Modern medicine is a sprawling, multi-faceted industry, wherein patient care and the actual act of providing medical relief are not the only concerns. In fact, there are many different jobs and occupations that fall under the broader heading of the health care industry. Since there are many different types of jobs to be performed, it naturally follows that there exists a wide variety of medical software created to help facilitate those jobs. Its specific uses and functions may vary, but all medical software is intended to make medical care faster, more efficient, more accurate and easier overall for both patient and physician alike.
Billing
Billing software is extremely important for everyone involved in the medical billing process, including doctors and hospitals, patients, insurance providers and coding and billing professionals. Medical billing usually involves entering the specific codes for services provided by physicians into a billing software program and submitting the claims to the insurance company and patient in question. Billing software helps billers get their job done faster, allowing physicians to receive payment for their services in a more timely fashion. It also allows many billers to successfully work from home. Of course, all billing software must be in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in order to safeguard patient privacy.
Transcription/Dictation
Another type of medical software that is widely used is for transcription and/or dictation. There are programs that make it easier for physicians to dictate their thoughts more effectively, and those that help professional transcriptionists listen, type and edit their reports with greater ease. Transcription and dictation are frequently used for reports on processes such as surgeries, autopsies, medical examinations, diagnostic imaging studies, and so forth.
Scheduling
Naturally, medical software comes in handy for scheduling medical appointments as well. Nearly every modern medical office in the United States has a computer at reception that is equipped with scheduling software. This allows appointments to be made, canceled, postponed and shifted with ease, while allow the entry of important data such as the patient’s personal information and the nature of the visit.
Practice Fusion recently announced a free EMR for private practice physicians by permitting pharmaceutical companies to advertise within the EMR and on the web-based patient portal.
Concerns of a conflict of interest and of patient privacy has caused many practices to think twice before jumping in.
Copy of recent press release:
Practice Fusion, Inc. to provide on-demand services to the healthcare industry.
San Francisco, CA, August 29th, 2006 – Practice Fusion, Inc., today announced its official company launch as a leading provider of on-demand solutions and services to the healthcare industry. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Practice Fusion offers the healthcare IT industry integrated, on-demand solutions that streamline costly and inefficient manual processes between physicians, patients and healthcare groups associated with claims adjudication, eligibilities, authorizations and sharing medical records. The company’s mission is to empower providers to deliver the highest quality of care to their patients by creating solutions that enable seamless collaboration across the entire healthcare industry.
“Today, the entire healthcare industry is forced to pay tremendous upfront licensing fees while having drawn out implementations,” said Chief Executive Officer Ryan Howard. “Current vendors continue to deliver software in an antiquated enterprise model. These solutions force healthcare groups to saddle costly and complex implementations of hardware, software, databases, connectivity and integration. Customers are required to pay licensing fees, as well as consulting, training, support and maintenance, resulting in multimillion dollar installations, which can take years to implement. According to Gartner, more than half of all new enterprise systems have failed completely, healthcare groups today are left with no guarantee of return on their investment.”
Practice Fusion enables healthcare groups to create health information organizations to integrate and collaborate with their physician and patient communities. Practice Fusion’s services are on-demand, requiring no on-site software installation, eliminating the hassles of installing and supporting software, hardware, databases and connectivity. The service is completely integrated with practices and patients, enabling healthcare groups to collaborate with their community without the costs and complexities of drawn out integration projects.
Built on a service-oriented-architecture, Practice Fusion can easily integrate into healthcare groups current legacy systems, allowing them to retain their current investments. Practice Fusion natively incorporates security, HIPAA/HL7 compliance, data synchronization, reporting and analysis. The platform also provides a unified patient record, enabling physicians to access critical patient information from any location, as well as access and share records with the entire provider community. Delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model, as a web-based service, Practice Fusion enables healthcare groups to pay for usage, not software, hardware and integration.
“We are pleased to offer healthcare groups a faster, more efficient way to collaborate with their physician and patient communities. Practice Fusion has distinguished itself from other vendors by providing on-demand services to healthcare groups, physicians and patients, integrating all aspects of the healthcare cycle,” said Chief Operating Officer Alan Wong. “The end result is that physicians will be able to focus more time on their patients and less time on managing their practices. Healthcare groups will also be empowered to eliminate cumbersome administrative tasks, allowing them to better serve their physicians and patients, while lowering their bottom line.”
About Practice Fusion.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Practice Fusion addresses the complexities and critical needs of today’s healthcare environments by proving a revolutionary application and delivery model for physicians and patients at no cost. Practice Fusion offers an integrated, on-demand healthcare platform delivered in a software-as-a-service model. Practice Fusion’s services require no on-site software installation, eliminating the complexities of licensing, implementing and supporting traditional enterprise software solutions. Practice Fusion removes the need for integration, hardware and software for physicians, dramatically reducing cost and complexity, while enabling providers to deliver the highest level of care possible to their patients.
Practice Fusion recently announced a free EMR for private practice physicians by permitting pharmaceutical companies to advertise within the EMR and on the web-based patient portal.
Concerns of a conflict of interest and of patient privacy has caused many practices to think twice before jumping in.
Copy of recent press release:
Practice Fusion, Inc. to provide on-demand services to the healthcare industry.
San Francisco, CA, August 29th, 2006 – Practice Fusion, Inc., today announced its official company launch as a leading provider of on-demand solutions and services to the healthcare industry. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Practice Fusion offers the healthcare IT industry integrated, on-demand solutions that streamline costly and inefficient manual processes between physicians, patients and healthcare groups associated with claims adjudication, eligibilities, authorizations and sharing medical records. The company’s mission is to empower providers to deliver the highest quality of care to their patients by creating solutions that enable seamless collaboration across the entire healthcare industry.
“Today, the entire healthcare industry is forced to pay tremendous upfront licensing fees while having drawn out implementations,” said Chief Executive Officer Ryan Howard. “Current vendors continue to deliver software in an antiquated enterprise model. These solutions force healthcare groups to saddle costly and complex implementations of hardware, software, databases, connectivity and integration. Customers are required to pay licensing fees, as well as consulting, training, support and maintenance, resulting in multimillion dollar installations, which can take years to implement. According to Gartner, more than half of all new enterprise systems have failed completely, healthcare groups today are left with no guarantee of return on their investment.”
Practice Fusion enables healthcare groups to create health information organizations to integrate and collaborate with their physician and patient communities. Practice Fusion’s services are on-demand, requiring no on-site software installation, eliminating the hassles of installing and supporting software, hardware, databases and connectivity. The service is completely integrated with practices and patients, enabling healthcare groups to collaborate with their community without the costs and complexities of drawn out integration projects.
Built on a service-oriented-architecture, Practice Fusion can easily integrate into healthcare groups current legacy systems, allowing them to retain their current investments. Practice Fusion natively incorporates security, HIPAA/HL7 compliance, data synchronization, reporting and analysis. The platform also provides a unified patient record, enabling physicians to access critical patient information from any location, as well as access and share records with the entire provider community. Delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model, as a web-based service, Practice Fusion enables healthcare groups to pay for usage, not software, hardware and integration.
“We are pleased to offer healthcare groups a faster, more efficient way to collaborate with their physician and patient communities. Practice Fusion has distinguished itself from other vendors by providing on-demand services to healthcare groups, physicians and patients, integrating all aspects of the healthcare cycle,” said Chief Operating Officer Alan Wong. “The end result is that physicians will be able to focus more time on their patients and less time on managing their practices. Healthcare groups will also be empowered to eliminate cumbersome administrative tasks, allowing them to better serve their physicians and patients, while lowering their bottom line.”
About Practice Fusion.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Practice Fusion addresses the complexities and critical needs of today’s healthcare environments by proving a revolutionary application and delivery model for physicians and patients at no cost. Practice Fusion offers an integrated, on-demand healthcare platform delivered in a software-as-a-service model. Practice Fusion’s services require no on-site software installation, eliminating the complexities of licensing, implementing and supporting traditional enterprise software solutions. Practice Fusion removes the need for integration, hardware and software for physicians, dramatically reducing cost and complexity, while enabling providers to deliver the highest level of care possible to their patients.