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What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility?

What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility?

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

As a medical provider, you need to be prepared to work directly with insurance providers to help patients maximize their benefits and cover the cost of treatment. Insurance verification and determining eligibility is central to this. But how do you do insurance verification and navigating the often convoluted water of eligibility? Here is what you should know.

What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility?

Insurance verification refers to checking the status of a given patient’s insurance coverage as well as verifying their eligibility for having a given service covered. Once you have completed the medical insurance verification process, you should know the following: • If the patient’s policy is active. • When the policy expires. • If you are in-network. • If the given procedure is covered under their benefits. • If it is, how much of it is covered. Insurance verification is one of the first steps to take with any patient and should be done before any services are rendered. If not, you can put the patient in a position where they have to pay out of pocket but don’t have room in their budget to do so.

What Is the Insurance Verification Process Like?

This depends on the route you take. The easiest method is to outsource this task to insurance verification services companies. These are HIPAA-compliant providers who contact insurance providers on your behalf using the information the patient provided. If you have clients input this information through the medical patient portal, the entire process requires almost no work on your end. If you don’t outsource it, you will need to contact the insurance company directly. If you are confident that the insurance policy is valid and active, you also might be able to find information online. For this, you look for the specific tier of policy from the given provider and see if there is any information online about coverage and limits. Ultimately, this method is lengthy and difficult, often requiring at least once employee pretty much dedicated to the verification task. We strongly suggest outsourcing this to save both time and money. In fact, we can help. At Guideway Care, we offer a wide variety of services, including healthcare engagement solutions and insurance verification. With us at your side, you can grow your practice, increase productivity, and ensure your patients are always pleased with their experience. To learn more, schedule your free consultation.
The Ultimate Guide to Patient Experience

The Ultimate Guide to Patient Experience

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect, Manage.

The patient experience isn’t just about satisfaction; it encompasses all interactions patients have with healthcare as a whole. Unfortunately, patient experience statistics consistently show that that people find these interactions to be lacking. It is essential that all medical practices have a firm grasp on how to improve patient experience and what experiences matter to patients.

Key Steps to Improving the Patient Experience

If you aren’t sure where to get started, that is understandable. The topic is a complex one, and since people change, it will evolve with time. However, there are a few key steps you can take right now to help enhance the patient experience.

Maximize Your Online Presence

And by this, we don’t just mean have a website and social media. We mean you should ensure that your online presence offers maximize value. You want to create content that helps and empowers patients. Think about detailed explanations of service, patient guides, and online forms.

Digitize Your Scheduling

Many patients aren’t interested in talking to medical providers on the phone. They prefer texting, filling out forms, and pretty much any method that allows them to multitask while taking care of business. If your practice doesn’t yet have an online scheduling platform that allows patients to book, cancel, and set reminders, now is the time to make the switch.

Train Staff in Customer Service

We tend to think of customer service as a retail concept, but in truth, it is part of the patient experience. Your staff needs to be trained in how to make the patients feel comfortable, valued, and like they are empowered participants in their treatment.

Improve the Waiting Room

There are few places patients dislike being in more than the typical doctor’s office or hospital waiting room. Focus on improving it. Add better furniture, softer lighting, better entertainment options, and outlets for charging.

Reduce Wait Times

Ultimately, no waiting room will ever be so wonderful that patients are happy to spend all day in there. This means you need to do what you can to reduce wait times. A patient engagement company can help you digitize your paperwork processes to help move patients in and out faster.

Follow Up With Patients

The best way to know where you need to improve your patient experience is by asking your patients what they enjoyed and what they feel is lacking. You can usually do this through your patient tracking system if you have one. To discover more solutions for enhanced patient experience, contact Guideway Care.
The Benefits of an EHR Built for Innovation

The Benefits of an EHR Built for Innovation

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect, Manage.

Electronic health records (EHRs)are at the forefront of digitized healthcare; despite this, many practices are struggling with making the switch. If yours is one such practice, it is essential that you get with the times and embrace EHRs built for innovation.

Understanding Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records, also known as electronic medical records, are the digital versions of the classic paper medical chart. They are updated and accessible in real time and can be shared with any number of authorized users, including the patients themselves. While they can be limited to just medical and treatment data, true EMR integration goes beyond that to give a holistic view of the patient’s status and care.

Benefits of Electronic Health Records

EHRs are one of the most essential solutions for healthcare practices to help them meet the evolving needs of digital-age patients. However, EHR integration isn’t just for the patient’s benefits; it has advantages all around.

Fast and Reliable Record Checks

Being able to quickly check patient records and get accurate information is beneficial to all parties involved. Doctors are able to work faster, make a more accurate diagnosis, and meet with more patients per day. Patients benefit from more targeted care and the ability to review and share their own files when needed.

Confidence in Decision Making

One of the most difficult aspects of healthcare for both patient and provider is making major medical decisions. It is easy to worry that you might be missing a key detail that could have a major impact on the results. When everything is right there in front of you, you feel more confident in moving forward. Read more: EMR vs. EHR: How Do These Two Terms Differ?

Compliant Protection

While this depends on the system you use, the correct ones should be compliant with patient privacy laws and other regulations. This allows you to confidently store and share information with the correct parties.

Increased Efficiency as an Office

Switching to electronic records won’t just speed things up for you as a doctor; it will increase efficiency throughout the practice. Much administrative work is related to filing paperwork, sending communications, and managing requests. With the right EHR platform, you can digitize all of that in a single place. Of course, making the switch is not without its challenges. To make it easier, work with the right healthcare advertising company: Guideway Care. We can connect you with high quality digital solutions that address needs on the patient and provider front—including EHR systems. Contact us today to learn how we can help streamline your healthcare operations.
How Video Marketing Is Influencing the Future of Healthcare

How Video Marketing Can Influence The Future Of Healthcare

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Connect, Manage.

Video has long been used in healthcare; anyone who has sat through a training video in a back room knows that. However, medical video production has come a long way from those grainy VHS tapes. Modern approaches can help you reach patients, empower staff, and serve as healthcare engagement solutions. If the idea of engaging in video production is new to you, don’t feel overwhelmed. We are going to cover the basics so you can better understand how healthcare video marketing can help you.

Video Is an Appealing Medium

This is especially true when compared to long pieces of text. There is a misconception that people today read less than those in the past. In truth, they read more, but in different ways. Given how much we rely on text to communicate, many people constantly consume small snippets—not long-form educational pieces. Medical video production allows you to take pages of text and condense them into easy-to-consume videos that combine fun narration with engaging visuals. While they might take a little longer to produce than an essay, they will deliver the results you seek.

Patients Want to Learn

Modern patients aren’t interested in the outdated dynamic of an all-knowing doctor and an obedient client. They want to be informed and empowered when it comes to their healthcare. Videos are wonderful for this. You still get to control the narrative to a degree, helping patients get on board with the philosophy of medicine you follow, but they don’t feel as in the dark.

You Can Prep for Procedures

If you are a specialist, you likely have a limited number of procedures you perform, and before each of these, you need you patients and their support people to be informed on what to expect. Rather than spending a lot of time giving the same speeches over and over, you can create customized video guides for each procedure, communicating the information they need in a fun and friendly way. It is an amazing healthcare engagement solution.

Be the Influencer You Wish Existed

The idea of being both a medical provider and an influencer might seem a little strange, but there are quite a few who are not only making it work, but genuinely changing the face of healthcare while they do it. These doctors are getting patients excited about their own health and helping them come into the office feeling informed and ready to get to work. You can really put your practice on the map with the right content. The future of video marketing is bright. You just need the right approach. Guideway Care guides providers in their medical marketing strategies, including video-based and interactive content.
How to Empower Patients to Play an Active Role in Their Hospital Experience

Strategies Empower Patients to Play an Active Role in Their Hospital Experience

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

What is needed for successful treatment of hospital patients?

There is a lot you can do. From having the right equipment to truly listening to the patient as they describe their symptoms and concerns, much of the results of care rest on your shoulders. However, patients also play an important role. They need to follow your instructions, be in tune with their body, and reach out when they feel something is wrong. Unfortunately, many do not do this.

Why Is That?

Ultimately, the reasons will vary between people. But for many, it comes down to a lack of patient empowerment. Many people just don’t feel like they can or should take charge of their healthcare, even under supervision. Luckily, this doesn’t mean that all is lost; nursing empowerment strategies can help. Here are some you might want to implement.

Suggest Helpful Apps

Many patients would like to be more empowered in their healthcare, but they don’t know where to start. Apps often offer quick and easy solutions. Suggest those that help them track their own health history, medications, and more. This will also help them better prepare for future hospital visits.

Promote Quality Content Creators

You don’t have to do all the hard work of educating your patients; there are plenty of content creators happy to do that for you. On your hospital’s social media pages, share content—especially videos and infographics—from quality content creators who you feel put out accurate information in an engaging manner. Don’t like any content creators? Become one yourself with healthcare educational videos.

Treat Patients Like Partners

You are the expert, but sometimes experts talk down to those around them without intending to. Many patients already feel intimidated by being in a hospital setting; to feel empowered, they need some encouragement. Make your patients feel like they are active partners in their treatment. This helps develop a sense of agency and encourages them to think more about their treatment and symptoms.

Open Up Online Consultations

Your hospital likely did this during the peak of COVID, but may have stopped. If so, get it going again. Empowering patients in healthcare means opening up multiple roads to treatment. Virtual consults feel less threatening and also increase the likelihood of a patient scheduling to clarify concerns that would otherwise be left to Dr. Google. Healthcare engagement solutions can help patients feel more involved and empowered. To discover more, talk to Guideway Care about the best healthcare advertising and patient support.
Healthcare SEO Improve the Visibility of a Website

How Can Healthcare SEO Improve the Visibility of a Website?

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

You’ve heard that online presence is essential to building your healthcare practice, so you’ve done your best. You’ve created your own home on the web inspired by the best health and wellness websites; you’ve joined the bigger social media sites; you’ve even tried your hand at a little email marketing. Despite your best efforts, you likely aren’t seeing a big difference in patient traffic—if you are seeing any. Why is that? Most likely, a lack of healthcare SEO.

What Is Healthcare SEO?

SEO—short for search engine optimization—refers to many different strategies that help websites rank higher in search results, generating more traffic to them.The more traffic your healthcare website sees, the more likely you are to pull in new patients and become a medical authority in your area. It is important to note that SEO tactics change all the time as search engine companies change their rules and algorithms.Healthcare SEO services stay on top of these changes for you, giving you less homework to do on a monthly basis.

Strategies that Improve Healthcare Search Engine Presence

Encourage Online Reviews: As patients check out, encourage them to leave a review of your practice. You can also do this by text message or email. Try to be specific and direct them towards a specific place to leave a review—typically Google or Yelp. Create Informative Content: There is a lot you can do with this one. From informational videos to patient surveys to blogs, you can create a lot of content for your practice that stands out from the typical list of services and “about us” page. You are an authority figure in your field, and search engines love authority content. Take Your Google My Business Page: These are automatically generated once Google realizes where your practice is located. However, you can claim ownership over this page, and doing so is important. For many prospective patients, this will be the first thing they check to get to know you, and it can help you rank better in searches. Utilize Healthcare Keywords: Patients will only search your exact practice name if they already know who you are. You need to pull in the people who don’t. Healthcare keywords reflect common search engine terms people would use when looking for a practice like yours. When they are tied into your content, it helps the search engine land on your page as a top result. Could you use a helping hand in navigating healthcare SEO? Allow Guideway Care to serve as your guide. We offer solutions to healthcare marketing and patient engagement that put your practice on the map.
Four Reasons Why Your CRM System is Your Most Valuable Asset

Four Reasons Why Your CRM System is Your Most Valuable Asset

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

Customer relationship management (CRM) in the healthcare industry is essential to boosting productivity, eliminating errors, and enhancing the patient experience. They take all the paperwork and other forms of communication and tie them up into a neat little package that you can access quickly from wherever you or your patient might be. Of course, not all medical practices have embraced CRM operations as a concept or a practice. If you are still behind the times, now is the time to make the change. You will likely discover that your CRM is your most valuable asset.

1. They Are Part of Patient Engagement Solutions

CRM systems don’t necessarily have a patient end, though they can. However, they still contribute to your healthcare engagement solutions. How is that? Since your CRM should help you track multiple data points for each patient you have, they help you learn more about them. From interests to common conditions to how to reach them, when you look at what you can learn from your CRM, you can quickly see how it can help you meet your patients where they are.

2. They Let You Share Everything Electronically

With the correct setup, your CRM can make it easy to share information electronically. This can be within the practice, between yourself and the patient, and even between yourself and other providers. While you of course need to ensure you only share information in accordance with medical privacy laws, there are many cases when information must be shared for the good of the patient and with their permission. Your CRM can make this easier.

3. They Offer Important Shortcuts

Specifically, they allow you to create and store electronic templates that can help you organize information, meet compliance standards, and more. Rather than opening files and printing forms, or searching for a paper copy, you just open the template, save, and start filling it in.

4. They Make Contact Easier

Many patients are no longer interested in receiving phone calls from your practice unless the matter is urgent. So what about all other communication? You can handle it through your CRM. From emails and texts to sharing prescriptions, you can get in touch with your patients without needing to do anything complex. Customer relationship management systems can support targeted marketing. However, you need the right system and training to make this work. To learn more about CRMs and medical online marketing, schedule your call with Guideway Care.
Ways to Improve Healthcare Workflow

Ways to Improve Healthcare Workflow

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

If you own busy practice, you likely struggle with workflow variations, transitions, and more. No matter how organized you and your office team are, you cannot overcome everything on your own. Barriers to efficiency include everything from driving patient engagement to keeping up with changes in technology. However, that isn’t to say that you cannot better engage in healthcare workflow management. In fact, there is a lot you can do to make your office run smoother.

Switch to Electronic Health Records

If you are still keeping paper files, now is the time to stop. From writing things out by hand to properly filing away forms, relying on paper will always slow down your workflow. Customer relationship management (CRM) in the healthcare industry relies on electronic records of all kinds that both you and the patient can access, and this means going digital.

Give Patients Control

The modern patient doesn’t just come to the doctor and hand over the reins. They want to take control. A great way for them to do that is through the use of an online patient portal. Not only can this give them access to the records mentioned above, but they can also upload their own documents, share communications from other doctors, schedule their appointments, and set their appointment reminders. This is one of the best ways to improve healthcare workflow since otherwise, all of this would fall on your staff.

Answer Questions Online

Much of your appointment times are spent answering patient questions. While this is an important part of developing relationships with patients, many of these questions can be answered just as well online. There are plenty of ways to do this, from FAQ sections on your website to chatbots that pop up to engage visitors. Whatever options you choose, they all stand to improve healthcare workflow.

Offer Express Telemedicine

Perhaps one of the most impactful changes you could make is adding express telemedicine as a service. For patients with minor concerns that can be handled virtually, you allow them to set up an appointment with a nurse practitioner or other suitable healthcare professional and meet with them online. This keeps your actual office more open and better able to focus on more urgent needs. Medical online marketing and other digital solutions can greatly improve the way your practice does business. If your goal is to improve your workflow, we are here to help.
Problems That Healthcare Technology Can Solve

Problems That Healthcare Technology Can Solve

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage, Specialities.

Technology has radically changed every industry—healthcare is no exception. But these advancements don’t stop at robot-assisted surgery or advancements in prosthetic limbs—they cover everything from diagnosis and treatment to managing patient flow. Thanks to the pandemic, developments in technological solutions for healthcare has accelerated at a rapid pace, racing to meet the needs of people stuck in their homes or rural communities due to lockdown. But what are problems that healthcare technology can solve? And how could these solutions change the way your practice operates?

Problem: Maintaining Compliance

HIPAA is always at the top of any medical professional’s mind, but there are many more agencies with regulations you need to stay on top of. From Medicare to the CDC, there is a lot to know and juggle. In most cases, regulations change faster than you can learn them. Technology offers solutions for healthcare that makes it easier to keep track of what you need to do to be in compliance with the various regulatory agencies. From tracking apps to blockchain for patient forms, it makes it easier to avoid having things lost in the shuffle.

Problem: Removing Human Error

Computers aren’t perfect—we understand that. However, when it comes to processing paperwork, assigning tasks, and maintaining confidentiality, they tend to eliminate the vast majority of errors that humans introduce. Human error is the primary driver of healthcare problems and the need for solutions. This ties into the issue of compliance as well. Where a human can easily send the wrong file to a patient with the same name, an automated system will look at the unique patient number and prevent a HIPAA violation.

Problem: Rural Healthcare

Like most industries, healthcare is centered in the cities and suburbs. But millions of Americans live in rural locations where the nearest hospital or doctor can be over an hour away. Unlike those working in major metropolitan areas, these people cannot just pop over to the dermatologist on their lunch break. Telemedicine solutions have made it easier for healthcare providers to help this population. Through video chats, texting apps, and online patient portals, it is easier and more effective than ever before to treat patients at a distance. This is one solution to a healthcare problem that has long been needed.

Problem: Medical Marketing

Medical practices can no longer rely on word-of-mouth to survive. Now, you need medical marketing strategies that cover a variety of media. Technology can help make your marketing and branding easier to manage. From tools that determine the keywords for your healthcare SEO to tracking which services most interest your website visitors, there is a lot tech can do for you. Are you interested in technology solutions for healthcare? We offer customized packages to fit your needs and budget. For more information, schedule your demo with Guideway Care.
The Importance of Insurance Verification for Your Dental Practice

The Importance of Insurance Verification for Your Dental Practice

Written by Jeff Tormey on . Posted in Manage.

As a full-service dental practice, you want to make the services you offer as accessible as possible and ensure the patient experience is a smooth one.

Central to this is medical insurance verification. While a small task for your office, this has a significant impact on your patients, often determining whether or not they can afford treatment.

Delays and snags with insurance verification can harm patient retention and earn your dental practice a bad reputation. At Guideway Care, we support dental practices in the insurance verification process with automated tools, human support, and accurate reporting that help patients understand their coverage limits and what they can and cannot afford.

Why Insurance Verification Is Important for Dental Practices

Compared to standard health insurance, dental insurance is often a bit tricker. The limits and terms are different, and patients are less likely to have a full understanding of what their policy covers than they would with general health coverage. Additionally, these policies are typically separate and might even be with a different company than their primary provider.

Insurance verification for your dental practice is a central component of patient support. Your average patient isn’t equipped to navigate insurance jargon and doesn’t have the time to spend hours on the phone waiting to talk to a customer service representative. Many of them barely have the time to get to your office and receive treatment.

This means patients rely on your staff to complete their medical insurance verification for them and let them know how far their coverage goes and what they will need to pay out of pocket.

When you don’t, or you give the wrong answer and then they have to pay out of pocket, it reflects poorly on you.

Why Insurance Verification Can Be Difficult for Your Practice

At the same time, it isn’t always easy for your practice to take care of insurance verification themselves. This is especially true if your receptionist and billing department are one and the same.

Your support staff already has a lot on their plate, and adding verification to this list can overwhelm them, creating a ripple effect that throws off more than your billing.

This often leaves dentists in a difficult position: overwhelm the staff, hire someone just for insurance, or risk harming the patient experience? Luckily, there is an alternative.

Outsourcing Dental Insurance Verification

The importance of insurance verification for dental practices cannot be overstated. But if taking it on yourself has your ship sinking, you should consider outsourcing the task.

Guideway Care offers solutions for healthcare providers that take the weight off their shoulders while ensuring patients get the well-rounded experience of a fully-staffed practice. As a healthcare advertising company, we can also take on all your marketing and branding tasks as well.

To learn more or schedule your demo, contact Guideway Care today.