The past few weeks of #KareoChats (Thursdays at 10 a.m. Pacific) have presented us with opportunities to discuss a variety of topics geared towards improving patient engagement and workflow for small practices. We had opportunities to discuss the healthcare IT project success, billings and collections, collaboration with patients, health IT literacy and injecting social media into value-based care. Thank you to our hosts for moderating the insightful conversations. Check out the highlights below!

Healthcare IT Project Success—Why So Elusive?

Host: Joe Lavelle @Resultant

Is it possible to deliver a project on time and under budget, all while achieving project goals? During this #KareoChat we wanted to learn best practices from our attendees, as well as where they see room for improvement within their own organizations. Project failure certainly seems to be a trend in healthcare, but what's the cause? See what our participants think about all this:

A1: Too many healthcare organizations have ZERO project managers on staff, even when they do $M's in projects/year! #KareoChat

— Joe Lavelle (@Resultant) August 3, 2017

T2: Break the project up into smaller pieces and force team members to demonstrate workable deliverables every few weeks. #kareochat

— Steve Sisko (@ShimCode) August 3, 2017

A2 Have an effective communication tool and risk analysis tool #KareoChat

— ShereeseM, MS/MBA (@ShereesePubHlth) August 3, 2017

T3: Have a defined project onboarding process. People WILL come & go. Need to get people up to speed as fast as possible. #kareochat

— Steve Sisko (@ShimCode) August 3, 2017

Always remember: All on the team need to take accountability!

A4 It's irresponsible 2 place accountability squarely w/ vendor, especially w/ healthIT projects.Interests aren't always aligned #kareochat pic.twitter.com/OyqzHFpid4

— ShereeseM, MS/MBA (@ShereesePubHlth) August 3, 2017

 

Billings and Collections for Small Practices

Host: Dr. Tom Giannulli  @DrTom_Kareo

Losing patient revenue is a fear of every small practice, which is what makes this such an important topic to discuss. What steps can practices take to prevent lost patient revenue, and what are some tips for approaching a patient for payment while maintaining a positive relationship? And of course, we wanted to know if our participants have landed on any successful processes, and the results those have generated.

A1 Industry-wide, last I checked, lost revenue was @ 50 billion and est 68% only pay a portion of their bills #kareochat

— ShereeseM, MS/MBA (@ShereesePubHlth) August 10, 2017

some practices have 35% in AR at day120 others down to 10% if they use best practices #kareochat

— Dr. Tom Giannulli (@drtom_kareo) August 10, 2017

A2: We are seeing renewed focus on rev cycle optimization at practice level. Starts with better communication with pts up front.  #kareochat

— Immersive (@ImmersiveLLC) August 10, 2017

Collections via simple e-pay solutions that remind the patient via AVR, email and text #kareochat

— Dr. Tom Giannulli (@drtom_kareo) August 10, 2017

A5: results- data shows 5 to 10% of rev in AR at d 120 vs 35% so can imporve cash flow and annual rev significantly. Big ROI  #kareochat

— Dr. Tom Giannulli (@drtom_kareo) August 10, 2017

 

How Is Your Medical Practice Collaborating With Patients?

Host: John Lynn @TechGuy

The patient-physician relationship, just like any relationship, is one that involves give and take. Especially now as tech becomes more prominent in patients' daily lives, the opportunity for collaboration has increased. In what areas is this collaboration most effective? What type of errors tend to pop up when there is a lack of communication, and from a patient’s perspective, what are your favorite ways for patient-physician collaboration?

One of the shocking answers to this question is the patient portal.  Those that have done it right have seen great engagement. #KareoChat https://t.co/KQ81SdMPys

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 17, 2017

Another extremely successful patient engagement tool has been text messaging.  However, I think we're just getting started here.  #KareoChat https://t.co/KQ81SdMPys

— John Lynn (@techguy) August 17, 2017

When there’s a lack of communication, you can expect errors such as:

A2 Misdiagnosis-misunderstanding or lack of info re patient symptoms/issues; medication errors; pt/doc goals not aligned #kareochat

— Melissa VanHouten (@melissarvh) August 17, 2017

What’s the appropriate way to collaborate with your patients? Why not ask them?

Some prefer texts. Some refer phone calls. Some prefer skywriting.

Trick is how to find preference, make executable & scale! #KareoChat https://t.co/cxkSKukOHk

— Chuck Webster MDMSMS (@wareFLO) August 17, 2017

 

Injecting Social Media into Value-Based Care

Host: Danielle Siarri @innonurse

What does "value-based care" mean to the professional practice? Can ePatients leverage social media to help ensure healthy results, and how can physicians meet them in the middle by improving their level of digital health in order to bring more value to care? Our host Danielle Siarri led our chat that sought to improve social media’s relationship with VBC!

A1: In my talks w PCPs, #VBC means delivering right care to right patient at right time. Involves combo of in-person & digital #KareoChat https://t.co/FZcYvzerRn

— Carly Holstein, PhD (@carlyholstein) August 24, 2017

A1: #ValueBasedCare is part of Value Base Leadership #KareoChat → https://t.co/TjAPwFvvLw

— Danielle Siarri (@innonurse) August 24, 2017

A1 part 2: #Populationhealth communication is taking place in #socialmedia and patients need credible information. #KareoChat

— Danielle Siarri (@innonurse) August 24, 2017

#kareochat A2 Finding similar patients online holds a mountain of info for other patients looking for answers

— CP Nerve Center (@Cpnervecenter) August 24, 2017

#kareochat A2 SoMe is where patient engagement can really take off esp for folks w/ chronic illnesses

— Melanie Hilliard (@social_melanie) August 24, 2017

A3 Stop pushing back against innovation & get involved. Volunteer "voice" to digihealth development initiatives. Take a class! #KareoChat

— ShereeseM, MS/MBA (@ShereesePubHlth) August 24, 2017

 

Health IT Literacy for the Engaged Patient

Host: Melanie Hilliard @social_melanie

Health IT literacy is crucial for patient engagement and empowerment. Through user-friendly technology options and multimedia, we wanted to know where health IT-literate patients are finding trusted sources of information and who should be responsible for disseminating that information to the greater patient population. How could this type of information lead to better engagement, and how can it transform the patient/physician relationship?

How do our chat participants define Health IT literacy?

T1: understanding the tech landscape is a good start, as in what's possible. but you have to be open minded to begin with #Kareochat

— S. Turner Dean (@Turbodean) August 31, 2017

A1 HIT literacy is the ability to understand platforms, acronyms, processes, policies, & solutions used to deliver and track care #KareoChat

— ShereeseM, MS/MBA (@ShereesePubHlth) August 31, 2017

We wonder how many people share this concern:

#KareoChat A1 p2 as a patient I'm struggling to figure out where my data is & why & I'm in the industry!!

— Melanie Hilliard (@social_melanie) August 31, 2017

In terms of things health IT literate patients should know:

#KareoChat A2 if you don't even know what a patient portal is, why would you ever use it?

— Melanie Hilliard (@social_melanie) August 31, 2017

A2 It's imperative for Pts to know med terms & more esp for their own condition. Enables intelligent discussion w/Drs #KareoChat

— Lisa Davis Budzinski (@lisadbudzinski) August 31, 2017

Who is responsible for pushing out this educational info?

T4: Responsibility for disseminating is a good question. If give providers a resource, usually ok posting/providing. #KareoChat

— Matt Fisher (@Matt_R_Fisher) August 31, 2017

Now here’s an interesting paradigm shift!

T4: I wish more practical ‘courses’ on health, technology & financial management would be taught in K-12 schools. #kareochat

— Steve Sisko (@ShimCode) August 31, 2017

Which topic stood out to you the most? And which topics would you like us to add into the mix moving forward? Tweet us @GoKareo #KareoChat and join us every Thursday at 10 a.m. (Pacific time) for our weekly forum on healthcare, technology and practice management topics facing independent practices.