Success Stories

“When I saw the solution demonstrated I was amazed. I decided to purchase it immediately.”

Instant reports
At the conclusion of the patient’s treatment program or at an interim outcomes assessment point, the doctor selects the desired report and sends the completed file to be printed and distributed.  A Microsoft Word-based report generator that operates independently of RAPID enables creation of customized reports that reflect the individual doctor’s unique style and personality.

“I already had an interest in technology and as we talked about RAPID, I became very interested,” she says. “When I saw the solution demonstrated I was amazed. I decided to purchase it immediately.”

Dr. Zarzana was not disappointed, for she found quickly that she was able to recover the many evenings and Saturdays that she had been devoting to paperwork.

“Chiropractors’ first interest is health care,” she says, “but chiropractic is also a business. So you have to look for affordable ways to make the business side better while not negatively impacting patient care. RAPID EMR was not complicated to learn and its many interactive features make it extremely easy to use. Its impact on patient care is actually very positive, because it frees up time from paperwork that can be devoted to patients or to building the practice.”

Patient self-registration
Within a few months of purchasing RAPID EMR, Dr. Zarzana further streamlined the practice with the purchase of ACOM’s Patient Self-Registration kiosk. The kiosk eliminates the need for front office personnel to register patients and to open their files. When a patient calls for the first appointment, the file is set up over the phone with the patient’s name, address and associated information.  When the patient arrives for the appointment, he/she is handed a RAPID-resident tablet computer with the open file displayed along with brief instructions on inputting the information that Dr. Zarzana needs to proceed with the diagnosis -- nature of complaint, type of complaint, degree and location of pain, and so on.

“This information starts the file for the initial visit, and all I have to do is clarify points as we go through the examination,” the doctor says. “On subsequent visits, the patient revisits the file and the various screens and updates his or her condition, continuing to expand the documentation of treatment progress. It saves an enormous amount of time. Reports can be generated with the touch of a few keys and while I may have to go back and look at the file occasionally before generating a report, that is a matter of a few  minutes versus an hour or more.”

Demonstrating treatment value
Before she sends a final report to a third party payer, Dr. Zarzana always asks the patient to review it to make sure that what she tells the insurance company and other interested parties is confirmed by the patient. The consistency, clarity and organized presentation of RAPID reports, help to support the prompt payment of claims, she believes.

“If the insurance companies can’t see the value of the treatment, they are reluctant to pay for it,” she says. “When you can document what you’ve done, you have a far better chance for uncontested payment.”

Patient volume, revenue growth without pain
When she purchased RAPID EMR, Dr. Zarzana normally saw about 30 patients per day in her six-day week – a clientele heavily weighted towards sports medicine, particularly young athletes and their families, along with the traditional mix of personal injury references, workers compensation cases and wellness patients. She was (and is) the only chiropractor in the practice, but she also employed two massage therapists and an acupuncturist/herbalist.

Dr. Zarzana liked the way her practice is structured and the way she was able to work with her patients and apparently, her patients and referral sources liked it too. She has doubled her patient load and with it also doubled practice income. The practice has had to move a larger office with more examining and treatment rooms and to cope with the increased volume, the staff has also grown. It now comprises two massage therapists, the acupuncturist/herbalist, a personal trainer, two front office administrative/patient support personnel, and an accountant who also maintains the practice website (www.zarzanachiropractic.com).

“Automating clinical notes and reports allows us to get more work done in the same amount of time and the RAPID system has contributed to the development of a strong professional image for our clinic,” Dr. Zarzana  says. “The RAPID reports we supply to referring MDs have positively impacted our credibility with them. Several have called after receiving their RAPID reports to say that the level of professionalism is not what they are used to seeing from chiropractors.” 

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