Precision Practice Management Case Study
Associated Physician's Group
"Associated Physician’s Group is a large 8 provider, 3 office, dynamic group practice, providing pain management, physical therapy and chiropractic services in southern Illinois. Before working with Precision, APG had been internally programming software for use in supporting its practice, attempted integrating that software with third party software systems, had an in-house programming and IT staff, and performed medical billing services in-house. In essence, APG was very much providing “self-help” in all those important back office categories, and over time, we felt like we were not optimizing our systems and getting bottom line results as we should. In addition, we knew that moving to an electronic health record software would be imperative and we wanted the best, most customizable and cost effective system we could find.
By October of 2008, we decided to engage Precision Practice Management to assist our practice in advancing our technology and systems. We started with a conversion from our old billing system to Encite Billing Manager. Precision helped us download our then-current patient demographic, insurance and appointment scheduling data into EBM (Encite’s billing and scheduling software) and we quickly confirmed that system allowed APG to track data and manage revenue in a much more efficient manner. While the implementation and training process was rough on our end because we had so many legacy systems and processes to deal with, we found ourselves quickly headed in the right direction with Precision’s assistance. Once we learned all of the “ins-and-outs” of what the EBM software had to offer and educated our staff on how to appropriately navigate EBM’s screens, we found that we had an outstanding tool at our disposal. We are very appreciative of Precision’s knowledge, expertise, and patience with EBM implementation and ongoing training of APG.
Shortly after the EBM conversion was completed, we commenced implementation of the Encite Clinical Manager (ECM) software. While our conversion to an EHR system has been and will always be a “work in progress”, we quickly saw opportunities for efficiencies. Precision’s ECM support staff has been easy to work with and has provided very effective ongoing training as necessary. To this day, long after the initial system install has been done, Precision’s staff continually checks in on a weekly basis and offers any assistance that we need. Due to the complexity of our practice, we have done a lot of software “tweaking”, working to get our workflow exactly as we want it. Precision has always stuck with us, assisting us in making the minor modifications that really add to the functionality of the software in a big way.
As we went along, we determined that it was necessary to replace some outdated equipment and reconfigure our legacy network. We realized that to remain competitive and to uphold a now expected level of efficiency; updates would produce a very positive return, despite the costs. Precision made recommendations and assisted in the equipment replacements and upgrades, all of which have greatly added to the way in which our overall network and software systems function.
Next, several months after our ECM install had commenced, although we started off working completely in-house with respect to our medical billing services, we found great value in having Precision give us big-picture advice on how to improve our internal billing operations. They suggested changes in our workflow and provided the training necessary to improve our billing results. Precision helped us set up a financial forecast related to those changes and conducted monthly meetings to assess progress. Precision also provided ongoing advice and support when we had questions relating to billing. Even though we continue to do our billing in-house, with Precision we feel like we always have expertise available to us that we can call upon when we need it.
Moving forward I see the use of PPM and their services as a great asset to APG and look forward to future updates and positive changes that Precision can help realize for us. We have appreciated the knowledge and recommendations provided in efforts to increase workplace efficiencies at APG, as well as improvements in our revenue cycle management. Precision has truly been a great business partner to our practice."
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