Like a GPS for your Medical Practice

One of the first things you see when sliding into the driver’s seat of an automobile is the illustrious dashboard.  It is typically loaded with lights, a speedometer, a tachometer, gauges, and warning icons.  This ornate tool can be one of the first items we like or dislike about a vehicle.  Soft colors and various shapes play a big role on my visual preference list.
With some similarities to an automobile dashboard, there are Practice Management & Electronic Health Records (PM/EHR) software programs that have dashboards with the intended goal of viewing a glimpse of practice operations whether it be Clinical or Billing centric.  How many medical software systems put a great deal of thought into placement, user flexibility, immediate data availability, and real-time interaction in their often underdeveloped dashboard?  Probably not many.
I actually had the pleasure of designing my own PM/EHR dashboard in one of the cloud-based software programs we offer.  Do I consider myself a software developer?  No, but what I have found is this ultimate user experience resonates throughout the software.  I can select key performance indicators like the top 10 diagnoses in my practice with graphical presentation, easily address all of my internal electronic messages from fellow staff members, and quickly access any unsigned notes that need to be finished.  It’s no problem juggling the enormity of lab orders and results which are nicely organized, efficiently address eRX refill requests with time to spare, see statuses on government incentive programs, and review what is happening in Accounts Receivable land.  One could consider this multi-purpose dashboard as a Global Positioning System (GPS) for a busy practice.
My mother always told me to “appreciate the little things” of which I still do to this day.  It is these little things that can thrust a medical software user into euphoria or a dismal day if not thoughtfully designed and flexible.  If you have an underperforming, underwhelming Practice Management and or Electronic Health Records program, I encourage you to give us a call to see where our GPS can take your medical practice.
 
Dana Deardorff is the Office Administrator at MediPro, Inc.  She is working toward her 13th year in the medical software industry and specializes in the many challenges independent physicians face in today’s healthcare marketplace.