MedInformatix EPM Helps Billing Efficiency Reach New Highs at Multi-Location Eye Clinic

LOS ANGELES, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Just eight years after its founding, Cokingtin Eye Center has achieved an enviable level of growth.  The Overland Park, Kansas-based practice, which employs seven ophthalmologists and two optometrists, operates three offices in suburban Kansas City.  Several days a month it also sees patients in four rural locations, performing a full range of surgical, osteoplastic and therapeutic services.

From its beginning, Cokingtin has used a Practice Management System (PMS) to coordinate its business functions including scheduling, registration and billing.  When it purchased an office in 2006 from another practice, however, Chris Balestrieri, Cokingtin's administrator, recommended a changeover to the MedInformatix EPM (Enterprise Practice Management) system.

"I had used the MedInformatix EPM at a prior practice and was impressed with how it could be customized to fit a clinic's particular way of working," Balestrieri said.  "Since we had to reconcile the PMS systems between our current and new offices, we felt it was right time to make a total change to MedInformatix."

MedInformatix EPM is one of the most popular automated practice management systems on the market.  Covering all the key functions of a modern eye practice, MedInformatix EPM can be customized to suit specific requirements and workflows in scheduling, billing, collections and reporting.  Its single Microsoft SQL database can be queried to track all aspects of eye practice performance including marketing, surgical efficiency and more.  

"Over the years I've seen MedInformatix listening to its users and integrating their feedback into the EPM product.  They've made it very user-friendly," Balestrieri noted.  "Other products have more bells and whistles, but the problem is that those products are so complicated, no one can use them.  MedInformatix took the smarter route by creating a platform that you don't have to call someone to learn how to use."

Once Cokingtin Eye Center made the decision to switch to MedInformatix, Balestrieri said she was able to teach her staff of 38 to use the software herself.  "MedInformatix is easy to customize, so we were able to pre-configure the system to our work methods," she stated.  In particular the scheduling and alert functions were appreciated by her team.  "We find those features to be very functional.  Our front office folks like the way we can put out messages on the fly to all our offices when needed," she said.

MedInformatix EPM has helped Cokingtin Eye Center achieve a remarkably efficient billing operation.  Balestrieri said the benefits extend from claims management to staff resources.

"We employ only four full-time billing people, yet MedInformatix EPM, in concert with our billing clearinghouse partner, helps us process claims for a patient load that averages 5,000 office visits per physician per year," she observed.  "Not only are we submitting a higher percentage of clean claims, but we're getting paid much faster.  At the end of 2009, our accounts receivable was only 17 days.  What's more, we're able to collect 99% of what's collectible.  We feel we have great efficiency overall."

Later this year, Cokingtin Eye Center will add MedInformatix EMR (Electronic Medical Records) to their offices, eliminating paper charts and digitizing their entire practice.  "We're looking forward to eliminating handwritten charts, missing files and time consuming filing.  We hope to gain quite a bit of floor space at our various offices as well," Balestrieri stated.

The tight integration of MedInformatix EPM and EMR will give Cokingtin Eye Center seamless control over billing, collections, claims, scheduling, reports, lab results, imaging, referrals and other clinical and practice procedures.  The high level of connectivity will enable it to provide faster, higher quality patient care with greater levels of accuracy.

"The thing I like about MedInformatix is that they care about their clients.  It shows in what they're doing," she said.  "I've been very impressed by the way they listen (to clients).  They've done a great job incorporating client suggestions into the product—a rare and valuable trait for a software company."

ASCRS 2010 Exhibit

MedInformatix will be demonstrating its EMR and Practice Management products at the 2010 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Congress, April 10-14 in Boston, from its exhibit at Booth 2907 in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.  

About MedInformatix:

MedInformatix, Inc. (www.medinformatix.com) is a leading national provider of fully integrated Electronic Health Records.  The products have been built around MedInformatix 25 years of workflow expertise.  MedInformatix suites of products are designed on a single database using Microsoft SQL.  Whether the client is a single physician who went live in 1994, a 13-location cardiology practice, the busiest radiology practice in Manhattan, or one of 15 other specialties it services, MedInformatix accommodates their needs.  MedInformatix V7.0 is a CCHIT Certified® Ambulatory EHR, additionally certified for Cardiovascular Medicine.  See why so many practices from various specialties choose MedInformatix.  With 13 Microsoft nominations in 8 years, MedInformatix can turn the dream of a paperless, integrated practice into a reality.

SOURCE MedInformatix