The medical practice setting is changing ever so rapidly.  This year should be no different with the Meaningful Use push; EHRs, intergated medical billing, and e-prescribing in the practice are becoming the norm.  Technology is being widely used by the majority of the physicians.  Technology is being adopted by not only those who have been in practice for less than ten years, but also by those who have been in practice for over twenty years.  For instance, eighty percent of physicians carry smartphones that allow them to e-prescribe. In addition, fifty percent of doctors are referencing their smartphones over five times a day.  Thirty percent of doctors use iPads and twenty eight percent more plan to in the next six months. These devices are allowing physicians to connect with patients online.  In 2011, thirty-nine percent of physicians connected with patients online compared to twenty-four percent in 2005. As a healthcare technology vendor, OA Systems is focused on being at the forefront of delivering the latest tools such as electronic prescription, medical billing, and electronic health records for the practices of today.

When it comes to medical billing, even though a case can be made for both sides, outsourcing does have the edge over in-house. For instance, there are no immediate out of pocket costs  for the clinic.  The company or biller handling the claims only takes a share of the money that is reimbursed.  This share also entices the biller to take a more aggressive approach in the claim filing process.  They only get paid a percentage of what they can collect for the clinic.  Furthermore, most of the overhead costs (Personnel Costs, Software Costs, etc.) can be eliminated. Want to know more about the benefits of letting a company handle your medical billing? Click Here

Upon MGMA and other such organizations’ request, CMS has extended the deadline for implementation of the 5010 standards. This helps providers whose medical billing components are not yet compliant with the new standard, and there are many of them. According to MGMA’s survey, only 13.9% of their responders are “fully complete” in their transition to 5010. Providers rely on their medical billing collections to run their practices month to month and keep the lights on. Even after the CMS deadline extension until March, not much has changed as far as preparations go. The problem, some say, is that practice management vendors who provide medical billing software have no incentive to invest money in updating to 5010 since there is such a high demand for EHRs and they are investing their money there. This is nothing new for CMS, they went through this before with the 4010 standards and this time we will figure it out as well.

Welcome to our new blog. We hope to make this an avenue of thought provoking information and a means of communication. In it you will find out what is new with OA Systems and in the general Health IT sector. I hope that you will find this blog a beneficial and rewarding experience and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thank you.

Omar Ahmed
President & CEO
OA Systems, Inc.