As a healthcare professional, you’re used to taking care of the health of your patients. But what about the health of your practice? If you’re not sure, that’s understandable – after all, doctors and practice managers have enough on their plate without worrying about finding opportunities for more revenue. Luckily, there’s a new, easy to use tool from a provider with a strong track record of developing actionable, real-world solutions for the South African market.
A control room for your practice
“Think of the new Engage Mx report as the control room for your practice,” says Dr Benji Ozynski, who developed the platform in partnership with Altron HealthTech. “With Engage Mx, everything you need to know about your practice is in one place with one easy to use interface.”
“Engage Mx on Elixir Live has been in the market for a couple of years and already proven popular with doctors eager to embrace the advantages of data-driven healthcare,” says Ntombizanele Gxamza, Head of Product Strategy at Altron HealthTech. “The new Engage Mx report functionality on the platform brings data about the financial health of the practice and most importantly the health of a practice’s population of patients to a patient-centred approach. At a glance, the report makes it possible to see a range of statistics, presented in the form of easy to read graphics. It can be accessed on any device, making it convenient for even the busiest doctor.”
When using the new Engage Mx report, healthcare professionals can see:
- Revenue by week
- Number of patients seen, compared month by month and year by year
- Busiest days, months, and seasons
- Patient profiles by age group
- Gaps in care by age group
- Trends in types of conditions being treated
Using this kind of information, doctors are able to build up a clear picture of the health of their practice, and where there could be opportunities for improvement. In just one pilot project with a GP with a busy practice, the Engage Mx report uncovered over R400 000 lost due to missed patient health reviews. The doctor was able to see which age groups were most likely to need intervention – and prevention – before health problems became more serious.
Better health for patients, healthcare professionals and practices
The report helps healthcare professionals answer a range of questions such as:
- When is the best time for me to take leave?
- What kind of services could I add to the practice offering?
- Are there growing patient needs that my practice could be fulfilling?
- Where and how can I innovate my offering?
- How do I grow my practice sustainably?
- What kind of resources am I going to need in order to grow?
- When and how should I be communicating with my patients?
- Could my practice benefit from running marketing campaigns?
Because the data is so clearly visualised and easily accessible, busy healthcare providers don’t need to take hours out of their professional or personal time to make sense of the numbers.
Ultimately, the beauty of the new tool is that better health outcomes for patients can also improve the financial health of the practice – and also the time and administrative burden on doctors, because it can help reduce the hours currently spent on doing these tasks manually. Adds Dr Ozynski: “Doctors who’ve already used the Engage Mx report have told me that it makes it easier to plan their leave, for example, or look for new opportunities to expand services, while making their patients feel valued.”
Data-driven healthcare is perhaps the most exciting global trend in healthcare today. Practical, user-friendly tools like Engage Mx make it possible for South African doctors to take what they do best – bring the human touch to healthcare, while enabling them to future-proof their practices in an increasingly complex clinical and regulatory environment. A financially healthy practice is a sustainable practice, and that’s good for everyone.
Learn more: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jd6vb0
