Tell us about your role at Healthcode?

I lead the Business Development team that looks after ePractice, our practice management software (PMS) for healthcare businesses. We’ve recently grown and have more roles to fill.

The team is structured to deliver great service and the best solution for all types of customers, from contacting existing users to ensure their ePractice plan still meets their needs, to exploring the features and functionality of ePractice with new entrants to the market. 

Everyone looks after their own area but I’m always there in the background to provide guidance and support.

How does your experience of working in the private healthcare sector help you in your job?

2024 marks my 30^th year working in private healthcare and I think that my PMS experience is useful for the team.

I’ve met a lot of people in our sector over the years and kept in touch with them as they’ve progressed through their careers. Technology might have reduced the need for people to do business face-to-face but building those long-term professional relationships is still key to our consultative approach. Rather than the hard sell, we prefer to have conversations with customers about how their practice is going, try to solve problems with them and ultimately work together to move their practice forwards.

Can you give an example of how you and your team are able to make a difference for customers?

It’s surprising how many people you can help by simply making them aware of just one feature.

For example, when practices have invoice problems it often comes down to the fact that the patient’s membership number is missing or incorrect which means the invoice can’t be validated. That’s frustrating and time consuming to resolve but we’ve had a clever online shortcut for years called Membership Enquiry. Available in our ePractice Lite and Pro plans, it lets customers check patients’ details against the insurer database, in just a few clicks.  

When customers discover Membership Enquiry through one of my team, it’s usually a game-changer, enabling them to get their invoices right first time, without having to spend hours on the phone with the insurer or patient.

How does your team ensure that ePractice continues to meet the needs of customers?

We sit in between customers and the development team who are currently rewriting ePractice from the bottom up and we help channel the useful/great feedback we get.

I recently helped run the pilot for the new Appointments section, inviting customers to join and helping ensure we had a good mix of independent practitioners, medical secretaries, hospitals and clinics to reflect the different ways the PMS might be used. Once participants were onboard, I took them through a demo before switching them over to the new interface, although we purposely avoided giving too much detail because we wanted to find out how intuitive the new version was. During the pilot, we’d share feedback with the developers and also sent out a more structured questionnaire at the end, to make sure we captured everything.

The end result is a brilliant new diary feature with a bright, user-friendly interface and far more functionality than before. However, it’s just the beginning for ePractice and we’re looking forward to the next stage of our exciting journey.

What’s next for ePractice and what are you most excited to show customers?

Now we have the fundamentals in place, we’ll be rolling out the next sections step-by-step. We’re in the process of rewriting the patient management section and we’re also expanding the PMS including the clinical pathways tool and prescribing capabilities.

Customers can expect more tweaks and features for Appointments. They’ll also soon have the ability to publish their diary session to ICE, our secure online booking, enabling them to reach a much wider audience.

It’s brilliant to see each area of ePractice being released with rebranding and the latest technology to really drive the system forward. After all the hard work, it feels like we’re on the brink of something big.

What do you enjoy most about working at Healthcode?

The feeling of optimism. We’ve achieved so much over the last few years – especially with the move to the latest technology platforms – and the sky’s the limit.

It’s also great that private practice itself is booming, as you can see from the volume of claims that are going through the Clearing Service at the moment. After all, that’s what we’re about – helping the whole sector grow and prosper.

And finally, how do you switch off outside work?

I love Formula 1 so I always tune in when it’s on TV. I should support Red Bull as I was born and bred in Milton Keynes but I’m a big fan of Sir Lewis Hamilton and another British driver coming through called Lando Norris. It’s a passion I share with our MD , Peter Connor – I think we’d both love to be racing cars for a living.

Another dream that I’ve long shared with my wife is to have a house with a bit of land. That wasn’t possible where we lived before so we’ve just moved to a cottage in rural Lincolnshire. We’re planning to keep chickens and pigs in the future – the 1970’s show The Good Life is our inspiration. 

The post Meet Our Team | Kingsley Hollis appeared first on Healthcode.

Reporting

Accurate, up-to-date and relevant information is essential for good healthcare and the same goes for your practice finances. Your clinical records are there to support diagnoses and treatment decisions (as well as learning and quality improvement) but how do you keep track of your business’s vital signs?  

In the final blog of this series, I’m going to look at how you can utilise the info you’ve collected throughout the patient journey to create meaningful reports that tell you about the health of your business and help you plan for the future.

Making your data work for you

Data only has real value if you can make sense of it and put it to a practical purpose and this is much easier if everything can be found in one place. A practice management system (PMS) like ePractice Lite or Pro with integrated invoicing and payment tracking features gives you a single, consistent source of truth about your finances at each stage in the invoicing cycle. This is much better than trying to manage and reconcile different systems and processes – a time-consuming chore which increases the chance of mistakes.

A PMS should also give you the reporting tools you need to interrogate and analyse your data. This is important for several reasons:

Understanding your current financial position

Real-time data about your income and expenditure lets you monitor your cashflow position, probably the most important indicator of a healthy business. As I explained last time, insights like aged debt analysis are also really useful for credit control so you can prioritise which invoices to chase.

Financial planning

Accurate financial reports are also essential for cashflow forecasts (predicting your receipts and running costs) so you can budget for the short, medium and long-term. Businesses running on an ad hoc basis are generally more vulnerable to financial shocks.

Measure your performance

Reports can give you insights into what aspects of your practice are doing best and what need more attention which is really useful if you’re looking to grow the business or if you practice from multiple locations. For example, you could use a report to show which services or sites generate the most income, compare activity at two different sites, or set the date parameters to measure longer term trends (or contrast before and after a specific event).  

Supports strategic decision-making

You probably had an instinctive grasp of what was best for your business at the start but that gets harder when your practice is growing and you really want to focus on your patients. Rather than putting yourself under pressure to make a snap business decision (and perhaps repenting at leisure), reporting tools enable you and your team to assess the data, discuss the risks and reach an informed conclusion.

Accounting

As well as being an essential tool for your business, financial records are required for filing tax returns. ePractice reports can be used for accounting purposes although you should remember to remove patient identifiable data before sharing these with your accountant.

What reports do you need?

ePractice Pro includes the widest choice of financial reports to help you run your business. Along with the aged debt analysis, the ones I’ve found especially helpful include:

• Banking – a list of all payments and overpayment credits received for the selected date range. It’s sorted by payment type (BACS, cheque, cash etc) and then by practitioner
• Invoicing lists – a summary of invoices for a requested date range by Invoice Date, Patient or Payor. You can refine to show settled or outstanding invoices and see cost centres and service details
• Summary accounting reports – shows what consultations or treatments took place within a particular date range, the patient’s name, a summary of the invoice, details of any payments which have been received and the balance still outstanding
• Appointment Lists – a list of all appointments by status (e.g. complete, cancelled etc) within the requested date range which can be sub-divided by practitioner. Includes information on the patient, the treatment site, service items, any notes that were attached to the appointment and whether the appointment has been invoiced

Contact us for more info about the reports available in your ePractice plan and how to use them.

Alongside these reports, it’s also really important to record legitimate practice expenses (such as subscription fees for the Clearing Service, the PMS, staff costs, room hire etc). I used to do this on an Excel spreadsheet but you can also use a commercial accounting software package.

Reporting frequency

How often you run reports depends on the type of report, its purpose and the size of your business.

For example, I used to run Banking reports weekly but large clinics might need to do this daily to keep on top of things while independent practitioners might only have the resources to do this fortnightly (I wouldn’t leave it longer than this, or you risk missing something important). On the other hand, if you want to assess the performance of a particular area, a daily or weekly report would probably distort the picture so it makes sense to leave a reasonable time between reports to see the monthly or quarterly trends.

The data generated during the patient journey has the potential to become a real asset, rather than forgotten buried treasure. With the right reporting tools, I think you can uncover accurate and relevant info about your practice that can help you understand where you currently stand, your strengths and weaknesses and how to take your business to the next level.

This is the last of our series on managing the business side of the patient journey, which takes you from pricing to reporting but you can see previous blogs:

1: Pricing

2: Onboarding new patients

3: Managing the patient’s pathway

4: Invoicing

5: Credit control and collections

Discover More

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

The post The business of the patient journey | Financial reporting appeared first on Healthcode.

Your PPR profile is the direct source of practice information for the insurers and hospitals that you work with so you’ll need to keep it up to date to get the best from the service. It’ll also make your life easier when it comes to tasks like invoicing as the new location will automatically be listed, provided it’s recognised by the insurer.  

Add a new practice location

1. Login to your PPR profile
2. Select the Private Practice tab and choose location from the drop-down list
3. If it doesn’t appear, click other and complete all the relevant details (the ones with an asterisk are mandatory) and save

Discover More

Sign up for a free 1-2-1 online tutorial on updating your PPR profile with Healthcode Academy and see more articles about The PPR in Help and Support. If you need more help, get in touch with one of our friendly team.

The post Add a new private practice location to your PPR profile appeared first on Healthcode.

Whether you’ve changed your telephone number or moved to a different location, it’s important to update your details so your account information is correct.   

Update your user details

1. Login to your Healthcode Account
2. Go to My Account by clicking the person icon at the top right-hand corner of your screen
3. Select User and Login from the left-hand menu
4. Make any changes you need to the user and address sections and then click Update User in the top right of the screen. You’ll be asked to confirm your changes

Discover More

To learn more about what else you can do from your Healthcode Account see our FAQs in Help and Support. If you need more help, get in touch with one of our friendly team.

The post Add or update your details on your Healthcode Account appeared first on Healthcode.

Having duplicate records on your patient database can cause confusion when providing care as well as problems with claims management and invoicing. However, you can prevent this with a simple change to your ePractice settings. 

Make sure the patient you’re adding isn’t already in your database.

1. Click settings and then select practice settings
2. Tick the box check for duplicates when saving patients and then save
3. The system will automatically notify you if a patient’s details match another record in the system so you can check for duplicates and ensure everything is accurate

Learn More

Sign up for a free 1-2-1 online tutorial on adding patients to your database with Healthcode Academy or discover more articles on ePractice in Help and Support. If you need more help, get in touch with one of our friendly team.

The post Check for duplicate patients in ePractice appeared first on Healthcode.

Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten your login password as it’s quick and easy to get back up and running. 

Follow these steps to reset your password

1. Go to your Healthcode Account and click Reset password
2. Enter your registered email address and click Reset password
3. We’ll send you an email with a verification link
4. Contact our Customer Services team for help if you’re not using a unique email address. Please note that you can’t share an email with another user and we don’t recommend using generic business email addresses, such as info@ as this is less secure.

Discover More

To learn more about what else you can do from your Healthcode Account see our FAQs in Help and Support. If you need more help, get in touch with one of our friendly team.

The post Reset your Healthcode Account password appeared first on Healthcode.

We’ll always send you essential updates for the products and services you use, but we’d also love to share other exciting developments about our new products, events, training and more. You’re in control and it only takes a moment to choose what type of messages you want to receive from us – we promise we won’t clog up your inbox. 

Set your marketing preferences by following these simple steps:

1. Login to your Healthcode Account
2. Select My Account by clicking the person icon at the top right-hand corner of your screen
3. Click the Marketing Preferences bar at the top of the User and Login page to expand and make your choices

Discover More

To learn more about what else you can do from your Healthcode Account see our FAQs in Help and Support. If you need more help, get in touch with our friendly team.

The post Set your marketing preferences appeared first on Healthcode.

• The UK, June 2024: a Russian gang (Qilin) attacked pathology service provider Synnovis, causing serious disruption to NHS care in London and the South East, including the cancellation of thousands of appointments and elective procedures. The situation was made even worse by the publication of sensitive patient data on the dark web
• The USA, February 2024: a major ransomware attack on the medical invoicing and payment company, Change Healthcare, led to severe cashflow problems for practices and delays for patients who needed medication or essential care. It also had severe financial consequences for Change Healthcare: the company later admitted it had paid a ransom of $22 million for stolen medical and financial data, while parent, UnitedHealth, said it expected the attack to cost “between $1.35 billion and $1.6 billion this year”
• France, January 2024: in the space of five days, around 33million people – nearly half the population – were affected by cyberattacks on healthcare payment providers, Viamedis and Almerys. It’s thought to be the largest ever cybersecurity breach in France

According to the Lancet medical journal, there’s been an “alarmingly rising trend of cyberattacks targeting healthcare”. This can be explained by several factors, including the amount of sensitive personal data held and shared by organisations as well as reliance on “outdated technologies and software”.

The UK Government announced a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill in the King’s Speech but cases like these show that we all need to be proactive in combatting cybercrime. The consequences for not doing so are extremely serious in terms of patient care, as well as the reputational and financial impact.

In August, for example, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) provisionally decided to fine the Advanced Computer Software Group £6million. This is because initial findings showed “serious failings” in the company’s information security prior to a ransomware attack in 2022 that disrupted NHS services. The ICO said it expected “all organisations to take fundamental steps to secure their systems, such as regularly checking for vulnerabilities, implementing multi-factor authentication [also known as two-factor authentication or 2FA] and keeping systems up to date with the latest security patches.”

The CEO of UnitedHealth was also criticised at a Senate Finance Committee hearing after admitting that Change Healthcare systems were compromised by a server that didn’t have 2FA in place.

At Healthcode, we’ve already introduced 2FA as an option for customers, and we’re pleased that a growing number of you are already using this additional security check to access your account (a code generated on an authenticator app or sent by text).

However, cybercriminals don’t stand still and neither should we. That’s why, from September we’re leading the way by making the use of 2FA mandatory to access your Healthcode Account for any of our products and services. You can find everything you need to set up 2FA here and then be reassured that your account is protected. It’ll also help you demonstrate compliance with IT security best practice during audits and when applying for accreditation, such as the Government backed Cyber Essentials scheme.

Most of us are already using 2FA in our daily lives (it’s now required for NHSmail user accounts) and it’s an essential safeguard for private healthcare organisations too. We’re proud to have set the industry standards for IT security and resilience and mandating 2FA is another way we can all stay one step ahead.

The post Why we’re going further to protect your practice and patient data from cybercrime with 2FA appeared first on Healthcode.

Credit control and collections

The first step to getting paid is sending accurate invoices on time, which I covered last time, but of course that’s not the end of the matter. While most insurers (PMIs) and self-pay patients settle their accounts quickly, there’ll always be a few that need to be chased up and in some cases you’ll need to invoice the patient for a shortfall that hasn’t been covered by their insurance policy.

It’s therefore important to have a foolproof system for managing payments so that you can monitor your finances, see exactly what’s outstanding and then collect what you’re owed. That’s what I’m going to cover this time.

Managing payments

It’s essential to allocate payments correctly as soon as they arrive so check your practice bank account against any insurer remittance advices and expected transactions daily to keep on top of receipts. As well as knowing how much money you have coming into your practice business (your cash inflow), you can also see what invoices have been settled and what haven’t. It’s difficult to say what’s worse – chasing someone for an invoice they’ve already paid or not realising that an invoice is outstanding until it’s much too late.

Every invoice should have a unique reference number so you can keep track of it. The invoice number will usually be automatically generated by your practice management system (although if you’re still running a manual system, it’s another thing you need to consider). When you receive a remittance advice it should include the invoice number, along with other details, so you can correctly allocate the payment in your records.

It should be quite straightforward to match a single invoice against your outstanding accounts. However, things can get more complicated when a transaction covers several invoices (a bulk payment). That’s when it helps to have a practice management system like ePractice with patient account features. For example, Lite and Pro users can record bulk payment transactions and then see a list of outstanding invoices for that payor so it’s easy to split and allocate the payment. Where PMIs send electronic remittances (AXA Health, Aviva and Bupa), we can take that a step further with auto-allocation. This means the system analyses the remittance advice and generates a summary that automatically assigns the payment to the relevant invoices. Users can then confirm or make changes. You can sign-up to our free online tutorial with Healthcode Academy to find out more about payments (Module 3 or Bite-size modules 3A and 3B).

Dealing with shortfalls

Another aspect of payment allocation which can trip practices up is when the PMI hasn’t paid the invoice in full. This means the patient/policy holder is liable for the shortfall but as I’ve said before, it’s important to cover this possibility in your T&Cs so the patient knows what’ll happen.

When a shortfall occurs, you’ll need to reallocate the debt from the insurer to the relevant patient, create an invoice for the balance owed and a short letter explaining the reallocation. The sooner you send the shortfall invoice and letter the better so it makes more sense to use the Online Payments service with patientzone that I described in my invoicing blog. This enables you to send branded electronic invoices, shortfall notifications and reminders to patients with a link to pay securely online.

Once a payment has been received, ePractice will automatically update the outstanding invoice in around 30 minutes to show this. You can also set your patientzone account to send an email or text confirming the payment.

Credit control

It doesn’t matter how many patients you treat, if you don’t get paid then your practice won’t be sustainable. Bad debt is actually one of the most common reasons for businesses to run into cashflow problems and poor cashflow is one of the commonest causes of insolvency, especially for SMEs. Put simply, your practice needs an efficient credit control process to collect what you’re owed in good time and prevent losses due to unpaid invoices.

It makes sense to have someone in your practice with responsibility for credit control and collections – many businesses employ an Accounts Manager – but you could also outsource the task. Outsourcing to a trusted third-party specialist, such as a medical billing company, also makes sense if you want to preserve your patient-practice relationship or find the prospect of chasing a patient for money too awkward.

If you’re managing collections in-house, it’s essential to know the status of all invoices and follow these up as soon as the due date passes. An accounting tool called aged debt analysis is really useful to know when to start chasing as it shows how much each payor owes, segmented into aged debt bands (eg 31 – 60 days, 61 – 90 days outstanding etc). ePractice Pro subscriptions include credit control and aged debt analysis tools to help you keep on top of your practice finances. You can set aged debt bands to suit you, click to find detailed payor information and automate the generation of reminder letters in line with your preferred timescales.

Chasing payments

With PMIs, you’ll generally be made aware if there’s a query at an early stage so you can pick this up with them directly by phone (or use our Secure Messaging service). With late payors, it’s usually best to start with a polite reminder letter, reiterating how much they owe, your T&Cs and explaining how to settle their invoice. They’ll always contact you directly if they have any concerns. If you use our Online Payments, you can send these shortfall letters and payment reminders electronically.

If your first letter doesn’t get the desired response, you’ll need to up the ante. It’s always worth calling the patient if you have their number and feel comfortable about doing this. Otherwise, it’s usual to send two standard reminders and then the final reminder. Final payment reminders typically include a warning that the business will take legal action if the debt isn’t paid by a specific date. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether to take things further or write off the debt – considering factors like how strongly you feel, the amount owed, the time and the cost involved but I’d recommend getting legal advice before making a decision.

While you can maximise the chances of prompt payment by clearly stating your payment terms on invoices and making it easy to pay, it’s just as important to be pro-active about managing payment allocation so you know how much money you have coming into your practice while effective credit control ensures that you’re able to collect every pound that you earn.

Discover More

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

Next time – Financial reporting  

The post The business of the patient journey | Credit control and collections appeared first on Healthcode.