eclinicalworks patient outreach program
eclinicalworks patient outreach program

eClinicalworks Patient Outreach Program is a big thing for medical providers, practices, and groups. These providers want to keep driving patients, maintaining up to date follow ups, and continue to provide effective reminders of their appointments, all while abiding by the requirements of HIPAA compliance.  In our first eClinicalWorks Support and Training blog post we discussed who the members and patients are that relate to our patient engagement program, and now we will discuss different ways your practice can reach out to them.

 

  • Patient Outreach
    • There are various ways that a medical practice receives prospective patient information and as a result, contacts these individuals. One way is through insurance companies. In this instance, the medical practice receives a packet of names, letters, and/or faxes from the insurance companies with information regarding individuals. The medical practice then reaches out to these individuals before they are patients. At this stage, these individuals are known as “members”. Medical groups reach out to members via phone calls and letters to establish their first new patient appointment and check up.

 

  • CRM Automation or eClinicalWorks Patient Outreach Program
    • Solution Reach CRM is an option that will automate the calling of members. In my client’s case, they utilize this option for calling of all new MediCal members, but not Medicare members.  Another client’s practice that we support utilizes this to reach 20,000 patients that have taken advantage of their services over the past 20 years.  The monthly service of Solution Reach CRM costs them $325mo.
    • Below are additional resources that can aide in the automated outreach to members:

 

  • Mail or Letter Outreach
    • This option deals with administrative employees and front desk receptionists. These employees continually reach out to members until they either arrange an appointment or request that the medical practice no longer contacts them.

 

  • Referrals to Medical Practices
    • Certain insurance companies (enrollers), i.e. Molina, enroll eligible MediCal recipients and receive commission from their employer Molina for their registration.  Molina also offers alternate types of insurance depending on an individual’s income. Depending on the member needs at the time, they may receive a referral to a certain medical practice from their insurance carrier to ensure they are covered.

 

  • eClinicalWorks used as a CRM
    • This is an alternative method to any Patient Engagement software

***Go to Create a contact in eCW***

All letters and phone calls that are sent out and received by a medical practice are tracked via eClinicalWorks.  A patient or member contact must be created for the life cycle of the patient outreach to be tracked and converted from a “member” into a patient.

Create a Contact in eCW
In order to create a new contact in eClinicalWorks, a prospective patient must fill out new patient packet, aka demographic information, before the medical practice can enter it into eCW. This is typically completed when the patient initially presents for their first appointment. Sometimes this information can be received before the patient’s appointment if available electronically by a provider with an online portal set up.

The responsibilities of the front desk includes collecting copays, making copies of ID and insurance cards, and verifying and entering all of the new patient packet. All of this is completed before the patient is taken back for their appointment.

In order to enter this information under the patient section, first click the drop down near top of the page. Next, look up, new, and perform “demographics” data entry. This will allow you to add the Insurance carrier under info, select PCP who does the billing, and add insurance information.

Tracking Members Prospecting
Under billing alert within the member contact a pop up window can be enabled to notify staff of billing issues or in this case, the member’s status with the practice.  Notes are also left here.

Resource Scheduling
Appointments-The medical practice averages about 8 new 30 minutes appointments a day.   Some doctors or PAs can see patients in 15 minutes increments.  Follow the steps below to view, add, and remove appointments:

  • Under eClinicalworks go to the “Practice” Tab and select Resource Scheduling.

Improving Patient Intake Workflow
Patient in-take can be a pretty cumbersome process at a lot of practices.  The handing out of demographic packets can lead to enormous double entry issues. Check out these free standing kiosks for avoiding double entry.

Patient Follow Up Workflow (Blog 3)
Follow up calls for the following

  • Test for colon cancer.
  • Eye doctor
  • Mammogram
  • Diabetes
  • Check all their medication and blood pressure

 

Additional eClinicalworks IT Support Resources: