Running a successful medical practice is an extremely difficult and labor-intensive process involving many moving parts and complex workflows. Thus, anything that can streamline the process is extremely valuable. Improving efficiencies and simplifying workflows is necessary for improving the performance of the practice.

Office management tools have existed for decades, but they are simply not powerful enough to manage the complexities of running a medical practice. This is why providers have been increasingly turning to dedicated practice management software to meet their needs.

However, not every practice management software is created equal. Some will be missing features and functionality that are necessary for the practice to thrive. Read on for the 5 most important features for a practice management system to have.

1. Insurance Verification
   Insurance verification can eat up a lot of time for practice staff. Making phone calls and being put on held is wasted time as it prevents staff from actively contributing to patient care. Luckily, practice management systems can include insurance verification capability. This allows staff to instantly look up and verify the insurance status of each patient during the check-in process. It also makes getting an appointment quicker for patients so it’s a win-win.

2. Automated Billing
   Fewer denials and faster payments are the dream of every provider. It would be fair to say that no medical professional currently running their own practice is satisfied with the state of their revenue cycle management.
   One of the easiest ways of improving the flow of revenue is by investing in a practice management system with automated billing capability. Most applications will integrate billing and collections with revenue cycle management tools. Practice staff can use the software for electronic claims submissions with built in EDI capability.

3. Security
   The protection and security of personal health information is becoming an increasingly important aspect of healthcare. Identity theft is a very real crime and can destroy lives and so it is important for providers to store all this information in as secure a way as possible. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was introduced for this very purpose.

   The threat of hackers targeting practices to break into health information databases is only growing. Medicine remains one of the top targets of ransomware attacks, not to mention the threat of attacks from foreign nations such as Russia. To avoid falling victim to any such attacks, it is important that providers begin investing in digital security, including practice management systems with robust security features. Your practice management system might well be the most important area to begin shoring up your defenses, as it stores a very large amount of sensitive patient information.

4. Appointment Scheduling
   Sticking to traditional methods of appointment scheduling will only hold practices back from being able to reach their full potential. Practice management systems include modern, online appointment scheduling methods, often including a patient portal in the package.

   These systems make it much easier to set up recurring patients as well, such as patients that might need monthly follow ups, for example. It is also easier and faster to reschedule when patients are unable to make a scheduled appointment. Practice management systems also come with the flexibility of being able to schedule telehealth appointments for patients that do not need to be physically present in the practice.

5. Patient Information Management
   Practice management systems also make it simpler to obtain an overview of your entire patient population with patient information management tools. This gives you access to important details, such as medical history, diagnosis and treatment. Scanned images of older paper records can also be added.

6. KPI Dashboard
   A KPI dashboard built into your practice management system will allow you track key performance indicators to measure how well your practice is doing at meeting goals you have set for certain important metrics. Important metrics to measure include Days in Accounts Receivable, Denial Rate, Percentage of New and Returning Patients, etc.

7. Integrated Patient Portal
   A patient portal should be fully integrated with the practice management system. This addition allows patients to access charts, lab results, radiology, contact their providers and more all from a singular hub. On the provider side it allows for easier information sharing and further streamlines workflows by making it so they do not have to switch to another system to deal with patients directly. Insurance verification and eligibility checks are also simplified as patients can simply log into the portal and update their insurance and contact information whenever there are any changes.

8. Built-In Clearinghouse
   A practice management system with a built-in clearinghouse allows providers to bypass third party clearinghouses and connect directly to payers. It is cost-effective, by eliminating the need to pay for a third party, and simplifies the claim submission process by being integrated directly with your EHR and practice management system. The integration also means claim and reporting data is consistent across all of the software you use in your practice.