Sales: 508-836-2700

Saturday’s Mission: Touch All the Bases

26 October 2024
Blog

eClinicalWorks

Chatbot to UDS+, eCW University to Sunoh — So Much to Learn

Imagine working hard all day, walking miles, having to be at the top of your game, and just when you think it’s time to rest, guess what? There’s more to do!

The eClinicalWorks® and healow® National Conference can feel that way and reminds us of the opening game of this year’s World Series — marked by twists and turns, going to extra innings, and suddenly producing that standing-ovation moment that you realize made it a classic.

Now, no one expects Conference attendees to do what the Dodgers’ Freddy Freeman did — hit a game-winning grand slam homerun in the bottom of the 10th inning. But there is a lesson there for Day Two of our Conference: As daunting as your task may seem, with some hard work and a bit of luck you really can touch all the bases and put up a win.

From billing to healow Chatbot, learners aim for expertise

For one Dallas-area billing manager, being in Grapevine for NC24 conferred a home-field advantage, meaning less travel time and lots of energy to focus on breakout sessions. She was dazzled by the opening day of the Conference and quickly realized how useful the many billing enhancements will be for her practice once she learns them.

“I am determined to become an eClinicalWorks expert!” she declared over breakfast as she eyed her jam-packed schedule.

Meanwhile, over in Texas C, dozens of attendees were learning how easily they could incorporate healow Chatbot into their practice. How many wanted to reduce the number of phone calls to their office’s front desk? Dozens of hands shot into the air.

Kelly Dillon, Clinical Operations Manager at Flagstaff Surgical Associates, explained the success her practice has had with Chatbot. As a one-location urology, ENT, and general surgery practice with 23 providers, they needed an efficient way to answer routine inquiries more quickly.

The number of monthly Chatbot users has grown by a third since January, to more than 400 in August alone. Many calls are for appointment times, office hours, or access to lab results, and do not require speaking with anyone.

Interestingly, however, more than 700 inquiries this year have been requests to speak with a medical professional, which highlights another strength of Chatbot: Practices can designate one or more agents at the practice to be available for live chat. And among the new features, Chatbot now saves conversation summaries in the patient record, making for clearer communication.

In-depth learning: eCW University and UDS+

More than 250 people attended the “Elevate Your Learning — eCW University” session, learning how to build custom courses and establish learning objectives for any aspect of eClinicalWorks and healow solutions.

But the best part? Searching by name, role, department, or facility to identify colleagues at your practice who could benefit from additional healthcare IT education. And why not give them a bit of homework? Unlike most institutions of higher education, eCW University doesn’t have tuition and fees, and the payoff can soon be realized in more efficient workflows, happier staff, and more satisfied patients.

Employees from Federally Qualified Health Centers were busy learning the details of UDS+ reporting and the new electronic submission requirements for calendar year 2024. They were “on FHIR” for knowledge, delving into details of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources.

While it sounded very technical, the bottom line was simple: FHIR offers health centers a data element-centric way to complete reporting. It makes it easier to share document across platforms.

Keeping it simple with Real-Time Benefit Check and Sunoh

As Saturday’s sessions unfolded, there were additional hints of the elegance and simplicity behind so many aspects of the healthcare IT solutions on offer.

Rohit Shinde of healow Insights, for example, told an audience at the eCW Theater that it really shouldn’t take a practice more than about “two minutes” to instruct their staff in the use of Real-Time Benefit Check.

And a subsequent Theater session on the basics of ambient listening for Sunoh.ai emphasized how easy it is to use the product once you complete one-time default settings.

Recharging for the final day of Conference

As educational and inspiring as Saturday can be, however, it is also exhausting. Which is why the Saturday Night Celebration arrived just in time to provide attendees with a much-needed change of pace. Often, the best antidote for mental fatigue is several hours of music, dancing, food, and chatting with old friends and new — assuming you can hear them over the music.

It was the perfect way to end Day Two and prepare for Sunday’s finale — even if it did mean going into extra innings on Saturday night.