Many SpectraSoft practices have not yet made the switch to electronic documentation. Yes, they know that insurance carriers and medicare will require it eventually; that automating documentation will make their practice more efficient and profitable; and that an electronic system will help them maintain more detailed and organized patient charts. Still, can you really expect to see a positive return on a system that typically runs well over $1000 per therapist?

If your practice is debating the merits of an electronic system, the results of a four-year case study involving SpectraSoft’s DocuPRO may help you decide.

The Study

SpectraSoft installed the first release of the DocuPRO rehab documentation system at over 40 PT clinics that agreed to help enhance and evaluate the system. During this four-year development phase, the clinics used DocuPRO as their sole documentation system. Practice results were measured throughout the four-year period.

By switching to electronic documentation, the average charge per encounter at the clinics skyrocketed 41%. In turn, collections per encounter grew 19%. Actual results may vary depending on the system you choose, but such gains are possible because many practices fail to note on the billing slip all the services they render. One billing expert put it this way: "Many practitioners have the ‘Peace Corps’ gene. For instance, a patient may be in their practice for 90 minutes but the therapist will only bill for 45 or 60 minutes of treatment.

That ‘generosity’ often costs a practice a fortune. These are services covered by insurance that should be billed. It’s not about greed, it’s about generating the revenue your practice needs to provide a high level of care on a consistent basis." By pulling billing data directly from the charted activity, practices using DocuPRO were able to invoice the full value of their services.

Electronic documentation saved time at virtually every step of the patient care process, boosting productivity and allowing therapists to spend a greater percentage of their time on patient care.

• Patient data transferred automatically from AppointmentsPRO to DocuPRO, saving time during the intake process. (AppointmentsPRO also shares data with leading documentation systems like ReDoc and MediNotes.

• The lengthy process of the initial evaluation was also accelerated with electronic documentation. Therapists could pick from one of roughly 150 diagnostic templates, then click on drop-down menus instead of typing to log their observations.

• SOAP notes also became quick work as, the DocuPRO system pulled information from previous inputs to simplify the process.

• Perhaps the biggest time savings involved discharge summaries and summary reports to physicians of initial evaluations. The therapists could choose from one of over 40 DocuPRO templates that automatically pulled the necessary information into a professional-looking, detailed report, written in complete sentences with tables, numbered lists and bulleted entries.

• One of the most popular features of the electronic documentation was that all of the activity was captured and available at the front desk, eliminating the need for superbills or charge summary sheets.

The time savings created by DocuPRO not only allowed therapists to see more patients, but to spend more time with each patient. The simple "click and chart" approach meant less typing on the computer and more time spent attending to the patient. All previous charts for the patient were immediately accessible, further enhancing the patient experience. And when patients were treated by more than one therapist, the standardized documentation approach allowed new therapists to quickly get up to speed on the patient’s condition.

Electronic documentation not only enhanced profitability and patient care, it also improved the overall operation of the practice.

• The DocuPRO templates standardized documentation across the practice. Every therapist followed the same charting format, improving compliance with Medicare and carrier requirements, as well as the practice’s in-house guidelines.

• The system facilitated in-depth chart reviews. All data was available on the supervisor’s desktop – no need for paper charts – and search capabilities helped the supervisor find points of interest in seconds.

• Billing always matched documentation. The system lets you quickly confirm that there is a signed chart for every scheduled appointment.

• Outcomes data produced automatically. DocuPRO captured all outcomes information – both text and data – and formatted it for both internal review and export to TAOS.

The clinics were able to put electronic documentation into effect with very little training time. Most documentation systems are nearly as easy to use as a word processor. With DocuPRO, the learning curve was even shorter because of the easy-to-use drop-down menus that eliminate the need for most typing.

Electronic documentation is an investment that offer tremendous rewards in terms of profitability, productivity, quality of care and professional-looking charts that lead to more referrals. Fortunately, your SpectraSoft AppointmentsPRO system can make the switch to electronic documentation easier by providing seamless integration with systems like DocuPRO, ReDoc and MediNotes.

If you would like to know more about DocuPRO (the documentation system evaluated in this case study) click here.

Let us know how you’re doing and if this article was helpful by emailing PMN at newsletter@ssoft.com.