5 Must-Have Software Solutions for Healthcare Organizations

Technology is important for all types of organizations. For example, nonprofits often turn to fundraising software and volunteer management platforms. Businesses implement customer relationship systems and dedicated marketing tools. But what about healthcare organizations?

When medical practices look to upgrade capacity and improve operations, they, like many other organizations, turn to software to help them achieve that. However, due to their industry’s unique goals and strict regulations, the types of software they leverage differ from those of most other organizations.

Let’s look at software solutions that any healthcare organization that wants to scale up needs in their tech stack.

1. Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

An electronic health record (EHR) system stores and transmits digital patient health records securely to authorized users. It differs from electronic medical record (EMR) systems in that EMRs only include information from a single healthcare provider; EHRs are designed to be shared between providers and healthcare organizations.

Generally, EHR systems offer these features:

• Care documentation: Document any type of patient encounter, from standard visits like physicals to recurring care management visits to complicated multi-problem encounters.
• Patient health views: Easily access a comprehensive overview of patients’ medical histories in an organized system that includes documents of all previous encounters and other important medical information. 
• Treatment orders: Coordinate with other healthcare entities to get patients the care they need, whether that be medication, tests, procedures, or follow-up appointments. 
• Clinical intelligence: Mitigate errors like prescribing medication that would cause adverse or allergic reactions.

The impact of an EHR system can’t be overstated—it helps healthcare organizations improve patient care and efficiency, providing a great experience that satisfies patient needs. Bid farewell to manual note-taking and welcome a faster record-keeping system that provides access to all authorized staff members.

2. Patient Engagement Software

In recent years, 37% of organizations have seen an increase in no-shows, resulting in lost revenue and worse patient outcomes. It’s clear that effective communication is a worthwhile investment, as it minimizes no-shows by keeping patients involved and informed about their care.

Generally, medical offices and hospitals looking to improve patient engagement are searching for a patient portal system. These solutions allow patients to log in to a dedicated platform, where they can check their:

• Past and upcoming appointments
• Medical records
• Medicine refills and pharmacy orders
• Billing and claims

Additionally, many patient portals allow patients and providers to message one another securely. Providers can notify patients of any urgent or important information, and patients can ask any quick medical questions they may have. This helps patients become more engaged and invested in their healthcare.

Healthcare organizations may also invest in an automated notification or marketing tool. This solution sends patients email or text message reminders of upcoming appointments and tests, minimizing no-shows.

3. Medical Billing Software

Revenue is the key to keeping healthcare organizations afloat, and that means billing patients for the services they’ve received. To help obtain payments and minimize costs and lost revenue, research medical billing solutions. This software streamlines payments by:

• Creating charges for each procedure and diagnosis
• Posting payments and adjustments
• Accepting electronic patient payments through their preferred method
• Reporting and tracking any overdue or unpaid bills
• Establishing flexible payment plans for individuals in need of financial assistance
• Storing payment methods such as credit cards securely with encryption
• Managing claim rejections and claims statuses
• Performing claims appeals on denied or unpaid items

If you want to upgrade your healthcare organization’s capacity, you can’t go wrong with a system that automates and simplifies billing. Between navigating insurance providers and dealing with rejected claims, it’s extremely beneficial to purchase a system that smooths the process.

4. Practice Management Software

Medical practice management encompasses all tasks in a medical office (aside from clinical work). Consider PracticeSuite’s overview of the trifecta of practice management responsibilities below:

• Business operations: This refers to the behind-the-scenes work of running a medical practice, such as appointment scheduling and insurance verification.
• Financial management: This refers to all finance and revenue-related tasks, such as medical billing and coding. These tasks ensure that the practice stays profitable and that its staff members are paid for their work.
• Human resources: This refers to all activities related to staffing, such as hiring, onboarding, training, and scheduling.

Practice management encompasses front-office and back-office tasks, meaning an effective solution will offer features tailored to both:

Front-Office Practice Management Tasks

• Patient scheduling
• Insurance verification
• Patient check-in and check-out
• Waitlisting
• Patient records management
• Patient communications

Back-Office Practice Management Tasks

• Inventory management
• Staff management
• Revenue cycle management
• Technology utilization
• Data management and reporting
• Compliance and regulatory management

Note that some of these tasks, such as patient records management, have been discussed in previous sections. While they can be addressed by standalone software dedicated to that specific task, practice management software generally provides a comprehensive, all-in-one system for healthcare organizations. This can be extremely helpful, especially for larger entities, as it ensures data interoperability and a streamlined workflow.

5. Volunteer Management Software

Although volunteering isn’t necessarily what people first think of when they imagine healthcare organizations, it is a thriving aspect of the industry. Volunteers are tasked with responsibilities outside direct medical care to ensure that no privacy regulations are violated and are usually asked to provide patients with a warm and welcoming environment.

A volunteer management platform can greatly streamline this aspect of healthcare organizations. Due to the industry’s stringent rules, volunteers must fulfill strict requirements. For example, here’s a list of requirements for volunteers at Emory’s Decatur Hospital:

• Ages 25+
• NOT enrolled in a higher education program
• Minimum commitment of four hours per week for a year, or 100 hours annually
• Pass a criminal background check (ages 18+)
• Complete and return Required Documents Packet
• Attend an interview with a Volunteer Services staff member
• Provide documentation of receiving the following vaccinations: Influenza vaccine, MMR (Mumps, Measles & Rubella), Varicella (Chicken Pox)
• If Volunteering in Women & Infants Departments, the following additional vaccinations are required: Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis), Hepatitis B, Hepatitis B titer blood test showing positive for immunity
• T-SPOT blood test for Tuberculosis
• Complete online training materials
• Attend New Volunteer Orientation

With a large volunteer base, double-checking that all volunteers have fulfilled their requirements may become extremely time-consuming. A volunteer management platform tracks when individuals fulfill their requirements, making it easier to weed out ineligible individuals.

Additionally, a volunteer management platform can also facilitate onboarding and training. This allows you to provide a great experience for your volunteers and reinforce that their decision to lend their time and efforts to your organization is worthwhile. A robust platform may also handle scheduling, ensuring you always have enough help.

Although there are plenty of other useful tools for healthcare organizations, such as telehealth software, these five solutions are the most basic and essential tools that any organization should start with. Assess your organization’s current pain points with leadership members and determine if these systems would benefit your operations.

About PracticeSuite

Founded in the heart of Silicon Valley, PracticeSuite has grown to a user base of over 92,000+ medical professionals, processing over $10 billion in claims annually.

Our mission is to help our doctors practice profitably by providing unequaled medical billing software with exceptional practice management features, and revenue cycle management services. Our experience in medical billing, and our unique set of revenue cycle diagnostic tools provide deep insight into the fine tuning of your revenue cycle to achieve maximum profitability.

About the Author

Crystal Stanton
Digital Marketing Specialist at MicroMD

Crystal Stanton is a creative marketing professional with a wealth of varied experience and education. She has been successfully educating consumers in the Health Information Technology industry since early 2015. She is currently a digital marketing specialist at MicroMD.