Earlier this month, my practice converted from the Allscripts Professional PM and EHR system to athenaOne. If you have been through this process, you know it is not easy. Many have come to tears or left their job when going through a system conversion because of the stress of balancing seeing patients while learning a new system. While lessons were learned and there were hiccups along the way, our process went smoothly with only a 3-week ramp-up period.

Imagine this.

You’re in a new city for a trip, and have checked in to your hotel for the stay. It’s close to dinner time, and you are ready to go out and eat. What do you do? If you’re like most people, you’ll open up one of many websites or apps, such as Google, Yelp, Facebook, or others, and search for dining options near you. You’ll likely look at which ones are the closest options, then see what type of restaurant strikes you.

Work smarter not harder is a phrase often heard in many settings, not just healthcare but what does that mean in the primary care world? How can we work smarter not harder when there is so much work to be done?  Change in any form can be difficult and scary, especially when it involves new technology.  Finding the right solution and gaining buy-in from providers and team members can be the most difficult part of this process even if the solution will make their job easier.  The key is to engage the affected team members early on, share the vision, acknowledge the loss of the old way, and give them opportunities to participate in the process.

The Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) adjustment from CMS, also known as Covid protection, has now expired, which means that the overall star ratings for health plans will not be adjusted to account for Covid. There was an overall decline in year over year star ratings over the last two years, with the national average star rating declining from 4.37 in calendar year 2021 to 4.15 in 2022, a decline of 0.22.

Call-outs, resignations, and limited staffing resources make it challenging to keep up with the day to day requirements of a primary care practice. While many corporations are transitioning to remote or hybrid work and are increasing compensation to remain competitive, it is difficult to make these changes in a field where in person contact is necessary. Telemedicine is certainly a trend here to stay, but most visits still require an in-person appointment so the provider can listen to the patient’s heart, lungs, and perform tests that cannot be done from home.

Data in healthcare is now essentially ubiquitous: there are mountains of it everywhere. With the promise of tech and big data, healthcare systems snapped up technology that promised to capture all their data and provide enhanced and unprecedented insights. EHRs were pushed on physicians, claiming better data collection, organization, and utilization.

As a company working towards a value-based care program, the number one thing needed for success is the alignment of your incentives with each of your team members. 

Pre-visit planning is a strategy used to maximize the benefits of a healthcare visit with extra preparation, focusing the appointment, and creating a patient-specific care plan. Overall, pre-visit planning ensures a smoothly operating clinic and benefits both patients and healthcare providers.

If you’ve been considering advance care planning (ACP), you’re in good company. More than 90 percent of Americans believe it is important to discuss the treatment and palliative options they would choose to pursue if they were to become incapacitated by medical issues in the future, according to THE CONVERSATION PROJECT’S 2018 NATIONAL SURVEY. Yet, they also report that only 32 percent have actually conducted these conversations.