Working in healthcare means you're always on the lookout for athenahealth tips, tricks, and shortcuts. Anything to boost efficiency, right? It's like finding that secret shortcut key combo - suddenly, you're charting faster, processing claims smoother, and your day just flows better.
But sifting through forums and blog posts can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. So many promises of "game-changing" hacks, but are they actually practical in a busy medical practice? That's what we're digging into: actionable advice to streamline your workflow and maybe uncover some excellent athenahealth tips, tricks, and shortcuts along the way.
athenahealth Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts: Beyond the Basics
Let’s dive into the trenches, past the surface-level stuff you already know. This is about harnessing the true potential of athenahealth and, in turn, maybe even making your workday a little bit smoother.
Editor's Note: If you're a healthcare professional or just someone who loves doing more in less time, try the productivity tool Magical. Magical helps you eliminate repetitive typing tasks by creating keyboard shortcuts for your most used phrases and codes. You can also set up automations to transfer patient data between any two systems easily and safely.
athenahealth Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts: Basic Tips
Without further ado, here's some of the most frequently used athenahealth tips, tricks, and shortcuts:
Appointment Scheduling
Keyboard Shortcuts: Use tab and enter keys to quickly navigate through fields and confirm appointments.
Block Time Off: Easily block off unavailable time by clicking the "New Event" button, then selecting "Time Off" to reserve the slot for the provider.
Schedule Templates: Create reusable scheduling templates to streamline appointment booking and save time.
Patient Charting
Smart Text Templates: Set up custom templates for common patient encounters to quickly populate notes and reduce repetitive typing.
Voice-to-Text Integration: Use Athena’s voice dictation tool to quickly input notes during or after a patient visit, speeding up documentation.
Quick Access to Patient History: Use the patient’s "Recent Activity" tab to see the latest appointments, lab results, and prescriptions for quick reference.
Billing & Claims
Automated Coding: Athenahealth’s coding assistance tool recommends codes based on chart documentation. Double-check these suggestions to reduce claim rejections.
Batch Processing: Submit and track multiple claims at once using the batch claims feature to save time on repetitive tasks.
Claim Follow-Up Tools: Set reminders and track the status of claims easily in the claims center, and prioritize based on payer response timelines.
EHR Documentation
Hotkeys for EHR Navigation: Use hotkeys (like Alt+S to save a note) to navigate through patient records faster without clicking through multiple tabs.
Copy Forward: Reuse previous visit notes or sections of charts (like medication lists or history) with the "Copy Forward" feature to save documentation time.
Custom Dashboards: Set up personalized dashboards to keep relevant patient information and tasks front and center.
Prescription Management
E-Prescribing Shortcuts: Set up frequently prescribed medications as favorites to quickly add them to patient prescriptions with one click.
Medication History: Use the integrated medication history tool to quickly review a patient’s medication history and avoid redundant prescriptions.
Formulary Lookup: Check insurance coverage and alternatives for medications in real-time using the formulary lookup tool during prescribing.
Reporting & Analytics
Custom Reports: Create and save custom reports to track key performance indicators (KPIs), patient trends, and financial metrics tailored to your practice.
Scheduled Reports: Set up automatic scheduling for reports to generate daily, weekly, or monthly, so you always have up-to-date data without manually pulling reports.
Patient Communication Reports: Use communication metrics reports to track patient engagement through text, email, and portal messages.
Patient Communication
Automated Reminders: Set up automated appointment reminders via email or text to reduce no-shows and streamline communication.
Patient Portal Quick Access: Encourage patients to use the portal to manage appointments, view results, and pay bills, which reduces phone calls and manual entry.
Bulk Messaging: Use Athena’s bulk messaging feature to send updates or alerts to multiple patients at once, such as flu shot availability or clinic changes.
Task Management
To-Do Lists: Use the task list feature to organize daily tasks, such as lab reviews, patient follow-ups, and billing reviews.
Inbox Filters: Apply filters to your inbox to prioritize messages from patients, colleagues, or specific departments, reducing clutter and improving response time.
Task Delegation: Assign tasks to specific team members within the system for follow-up, making sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Lab Orders & Results
Favorite Labs: Set up your most commonly ordered labs as “Favorites” for faster ordering during patient visits.
Lab Result Integration: Use Athena’s lab integration to automatically receive and review patient lab results within their chart.
Result Notifications: Set up notifications to receive alerts when a patient’s lab results come in, ensuring timely follow-up.
Insurance Verification & Eligibility
Automated Eligibility Checks: Enable automated insurance eligibility checks before each appointment to reduce delays in patient visits.
Integrated Insurance Info: Use Athena’s insurance verification tool to quickly pull up a patient’s coverage details and avoid billing errors.
Insurance Dashboard: Utilize the insurance management dashboard to track pre-authorizations and ensure they are completed before appointments.
Bonus Tips for Navigating athenahealth
Here are some bonus tips for managing athenahealth:
1. Supercharging Your Templates
Templates—they’re the backbone of a good electronic health record (EHR) experience. Truly personalized templates will be a game changer, reflecting how *you* practice medicine. Don't settle for the default athenahealth templates.
Don't just document; anticipate. For example, if you commonly order a specific set of labs for specific conditions, bake those orders directly into your template. You can have pre-populated text for patient engagement or follow-up instructions—little tweaks that save massive time.
At Beebe Medical Group, for example, onboarding includes personalizing templates to suit each provider's style, proving how impactful customization can be. They even shadow "superusers"—those colleagues who've cracked the code to EHR efficiency.
2. Unlocking the Power of athenahealth's Marketplace
The athenahealth Marketplace of third-party apps exists for a reason. It’s tempting to stick with what you know, but this marketplace is a treasure trove of tools that seamlessly integrate with your existing setup.
Imagine tools like real-time patient care notifications, streamlined appointment scheduling, or even automated patient communication— all plugged right into your athenahealth system. It's about leveraging innovation to create an EHR experience tailored specifically for your practice's needs.
3. Deep Dive into Reports and Data
You know what they say: "Data is king (or queen.)." This holds true within athenahealth. Regularly pulling custom reports can uncover practice inefficiencies you didn't even realize existed.
Are certain claim denials consistently popping up? Is there a bottleneck in your pre-authorization process? These reports highlight areas ripe for optimization—helping you make data-driven decisions to streamline your practice and potentially increase revenue.
Did you know that a 2022 report showed athenahealth customers outperformed industry averages in the MIPS Quality Payment Program? It underscores how utilizing data can translate to real-world success.
4. Mastering the Art of Shortcuts
It sounds obvious, but fully utilizing athenahealth tips, tricks, and shortcuts like keyboard commands can make a tangible difference. This isn’t about mindless memorization, but strategically identifying which shortcuts can genuinely speed up your everyday tasks.
Is there a faster way to jump between patient charts? A shortcut to approve medications for refill? Committing a handful of these time-savers to memory can dramatically decrease clicks and increase your efficiency throughout the day.
This is knowledge best shared with your team, creating a collective effort toward a more streamlined workflow.
5. Optimizing with APIs: Next-Level Customization
Athenahealth’s APIs are for those wanting to take things a step further. Think of it like this: if you’re comfortable dabbling in basic coding, this can be your secret weapon to personalize athenahealth like never before.
You can create custom integrations for tasks unique to your practice, streamlining processes beyond the scope of standard features. Bear in mind that different athenahealth products sometimes require different APIs.
It’s best to review their comprehensive developer documentation or, even better, partner with an experienced developer for guidance and avoid potential pitfalls.
6. Embracing Continued Learning
Here’s a universal truth about any EHR system, athenahealth included—the learning never truly ends. With each update comes new features, improvements, and yes, sometimes even new quirks to navigate. It's worth staying current.
It’s easy to fall into the habit of clicking the same buttons day in and day out. But taking advantage of athenahealth's resources (like their support articles, webinars, and training materials) helps. Plus, staying updated makes the transition to new features far less jarring for you and your team.
You will not just be using the software, but thriving with it. Embrace continued learning and your medical billing and other administrative tasks will be easier.
Final Thoughts
Getting good with athenahealth tips, tricks, and shortcuts doesn’t mean becoming an overnight tech guru. It's more about finding the "a-ha." moments within the software that truly make your practice hum. With a bit of dedication and a willingness to go beyond the familiar, you can turn a powerful EHR system into a truly indispensable tool in your practice.
If you're part of a healthcare admin team and want to know how to manage patient data more efficiently, try Magical. Magical is used at more than 50,000 companies like United Healthcare, Optum, and Zoomcare to save 7 hours a week on their repetitive tasks.
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