Our 2018 Christmas Message for Healthcare Providers Everywhere

‘Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la…  Be honest. You sang those la la la notes, right?  That’s alright.  We couldn’t type them without singing them too. Are you part of the majority that is whizzing around looking to see where 2018 went?  We sure are.  It’s hard to believe the holidays are upon us and we’re in the final month before 2019 swiftly makes its entrance.  Before you know it, we’ll be shouting Happy New Year and trudging back into the office, trying to focus on getting back in the grind. Before January 1st makes it here, we wanted to look back at some of the more noticeable healthcare moments in 2018 and share what we’re most excited about for the coming year.

2018 – The Year of the Patient

2018 was the year of the patient.  We focused on developing new ways to get patients engaged in their own care and spent a lot of time on increasing our software capabilities to help them accomplish this.  MyMedicalLocker was given expanded functionality so that patients could not only request appointments and send secure communications, but they could also make payments on their account and request telehealth appointments, if available.  They can now keep track of their vitals and request prescription refills when needed.  Your patients have access to a full platform where they can manage their medications, overall health, and their family’s health.

In 2018, the HealthWatch division of iSalus more than tripled in size!  Care coordination services are extremely important in reducing cost while improving outcomes. What began as a team of 3 is now a team of almost 30 and continuing to grow.  We’re exceptionally thankful to have the opportunity to impact the lives of patients in such a positive way.

Though we focused a lot on the patient this past year, we didn’t forget our users.  We reorganized our support team and created the new Customer Success Team.  We were able to provide hands-on help for many of you this past year and hope to continue doing so as we enter 2019.  Being present and truly being a partner to the practices that use our software and/or services is vital to the success of our relationship and we don’t take it lightly.  We’re working hard to make sure we strive to provide the absolute best customer service and support that we possibly can.

2019 – Personalizing Healthcare

The patient experience continues to be top of mind as we move into 2019.  This year we’re also making life easier on your front office with our Intelligent Intake functionality.  In the coming months, your patients will be able to complete online intake forms that merge into their chart with just a couple of clicks of the mouse by the front office staff.  This will eliminate all need for data entry and reduce errors in patient health information.  The beauty is that the intake forms can be completely customized for whatever information your office needs to collect.  If your patients are not able to complete their forms prior to the visit, that’s okay.  Your office will also be able to have tablets in-house for patients to complete forms with.  Once again, this will increase the efficiency of your staff and reduce long wait times during your patient’s first visit.  To learn more, visit: https://isalushealthcare.com/patient-portal

As the industry strives towards better engagement, compliance and personalized healthcare, telehealth will continue to spread and become a more predominant method of care delivery across the U.S.  Parody laws will become more standardized and CMS will broaden the scope of reimbursement as will private payers.  We will continue to support this service with AnywhereCare, our integrated telehealth module that allows providers to offer a telehealth visit with the simple click of a mouse.  Research has already proven that patients are more likely to go to the doctor for illness, more likely to attend follow up visits and more compliant overall when their providers offer telehealth as an option.  We’re also going to help you spread the word to your patients about telehealth by offering downloadable information sheets to print and hand out from right inside the system.  To learn more, visit: https://isalushealthcare.com/anywherecare

Reducing chronic disease continues to be a crucial part of improving health outcomes.  We will continue to grow our HealthWatch division so that care coordination can be offered to each and every qualified Medicare Beneficiary.  As private payers begin to move into this space, we’ll make you aware of those changes and let you know when your non-Medicare patients can also benefit from this service.  Why is this important?  Because more than 90{ed3bd030c7866d13759bf690da8a42da29309e7154bf0066ae38b1c082e5c39d} of prescriptions filled are for a chronic disease.  More than 80{ed3bd030c7866d13759bf690da8a42da29309e7154bf0066ae38b1c082e5c39d} of hospital admissions are for chronic disease.  To reduce statistics like this, care coordination is a critical part of the answer.  Our HealthWatch division will help you improve the lives of your patients in addition to adding an additional revenue stream for your practice.  To learn more, visit:  https://www.healthwatchccm.com/our-services/chronic-care-providers/

Finally, we also know how much government regulations are on the minds of each of our users.  We will continue to stay abreast of those changes and commit to providing the support you need to be successful with programs like MIPS and APMs.  Reporting is key and our partnership with Mingle Analytics will help you avoid penalties and position your practice for bonus incentives.  We also have partners who can help with the Security Risk Assessment and provide other consulting services.  You can learn more here:  https://isalushealthcare.com/products/additional-services/mips-reporting

Conclusion – Happy Holidays!

In conclusion, we’re moving into 2019 with many positive changes and cannot wait to see where the year takes our company as a whole.  We look forward to seeing the success of each practice that we work with and hope that you will find our partnership to be truly beneficial to you.  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or any other special day, we hope your holidays are blessed and your New Year proves to be greatly successful.