and all the way through the paying of the bill.
For example, the gGastro suite includes gScheduler and gReminder as built-in functions for efficient scheduling and automated patient reminders. When the patient arrives at the office, the iPad application, gKiosk, can be used to streamline the check-in, checkout and discharge processes, saving patients valuable time and improving patient satisfaction. In fact, Willoughby, Ohio-based Center for Digestive Health reported gKiosk helped to save 10 minutes for each existing patient and 15 minutes for each new patient.
Patients can also use the app to digitally review and update their clinical forms instead of filling out multiple paper forms for every visit.
"Patients are happier with gKiosk because they can pull up their information with the office's iPad and make changes. Then the practice's medical assistant can confirm the information, and by the time the provider sees the patient, the background work is done and the physician can focus on patient care," says Dr. Levy.
Conclusion
Patients who actively engage in their own care have better outcomes. As gastroenterology groups grow, and as the clinical and business demands on practices continue to increase, gMed's technology can enhance additional patient throughput and helps gastroenterologists to continue to deliver high-quality care. The tools and applications integrated within the gMed platform may also lead to the practice seeing increased patient volumes and additional reimbursement under federal quality programs, both which can positively impact the practice's bottom line.