The Java Blues

Will a glowing review of bestPT amount to a hill of beans with Shannon?

Shannon parked in the only available space in the bustling parking lot, grabbed her purse, got out of the car and practically ran to the front door of the coffee shop. With things so busy in her practice and at home, she felt like she was perpetually running behind. She hoped her friend Ariana hadn’t been waiting long.

“Hey Shannon!” she heard from across the room. Shannon broke into a smile and walked toward Ariana’s table. The two had so much in common” she was looking forward to catching up with her friend.

“How have you been, Ariana?” Shannon asked. “I know it’s been a few months but things have been so busy. Sorry for losing touch!”

“No worries, Shannon,” Ariana said, giving her friend a hug. “I’ve been busy too but things have never been better!”

“Tell me all about it,” Shannon encouraged. “I could use some happy news.”

“We made some big changes in the office” we had been going around and around about whether or not to invest in that software that helps us to manage the practice but we finally dove in,” Ariana said. “It was intimidating at first but it has made a huge difference in our operations.”

Shannon sat back and stared at Ariana with renewed respect. She and her friend had talked many times about bestPT, but she never thought Ariana would be the first to go all in. “Tell me all about it,” Shannon said.

“You and I have always complained about how documentation is so tedious and takes away time from patient interactions,” said Ariana. “Plus data entry mistakes can be so costly” whether they hold up insurance reimbursements or take away from patient care because we don’t follow up on missed appointments. What put us over the edge was our poor performance on our recent audit.”

Shannon nodded, knowing what was coming, since she and Teresa had been talking about this just last week.

“We made it through our audit relatively unscathed but one area the auditors pointed out needed drastic improvement was our patient notes,” Shannon admitted. “We’d all rather just scribble notes and stuff them into files so that we can maximize our time with our patients, but that never works out well. I’m pretty good at documenting patient visits and conversations but I haven’t always documented in ways that are compliant with state, federal and insurance rules. We got ticked pretty good on that. I made a vow that we’d change things for the better and gave our bestPT coach a call the next day, after the audit was over.”

“So how are things working out with your new system?” asked Shannon.

“I couldn’t be happier” in fact, everyone seems to be enjoying things more,” Ariana said. “We have become more efficient and accurate in documenting patient notes. Not just the SOAP notes but also getting in the related images, forms, test results and verification of benefits that are required to give the proper overview of care. All of us from reception to treatment room are now able to spend more time with our patients and ensure a great experience.”

“Best of all,” Ariana continued, “I know our patients are happier too. This month we saw a 10 percent increase in referrals. Our investment in the bestPT software is going to pay off in no time.”

“That does it, you’ve talked me into it,” said Shannon. “Tomorrow I will call Tom, our bestPT coach. Today, the coffees are on me!”

Shannon is finally ready to take the plunge and start using bestPT to help with documentation. So what is the next step?

Disclaimer: For HIPAA compliance, all characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.