The Software Compatibility Issues Virtual Medical Teams Navigate Daily

Practices love to boast about how they have special needs. And while it's true that every practice operates a little differently, what they fail to appreciate is how that distinction complicates everything for the virtual teams that support them.

One of the biggest considerations is software compatibility. Or lack thereof.

Virtual medical assistants don't just assist in one practice with one system. More often than not, they're helping multiple offices, each with their own electronic health records, their own scheduling software, their own telephony systems and their own way of doing just about everything. If people think this operates smoothly behind the scenes, they should think again.

The EHR Dilemma

Electronic health record systems are the backbone of modern medical practice oversight and management. And they're also a nightmare of compatibility.

There are dozens of major EHR systems (Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Nextgen, Kareo, etc.). Each one operates differently. The appearance of a patient scheduled within one EHR program looks different from another. The way in which one documents a call is utterly different in another. Even something as basic as looking up an insurance provider's information for a patient requires a different sequence of steps.

Thus, virtual medical teams must be well-versed in multiple EHR systems at once. It’s one thing to claim proficiency in one program; it's another to maintain a working knowledge of however many clients utilize at their respective practices. It's like asking someone to be bilingual and switching languages every few hours each day while at work.

Additionally, many practices set up their versions differently. So even if two practices use the same EHR system, they're likely operating under different workflows because one practice may prefer something that the other does not, even though both are using the same platform. So knowing “Athenahealth” does not mean that you know how Practice A uses Athenahealth vs. Practice B.

The Telephony Trouble

Every medical practice needs a telephony system but the variety can be astounding.

Some use multi-line systems. Some use VoIP platforms. Some have integrated their telephone capabilities with their EHR systems. Others use programs from scratch. Some even still have analog phone lines as others have sophisticated cloud-based communication centers.

Virtual teams need access to these systems from remote locations. Virtual teams use softphones, web access, call transfer and specific VoIP programs to operate within these phone systems. Each program is different and each practice has unique ways to connect with their systems and how to operate them once they're in.

It's one thing to operate the telephone calls. It’s another to transfer calls appropriately, access voicemails left, and manage hold queues - doing so on behalf of many practices with varied protocols means that virtual medical teams have to rely upon their memory not to confuse phone systems since they're all policed the same way.

The Scheduling Situation

How practices schedule patients seems simple enough. But it's rarely streamlined for uniformity across every practice.

Some practices use integrated scheduling within their EHR systems; some use standalone software that collaborates (or doesn't) with EHR platforms; some still use online booking software while others have sub-par calendar programs or even paper appointment books with antiquated resources.

Similar to other work-from-home programs, an outsourced provider like My Mountain Mover virtual team solutions needs staff well-versed in navigating these different software systems as best as they can - checking availability, booking appointments, maintaining waitlists and cancellations using whatever system the practice deems best - often requiring a virtual staff member to check into multiple systems over the course of one shift.

Each independent scheduling program has its own logic for how appointments are structured, how long slots should be, which providers operate when and how to defer for other types of appointments altogether. Thus, virtual staff not only need to know scheduling but also want to impress upon each practice for how they want scheduling done.

The Communication Variance

Medical practices communicate with each other via a variety of methods - differently, nonetheless.

Some rely on a secure messaging platform that protects such messages as other practices use basic email addressing for healthcare considerations which rule out standard risks for confidentiality. Some practices have team-development types of programs like Slack or Microsoft Teams while others avoid such interactivity entirely and resolve issues through text message or phone call.

Virtual teams must monitor whatever communication channel each practice uses. This means that throughout the day virtual teams check back on multiple platforms, responding through different means and ensuring that nothing is lost in translation when urgent matters arise across multiple platforms from different practices.

On top of that, various secure programs mean that healthcare communication has to be HIPAA-compliant which means that not every practice utilizes the same secure communication mechanism; thus, virtual teams must interface with multiple HIPAA compliant platforms per day.

Integration Gaps and Workarounds

Ideally, everything would work seamlessly between integrations; in reality, that's rarely the case.

The EHR system may not integrate well with the billing software; telephony may not combine efforts well with scheduling. Thus, patient information needs to be entered more than once because systems don't sync automatically.

Thus, virtual teams spend a lot of time working on integration gaps - not functional ones - wherever they need to fill in manually by entering information across systems when it would ideally be simpler through integration skills.

This adds time-consuming work but also spots where information could get lost in translation or entered incorrectly due to human error where there otherwise would not be had there been integration efficiencies.

The Training Issue

Each time a virtual team takes on another practice there comes a learning curve for that specific software implementation.

Even if a team already has familiarity with the EHR that the practice uses, they need to know how this practice configured it compared to others; what templates exist? How do they want calls documented? What scheduling preferences exist? How can prescription refills be achieved?

This happens while the team is simultaneously supporting others who possess unique implementations in their fields at the same time and they try to hold onto knowledge gained from multiple platforms while learning new ones for their new clients.

Good virtual medical support solutions implement training assets and documentation on how best to navigate these as separate systems but there's no getting around the necessity of keeping different software programs active in various shifts throughout the day without getting confused.

The Version Updates

Software is not static. Upgrades emerge regularly, new features are added, transformations shift.

When a practice's EHR system has a major update that virtual team must service that practice needs to adjust accordingly; when multiple practices use the same EHR system but updates come at different times - the team is at risk for working simultaneously with those who have versions A and B before Version C comes out.

Thus ongoing training necessitates currency before teams can learn new systems along the way.

What Makes It Work Anyway

Despite all these incompatibilities a virtual medical team can help successfully render assistance. The key components include:

Initial strong training on how best to implement these specific systems together, good documentation for differences along the way and regular communication from virtual team to practice staff.

Furthermore secure access to small microareas go a long way without issue as do virtual team members who respect competency and feel confident working across multiple systems.

The incompatibility software issues aren't going away. If anything they're becoming worse as practices become more granular with their software implementation; however, those virtual teams which successfully balance assist render a support team unlike any in-house staff could accomplish since they'd never known anything outside of one practice's methods altogether.

The demand for multiple facets might feel unattainable but for those experienced virtual medical teams who've already solved the puzzles that would trip a newcomer learning from scratch - it's invaluable.

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