One Florida Practice Uses Certified EHR to Decrease Swelling Overhead and Mitigate Vaccine Challenges
HIGH POINT, N.C., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — TriMed Technologies, a leading provider of physician based healthcare information software, released findings today that suggest the use of e-Medsys®, their ONC-ATCB certified EHR, tightens immunization management costs, helping practices retain profitability.
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The need to immunize the national patient population is an important part of public health and safety. But the cost to purchase and administer necessary vaccines is a financial liability for pediatric and family physicians nationwide. According to CDC, the total cost to vaccinate an otherwise healthy child has increased more than 600% since 1995. Although reimbursement for most vaccines is available for providers, it has not kept pace with the escalating cost of acquiring, storing, and administering immunizations.
Given that practices spend 25% of their overhead on vaccines alone and profit margins remain at 18 – 25%, it is no wonder that some groups have discontinued vaccinating their patients, choosing instead to send them elsewhere.
Reimbursement rates are so inadequate that the financial viability of offering immunizations is threatened. According to one published study in the AAP's Pediatrics (2010), more than half of all respondents reported they have barely recouped their expenses or even suffered financial loss from offering vaccines for their patients.
Robert Lamberts, MD commented in Physicians Practice (2007), "There is no bigger expense with a lower return on investment for a medical practice than immunizations. In fact, you can even lose money giving vaccines."
Pediatric Associates, a Florida based multi-office pediatric group took aim at this problem in 2010. After adopting the e-Medsys EHR and product suite, they recognized a reduction in annual labor cost of $184,800. In the 'paper world' staff members from each of the group's remote offices would manually reconcile patient encounter forms with vaccine inventory at month's end to insure proper billing and cost control. Now, the automated EHR attaches proper CPT codes. Vaccine and administration costs are linked and timely billed while inventory is automatically reconciled, and nursing staff is freed for clinical duties and patient care.
C. Rocky Slonaker, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Pediatric Associates notes, "With the rising costs of purchasing and administering immunizations, we need a set of tools to deliver immunizations profitably. e-Medsys accomplishes this goal for us."
"It's important that we help pediatricians and family practitioners solve this business problem," states Jim Cropp, CEO at TriMed Technologies. "Our partnership with physicians insists that we deliver products and services that help balance the equation of time, money, and risk. Our e-Medsys product suite, including e-Medsys EHR focuses on these issues."
About TriMed Technologies
Founded in 1996, TriMed Technologies specializes in healthcare information systems and designs, sells, implements, and supports a progressive suite of integrated practice management, medical charting, portal and mobile software. TriMed's flagship products include e-Medsys® Practice Management software and the ONC certified e-Medsys® EHR. For more information, please visit www.trimedtech.com.
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with a senior manager, please call Nathan at 336.882.9675 or email Nathan at Email
Contact: Nathan Moore
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