Sending Happy Birthday Emails

Rexpert can now send your patients a "Happy Birthday" e-mail message, which they would probably rather receive than yet another personal statement!

First set up a Happy Birthday document template; just ask Client Services via the Feedback Button.

Be sure to start adding patient e-mail addresses under Acount Registration.

Then, weekly or monthly, use the Reports -> Except/Request Process -> Account Birthday List/Label menu option.

Sample Happy Birthday E-Mail Message

Patients Can Register Online

Rexpert now offers Online Registration for practices who want to enable their patients to enter account information online. This benefits your practice because the data is entered more accurately and your staff's time is needed only to review it.  Patients can also check their current balances and upcoming appointments.

The process for Online Registration is very simple, especially if you already use Rexpert's e-mail capabilities on a regular basis. Once you create an appointment for a new patient, you will then click "e-mail patient" in Rexpert via the Scheduler to send an invitation to register online, complete with a link and password.

If you would like to set this up, please contact Client Services. There is a fee associated with this feature but it's a small price to pay when you consider your employees' wages and time.

Example of Online Registration (Patient View)

Government News

More than ever, it is important for practice managers to stay informed regarding the government policies that impact all healthcare practices. These changes will continue to affect the way you conduct your business as well as influence your technology requirements. Here are some of key areas:

EMR/EHR or Electronic Medical and Health records: We strongly suggest that you not wait until the last minute to purchase your EMR/EHR system. As you may be aware, your practice needs an EHR to achieve “Meaningful Use” and qualify for Medicare incentives. In 2015 and later, Medicare eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and CAHs that do not successfully demonstrate “meaningful use” will have a payment ADJUSTMENT in their Medicare reimbursement. The payment reduction starts at 1% and increases each year that a Medicare eligible professional does not demonstrate meaningful use, to a maximum of 5%. Please read about “Meaningful Use” on the Medicare website.

Medicare Revalidation: Medicare is now requiring all enrolled providers to revalidate enrollment information every five years. When you receive a revalidation request, you have 60 days to submit the required enrollment information. Failure to submit the enrollment information may lead to deactivation of all Medicare billing privileges. Please visit CMS on the web for more info.

ICD-10: On April 17, 2012 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule that would delay, from October 1, 2013 to October 1, 2014, the compliance date for the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition diagnosis and procedure codes (ICD-10). To read and understand the basics of ICD-10, please visit the Medicare site.

E-prescribing: To avoid Medicare penalties for E-prescribing please take a minute to read about this program. If you are experiencing a hardship, you might be exempted from Medicare’s penalties by filing a hardship exemption request.

An EMR/EHR Solution: Rexpert is now partnered with the AllMeds EMR/EHR system! If your practice is interested in Meaningful Use incentives, wants to E-prescribe, or is currently transitioning from a paper record to an electronic patient record then our Rexpert/AllMeds solution might be ideal for your practice. The Rexpert system is a proven solution for financial management. This combined system will protect your reimbursement/cash flow as your practice moves from paper to electronic patient records. Additionally, AllMeds guarantees satisfaction or your money back!

• To read more about AllMeds, go to the AllMeds web site.
• Please contact Christine to schedule a demo with an AllMeds representative or to discuss your particular situation further.  Alternatively, you can use the Feedback button on the main Rexpert screen to contact Client Services with any questions or concerns. 

Cool Options for Rexpert

Did you know that you have some very cool options in Rexpert™ available to you at no or low-cost?


Several of these options are listed below. If you are interested, use the Contact Us button on the Welcome window in Rexpert™ so that we can assist you in customizing or setting up these services for your practice.

Phone Schedule- Click here for our blog entry.

Description:  Keep track of your Schedule electronically. When you’re away from your office, access a version of the Rexpert™  scheduler designed especially for smartphones, home computers, and other mobile devices.

Price:  FREE!

How do I get this feature?  Contact us to activate your login.

Patient ID Pictures

Description:  This feature allows you to install a webcam to take pictures of your patients, and then store them electronically in Account Registration.

Price:  The cost of the camera, software, and setup is approximately $600; this will vary by practice.

How do I get this feature?  Contact us to arrange this service for your practice.

Online Registration

Description:  This feature allows your patients to log into a secure website that has your logo to update their registration and insurance information. They can also view balances and upcoming appointments. 

Price:  There is a small setup fee and potentially a small charge per each patient registration. Pricing will vary according to practice.

How do I get this feature?:  Contact us to arrange this service.

Faxing  

Description:  Rexpert's™ Send a FAX capability adds real convenience and efficiency to the task of inexpensively faxing documents, integrating the document's audit trail into an account's information, and eliminating phone company charges for long-distance faxing. This feature is completely computer-based: NO NEED FOR A FAX MACHINE!


Price:  The first 5 faxes/month are free. Thereafter, only $.25 per fax (for documents of unlimited length). Discounts can be arranged for large volumes.


How do I get this feature?  It's already yours! Simply begin using this feature within Rexpert™ by selecting the Fax/E-mail button in the Account Registration screen or selecting the E-mail/Fax printer for any report.

Web-based Report Delivery - Click here for our blog entry.

Description:  The Web-based Report Delivery service gives you the ability to deliver your reports to your referring providers via e-mails with embedded links to a secure website. 

Price:  As of 7/01/2012: FREE! In the future, however, there may be a charge.

How do I get this feature?  1) Setup an e-mail template. 2) Enter your referring providers' addresses and assign passwords to each one. 3) Contact us to activate your secure website.

Appointment Confirmation via E-mail    

Description:  The Rexpert™ Confirm Appointments Via E-mail function allows you to e-mail patients requesting confirmation for upcoming appointments.

Price:  As of 7/01/2012: FREE! In the future, however, there may be a charge.
How do I get this feature?:  1) Set up an e-mail template. 2) Enter your patients' e-mail addresses. 3) Contact us to activate your secure website.

E-mailing Patients - Click here for our blog entry.

Description:  Send quick e-mail messages to your patients directly form Rexpert™. You can also attach forms such as patient registration forms, etc. 

Price:  FREE!

How do I get this feature?  Simply STOP sending your patients mail by licking envelopes! Begin obtaining the e-mail addresses of all your patients, and then use this electronic feature to correspond. Be sure that your practice has an e-mail address to use as the "from" address when attempting to correspond.

e-Sign

Description:  This feature allows your patients to sign documents such as consent forms electronically using an electronic signature pad. These documents are stored directly in Rexpert™.

Price:  The costs are purchasing the signature pad(s) and integrating it into your templates. Approximately $200-$500. 

How do I get this feature?  Contact us to arrange this service.

Interfaces

Description:  This feature allows your practice to save $$ by cutting your data entry costs. Instead of uploading data into multiple software programs (ie: EHR, RIS, etc.), this feature allows you to enter data once, then allows you to move data between programs.

Price:  The costs will vary greatly depending on the outside systems involved. Contact us to learn more.

How do I get this feature?  Contact us to arrange this service.

Improve your time-efficiency, resources, organizing, and convenience!

Simply begin by using these features, or click on the Contact Us button on the Welcome window to ask us to set up the new features for your practice!!

Delete Multiple Notes At Once

Now it's easy to delete multiple Account Notes!

You select multiple entries in much the same way that you do in any Windows™ application:

Continuous Entries:  You can use this option if there are multiple notes that are grouped together. 

First, left-click on the first entry of your selection. Now position your cursor to the last note which you want to delete, hold down the Shift key, and then left-click. All entries between (and including) the first and the last are now highlighted/selected.

To delete the entries, click on the delete button: 

Non-Continuous Entries:  You can use this option if you want to select entries that are not grouped together.

First, left-click on the first entry, now hold down the Control (Ctrl) key, and then left-click on each entry you wish to include in your list.

To delete the entries, click on the delete button: 

---

Tips:

By clicking a second time on any highlighted selection, you are able to unselect that entry.

You can also add to an existing range of entries by using a combination of the Continuous entries and Non-Continuous entries selection methods:

First, you select your range of Continuous entries, then use the Ctrl key and click on the additional individual notes you wish to delete.

Easy as that!

Screenshots for Feedback

Often, when you encounter a problem or have questions using Rexpert™, it can be difficult to figure out the best way to word your questions using the Feedback button.

Rather than writing paragraphs of details surrounding your issue, it can be very helpful to send a screenshot to Client Support. Of course, the more details you include, the easier it is to pinpoint the nature of your question or comment; a screenshot can really make a difference.

Navigate to the screen you want to use to make a screenshot. This is important: Prior to pressing the Contact Us button, locate the screen which you wish to send. Once you have your desired screen displayed, press the Alt key along with the Print Screen key, then press the Contact Us button.

While it varies from keyboard to keyboard, the Print Screen key is usually near the right side of the very top row of the keyboard, to the right of the F12 key. The Alt key is at the bottom, right next to the Space bar. Using these two keys, you will soon be able to create screenshots whenever you desire.

Using the Feedback button as normal, just set Please Respond Via to be an E-mail, and then right under your e-mail address, check the box labeled Include screenshot.

It is also important to know that you can send only one image per message. You will also not be able to preview the attachment you are sending, so be careful to select the exact screen that you want to include in your message. If you make a mistake and copy the incorrect image, you can simply select the correct image, and again press the Alt and Print Screen buttons again. Only the last image captured will be converted into the PDF file.

For demonstration purposes, imagine that a patient calls in and cancels an appointment. You know that there are patients currently in the Wait List, hoping to have a chance to reschedule for an earlier appointment. You decide to check, and click on the Wait List button in the Scheduler:

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

The Wait List screen appears. You are surprised to receive an Information window with the simple message stating, "No appointments found." Something is wrong here because you know that there are indeed patients in the Wait List. You decide to take a screenshot so you can show this to Client Support. To do this, simply press Print Screen and Alt buttons.

Rather than printing the screen, it copies it to your clipboard. Once you click the Send button, the image will be converted into a PDF file, which is encrypted with a secure password, then sent along with your message as an attachment.

Rather than having to look around in your system to see what might be going wrong, Client Support can see right away that it was possible that a single click might reveal to you the appointments you were trying to find.

Make sure to include details about the image and what your question or comment pertains to in the picture itself. At this point, the matter is out of your hands until you receive an answer from Client Support.

Meaningful Money

Success! Isn't that the name of our game?

Today we have a success story for a small surgical practice that was using a "paper-only" records system. They decided to transition to a Meaningful Use Electronic Health Records (EHR) system using Amazing Charts. Surgical Associates, MD, PC is located in Branson, Missouri, and the office manager, Gala Holiday-Wonder, shares with us her knowledge and experience.


Your successful colleague writes: We started using Amazing Charts in August 2011. Getting started was a bit of a challenge. I am not a computer person, nor did I have the time to "customize" the system, and it is a system like all other EMRs that you have to make yours. So, I made time. It is very time consuming, so prepare for that; make time, it pays off. Templates come with the system and are very generic, so you will have to customize your templates. However, you have to do that no matter what system you go with.

The technical support at Amazing Charts is priceless, I cannot say enough positive about their support. Amazing Charts is an excellent EMR system, and it has met our needs as well as the Meaningful Use criteria. We implemented the system in stages, which is why I think for us it has been successful. Once you learn how to navigate in Amazing Charts, you will more than likely be pleased with the system. I will be happy to share any of our templates with anybody that goes with this system; there is no reason to re-invent them if you don't have to. The interfaces done by Rexpert™ have been flawless. Our billing and receivables processes have not been interrupted with the changes and additions. We did not want to go with an EMR/billing program because we have been very pleased with the services provided by Practical Billing. When you are looking at EMRs, be careful of what they promise versus what they provide. All of them will promise templates, but don't buy into that. You will have to provide the time and resources to customize them.


I followed up with this successful Office Manager, asking her the following questions. Hopefully, you will appreciate her practice's success, and make use of her voluntary information to make informed decisions for your own practice.

Michael - How large is your practice, and what is your specialty?
Gala - We are a general surgery practice, employing 1 surgeon and 4 employees.

Michael - Why did you choose the EMR that you are using?
Gala - It met our needs, the cost, and it is user friendly.

Michael - Were you 'paper-only' prior to the switch?
Gala - Yes.

Michael - How much did you know about the criteria/process before you began?
Gala - Nothing.

Michael - How much incentive money did you actually receive after making the change?
Gala - $18,000.

Michael - Will you receive any additional incentives?
Gala - Eligible professionals registered with Medicare EMR incentive program can earn up to $44,000.00 over a 5 year period (beginning in 2011), so yes, we anticipate additional incentive payments; however, we will have to meet the stage 2 Meaningful Use criteria over the next year to qualify for additional payments. We met stage 1 of Meaningful Use.

Michael - How long did it take to receive those funds?
Gala - 8 months after going live."

Michael - What was the total cost for your practice to make the changeover?
Gala - $20,000.

Michael - Why did you decide to implement the Meaningful Use change?
Gala - The Medicare incentive program and the threat of reduction if we didn't use it.

Michael - Did you feel that you were too busy to make the change?
Gala - Yes.

Michael - Does the status of having Meaningful Use implemented determine contracts with any insurance companies? Which ones?
Gala - Yes, Medicare.

Michael - How much additional time does it take to meet the Meaningful Use criteria?
Gala - Once you get used to the system, which takes about 3-6 months, it requires very little time.

Michael - Did you need to hire additional staff to support the changeover?
Gala - No.

Michael - Now that you use the EHR which generates charges, how much of the data do you need to revise after it is sent back into the Rexpert™ system?
Gala - Nothing.

Michael - What would you recommend to other physicians who are wondering about making the change?
Gala - "Patience.

Web-Based Report Delivery

We now offer a new and excellent feature for your practice to attract and retain your referring providers: Web-based Report Delivery...

What is that??

Exactly what it sounds like: Make reports available on the Internet rather than using actual paper and ink. You know; use fewer trees, reduce carbon emissions, save the planet! Also, it allows your referrers to securely access reports anytime and from almost any device.

Now, when you dictate a report on a patient from one of your referring providers, your delivery of the results is virtually immediate! Your lifeblood referring providers will not have to wait for a clumsy fax to print (possibly at a remote location), then waste time and energy storing that outdated paper document in the patient's file. If the referrer works at multiple locations, the report can be accessed immediately from any of them.

So logically, using this feature makes complete sense. You finish with the patient, all your data is entered into the Rexpert™ system, then you simply e-mail the referring provider with the link to securely access the sensitive data. (This can be set up as an automated process for every referring provider who wants to receive reports in this way.) It is important to note that the referring provider will then have the ability to simply save the document as a PDF file, and will also be able to directly save that same information into many EMR/EHR's.

The Process:

It's simple. Simply complete the patient's report, then send! Your referring provider receives an e-mail like the one below and clicks on the link...

Note:  All images and logos in the following pictures are only examples. Your own personalized images and logos will be substituted.

...that link takes him or her to a secure server where a pre-assigned password is entered:

...once he or she is in, the report is immediately visible.  One click on the PDF file, and your report displays ...

... it can be saved to the refererr's system, printed, or even saved directly into his/her EMR/EHR program.

PDF Generated Report:

...another option for referrers to choose to see all reports on that particular patient. Also, they can see all reports you have generated for their patients in the last 30 days: 

_____________________________________________________________________

Sure, you might say that you could e-mail the report directly as an encrypted attachment.

Yes, your referring providers would be able to open the document to review; however, and this is important; they would have no way to save it because encrypted documents are blocked from the save function.

_____________________________________________________________________

Contact us immediately to set you up for this feature, and give your referring providers another reason to come to you for top-of-the-line service.

Amazing Charts Integration

Rexpert now works with the Amazing Charts EMR/EHR system! If your practice is interested in Meaningful Use incentives, wants to ePrescribe, or is currently transitioning from a paper patient record to an electronic patient record, we have excellent news: We have recently integrated with the Amazing Charts EMR/EHR system.

Message Boxes

Okay, how about a small break from e-mailing?

A good question was recently raised about how to select an answer from a warning box without using the mouse. There are 3 options that you can choose from to select the answer that you desire with the touch of your fingertips rather than using that clunky-old hunk of plastic!

As an example, let's say you are entering a new patient into Account Registration. You enter the new account number "testingtest" into the Account Number box, and then Rexpert™ throws a fit and pops up a warning box that reads:

"The account number was not found."

"Do you want to create a new account with the number "testingtest"?"

The two options Rexpert™ gives are: "Yes" and "No".

You now have 3 separate choices to select the answer you want.

The first option is to select the default answer. If you look closely at the buttons, you will see that they are labeled as "Yes" and "No", and that the "No" box is outlined in black-bold with an inner perforated edge. This indicates that "No" is the default answer, and if you just press "Enter" or "Return", the box will leave with "No" as the answer. 

The second option also keeps your hands on the keyboard. Notice again the answers, "Yes" and "No". This time, pay attention to the underlined letter in each word; the letters underlined indicate that you can just press "Y" for yes and "N" for no, and by doing so, you select that box as your answer.

The third option is to use the "Tab" key on your keyboard to scroll through the answer selections. Once the answer that you want is outlined in black-bold with the inner perforated edge, then simply press "Enter" or "Return" to select that box as your choice.

E-mail from Acct. Registration

So, you've learned how to send an e-mail from Rexpert™, and it turned out to be easy!  But those attachment fields at the bottom seem a little intimidating.  Let's walk through a very typical example, step by step.


A new patient, Elaine, calls and schedules an appointment for next month. You would like to send her a message welcoming her to the practice and deliver all the forms she'll need to fill out for the first visit. However, you don't want to address an envelope by hand, round up or copy three enclosures, and force her to waste her time filling in information which you have already captured when she scheduled the appointment. This is where attachments will help!

First, using the free-text message area, you should make sure Elaine knows that the e-mail will have attachments:

Second, you need to select which document(s) to send from the list of possibilities. In this case, we are sending Elaine a Patient Registration form, E-mail: guidelines for usage, and Patient History.

This is the part which can be a little confusing: you are attaching forms, but what will the patient actually receive? It's really not too bad! Here is precisely what Rexpert™ does:

• Finds the template you have selected and opens it in Microsoft Word
• Find the account for which you are writing the e-mail
• Looks at the patient-specific information the template wants to merge in, and then merges all possible information.

For example:  Elaine's account will already have her name, phone number, e-mail address, gender, and possibly her address, and Rexpert™ will merge that data into the document automatically. Since this is the first time she has been seen at your practice, it probably won't have her insurance information, emergency contact, etc. Everything which the template wants and is available will be included in the form, and blank lines/boxes will be used for everything else.

• Saves the document as a PDF file (since almost everybody can easily open and print in the PDF format).

Next, you should decide which attachments need to be encrypted. Don't get scared by the word "encryption" - in simple terms, it just means that Elaine will need a password to open the attachment.  

A good way to decide whether or not to encrypt an attachment is to imagine that the attachment has your grandmother's data merged into it. Would you be comfortable if that document were dropped in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot? If not, encrypt it! You will definitely want to encrypt patient registration forms which include a patient's name, social security number, and date of birth. However, a document outlining e-mail policies which only includes a patient name and date might be something your practice decides is not sensitive. When in doubt, encrypt.

Note: There is a way to set up a default for each possible attachment in the Encrypt Attachment field to match your practice's policies. Contact us for more detailed information about this feature. This will enable your practice to make these decisions one time rather than continually burdening busy, multi-tasking, front desk employees.

In Elaine's case, we decided to encrypt the Patient Registration and Patient History attachments:

Rexpert™ will encrypt these attachments with Elaine's personal ePassword, which you should have established with her while on the phone. As a general policy, only communicate the password via voice or in person. NEVER send the password in an e-mail which has encrypted documents attached!!

Final Note:  For a scenario like the one outlined above, it can be useful to use the red heart button so that each time you schedule a new patient who has an e-mail address, you will have a welcome message, appropriate attachments, and appropriate encryption choices already set up and ready to go.

If you're not completely comfortable with the process, spend 5 minutes practicing in the system with the account number "test". Set the E-mail (shown on the screen above) to your own personal e-mail address and the ePassword to whatever you choose. Then press the E-mail Patient button and send yourself some nicely encrypted attachments!

E-mailing in Rexpert

Don't be intimidated by the process of sending an e-mail to a Patient, Referring Provider, Referring Lawyer, or Organization! These are the 4 places within Rexpert™ where you can send an e-mail. Once you have decided to correspond via e-mail, simply click on the button the says "E-mail Patient" or "E-mail". 

E-mail to Patient in Account Registration:

Scenario: You want to contact a patient, Elaine, to let her know that her responsibility for an upcoming office visit will be $95. You have elected to e-mail her because the toggle box next to her e-mail address on the Account Registration screen is checked, showing that this is her preferred method of contact.

Once you have selected your recipient, click the E-mail Patient button. This brings up the e-mail screen.

Once you have filled in the fields, click Send E-mail. A copy of this e-mail will then be sent to the Sender's E-mail address as well.

Note: Don't worry about attachments or encryption a this time. Stay tuned for a future blog entry which will explain these in detail.

E-mail Referring Provider:

Scenario: The hospital has a scheduled board of directors meeting tomorrow at 3 pm. Dr. Maslow asks you to remind Dr. Charmoun of this meeting. You then find Dr. Charmoun in Rexpert™'s system by clicking through: Settings - People and Places - Referring Providers.

You then click the E-mail button. (Referring Lawyer and Organizations work in a very similar way).

Once you have filled in the fields, click Send E-mail. A copy of this e-mail will then be sent to the Sender's E-mail address as well.

Note: Don't worry about attachments or encryption at this time. Stay tuned for a future blog entry which will explain these in detail.