Product Spotlight: Small Practices

All-in-one platform for independent practices

Kareo has launched a complete, seamlessly integrated technology platform purpose-built for the unique needs of independent medical practices. This solution combines all clinical, administrative, billing, practice marketing, and patient engagement functions in one end-to-end, cloud-based platform. It provides all of the following capabilities via a state-of-the-art desktop and mobile design, including applications for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch: Kareo Clinical (fully certified EHR), Kareo Billing (claims and A/R, analysis), Kareo Managed Billing (outsourced), Kareo Marketing (monitor and grow online presence), and Kareo Marketplace (includes third-party solutions, manage workflows). Kareo

An industry first: MIPS guarantee provided

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Guarantee from athenahealth aims to shield healthcare providers and practices from downward payment adjustments under the proposed Medicare reimbursement program of the same name. athenahealth’s network-enabled athenaOne services feature workflows and native intelligence designed to manage quality, collect data, and handle reporting for MIPS, minimizing work and risk for practices of all sizes and specialties. Under athenahealth’s MIPS Guarantee, new practices using athenaOne are guaranteed to perform at or above the national performance threshold set by CMS and avoid payment penalties to their Medicare Part B fee schedule. athenahealth will cover penalties for those practices that are not successful, subject to certain limitations. athenahealth

Be up front with patients about costs

As part of the Revenue Performance suite of solutions, Change Healthcare’s cloud-based Patient Access Advisor integrates with hospital and physician systems to simplify and automate eligibility and benefits verification, allowing providers to determine and collect patient payments earlier in the revenue cycle. New functionalities include: an enhanced interface, navigation, and search capability for the financial clearance process; a comprehensive, patient-centric view that delivers access to all necessary information, including multiple insurance coverages; and a redesigned registration quality-assurance tool that proactively identifies errors at registration and prompts users to make the appropriate corrections. Change Healthcare

Increase collection rates on denied claims

While an estimated 6.4 percent of all provider-submitted claims are initially denied by payers, two-thirds of those claims are recoverable, according to the Advisory Board. RelayAssurance Appeals Assist is a new tool that lets providers identify, create, file, and track appeals for denied claims quickly and easily. Now revenue cycle managers can enhance their denial prevention strategy with a way to expedite the appeals process, helping to reduce the associated time and costs, and improve the collection rate on initially denied claims. RelayAssurance Appeals Assist is the latest module available to users of RelayAssurance Plus, RelayHealth Financial’s cloud-based, analytics-driven claims and remittance management solution. RelayHealth

Handle chip-card and contactless payments

MicroMD practice management software now enables physicians to accept EMV-chip credit and debit cards and contactless payments. Henry Schein Medical Systems partnered with Moneris, one of North America’s largest payment processors, to create the new EMV-ready version of the ePayments solution. The ePayments module is integrated with the MicroMD practice management solution, allowing medical practices to process patient card payments through the same system they use to manage other day-to-day business operations instead of a separate, stand-alone credit card terminal. As a result, medical practices can reduce their costs, save time, and streamline their accounting and back-office operations. Henry Schein Medical Systems

OptumCare picks Allscripts EHR, PM

OptumCare, a national healthcare delivery organization serving more than 8 million people in 49 geographic markets, has signed a strategic 10-year agreement to deploy the Allscripts TouchWorks suite as its exclusive EHR and practice management solution for physicians. Implementation will begin later this year. The combined technology and single platform will make it easier for OptumCare, which is part of Optum, to integrate information about a patient’s care across the ambulatory care continuum. Allscripts