By Michael Gallagher and Natalie Slodowy, IntellliSuite Technologies, Inc.
Many physicians and practice managers are faced with the daunting task of determining whether or not it makes sense to enhance your practice through the use of technology. The age old question, "What's in it for me?" chimes throughout today's healthcare industry. It is difficult to make any decision, especially one that will impact the future success of your organization, without a firm understanding of what you will gain for your investment of time and money.
So let's get down to it. Where do you look to figure out what kind of return you and your organization will enjoy by investing in technology?
When determining Return on Investment (ROI), it is necessary to understand every area of your practice that will be impacted whether it will be positive or negative. In general, healthcare information technology allows for more efficient office workflow coupled with comprehensive management and secure exchange of medical information between providers, consumers, and institutions.
Benefits from the use of technology in your practice:
- Improve healthcare quality
- Avoid medical errors
- Reduce healthcare costs
- Gain administrative efficiencies
- Significantly decrease paperwork
- Expand access to affordable care
- Early detection of infectious disease outbreaks around the world
- Improved tracking of chronic disease management
The number-crunching can start to get complicated when actually calculating these benefits against the dollar cost of technology solutions, as some of the benefits are somewhat intangible. Less-stressful filing processes; happier, more satisfied patients; and better communication; these are just a few of the improvements that are hard to quantify but can make a world of difference in your practice. It’s best to start with the more straightforward figures: i.e. eliminating the need for a new full-time biller, and correspondingly the $20K+ salary, and instead implementing an online solution for around a thousand dollars, is a huge savings you can calculate right away. Combining these kinds of figures with the more intangible benefits will give you and your practice the clearest perspective—and clearest need—for what types of technology solutions to implement.