How to Adopt a New Medical Practice Management System

Medical practice management (PM) software simplifies and expedites everyday administrative and financial operations, including scheduling patient appointments, processing claims, and billing tasks. Finding the right medical practice management software enables practices to focus more on patient care and less on administrative busywork. 

In this article, we examine:

• What to look for when selecting practice management software
• How to implement a new medical practice management system
• How Benchmark Systems transitions clients

What to look for when selecting a new practice management system

Time-saving Features

Practice management software should simplify and expedite administrative tasks, like patient onboarding, prior authorizations, and appointment scheduling. Streamlining these processes through automations and custom workflows can save practices hours of time week after week. 

Customer Support

Whenever you’re transitioning to a new software platform, the customer support team can be the difference between a hectic transition and a smooth one. Ask prospective vendors about their customer service ratings and how much support they provide throughout implementation, training, and maintenance post roll-out. 

Security and Compliance

A patient’s confidential medical data must be securely stored and shared. Make sure that your practice management system is HIPAA compliant and adheres to any other standards your practice requires.

Pricing and Scalability

Medical practice management systems are well worth the investment, but some platforms can get pricey depending on the size of your organization and other requirements. Ask your vendors about how you’ll be billed to ensure there are no hidden fees for upgrades, contract renewals, or increased users. This allows your practice to weigh the costs and benefits of adopting a new system while controlling overhead costs. 

Integrations

Find a practice management system that integrates with your electronic health record (EHR) software. This will save your medical coding and billing specialists countless hours on replicating patient records into two separate platforms. Also, many EHR platforms can generate code recommendations, making it even easier for your team to file claims.

How to implement a new medical practice management system

1. Define your roll-out timeline: Practice management software typically takes 2 – 4 weeks to onboard depending on the size of your practice.
2. Form an internal team to review platforms: Involve your administrative, medical coding, and medical billing personnel who will use the platform the most in the decision-making and implementation process. Getting their buy-in on the front-end can streamline training and ensure that your practice selects a platform that will best fit their needs. 
3. Evaluate current practice workflows: Take advantage of the software transition as an opportunity to review and polish internal processes. Focus on essential, time-intensive administrative tasks and see if there are any workflows that can be streamlined and simplified. 
4. Configure and customize the new system: Based on your practice’s needs, your vendor’s team of specialists will work with you to fully customize your practice management system’s dashboards, forms, billing platform, and reporting templates. 
5. Migrate data: Your software vendor will work with your team to transfer over patient and practice data into the new system.
6. Schedule team training sessions: Ensure your workforce is well-trained in the new platform so they can use it efficiently after go-live. 
7. Evaluate the system: Once the new system is fully configured and online, do some internal testing with your staff to test its functionality and make sure everything is working properly. 
8. Go live: You’re ready to start using your new practice management system! 
9. Follow-up: A good practice management system will grow and adapt with your practice over time. Your vendor should schedule follow-up appointments with your team to provide additional training and support, or to discuss system modifications.

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Implement a new, time-saving practice management solution in weeks with Benchmark Systems.

Benchmark Systems clients migrating to a new practice management system are paired with an expert to facilitate a smooth and quick transition. Benchmark PM’s average Implementation and Training Program spans two to four weeks from contract to go live. Throughout this training period, your staff will be paired with a dedicated specialist to ensure your transition is as smooth as possible. Once the new software goes live, the client’s dedicated training specialist remains on-call for questions. When your practice is comfortable with your new PM software, our customer service team will be there to support you with any requests you may have.