As healthcare technology evolves, there are increasingly more options on the market for you to choose from. And if you’ve been researching medical software companies and wondering which one is best for you, you may have found yourself confused about what’s right for your practice.

Regardless of whether you’re transitioning from traditional paper records and processes, or upgrading your current digital system, we’ve outlined some of the major considerations to make when deciding on your next system.

Understand the Role You Need Software to Play

At PPM Software, we have over 20 years’ experience working with small and large practices alike. What we’ve learnt is that although all organisations are unique, there are some underlying requirements all practices need from their clinical management software. The major ones being the need to improve revenue, reduce costs and increase operational efficiency without ever compromising on quality patient care.

To do this, we recommend evaluating the obstacles or challenges you’ve faced in the past, and making a list of criteria for what you need from medical software companies to truly excel. We’ve also outlined a suggested list below.

Ease of Use

If software is not intuitive and easily usable for all members of your team, then it’s redundant. Equally, if only a few members of you team are able to use the system adequately, you may inadvertently put pressure on them to take a heavier load.

Ultimately, your software should function to support all your processes rather than present just another complication for your administration staff.

Technical Support

To complement the above, it’s important that your software provider offers ongoing technical support. Some processes may be more advanced than others and require you to receive training and tutorials. At PPM Software, this is something that is included as standard.

Organisational Alignment

Practice management software can be your major platform for introducing some much needed organisational alignment into your practice. This includes coordinating financial and logistical aspects of your practice, as well as daily treatment and patient care activities.

With the right software, you should easily be able to juggle both individual tasks with more long-term planning and analysis. For example, reporting is an extremely useful tool within PPM Software that helps you to gain a more expansive view of things like medical history records, financial data and billing information.

Automation

Like all good software, automation should be baked into the very design in a way that saves your team time. Mundane, time-consuming tasks that are repeated daily should be fully automated to free up your resources for more important areas of your practice.

Automated patient reminders and billing will reduce the strain on your front desk and enable them to prioritise other things like improving the customer experience.

Scalability

Some medical software companies may be more suited to small organisations. However, if you are growing, or think this might happen in the near future, it’s worth investing in software that can grow with you.

Limit Risk

Paper-based documents can become lost or damaged easily. That’s just a simple fact of life. Whether it’s human error or natural disasters, physical records are always more prone to risk. With a digital record system, you will significantly reduce the risk of losing or damaging your important patient and financial records.

Greater Security

Patient information is incredibly sensitive, as you’ll know already. There is a fear that with certain medical software companies, information is not as safe and secure as it should be – whether this is vulnerability to software hacks or how information is stored in the cloud. This is a valid concern for medical practitioners.

We recommend getting in touch with your potential provider and asking them about their security measures and track record of securing customer information. Also, check what kind of authority distribution and access rights are available for your team members. There should be adequate security protocols to restrict sensitive data to only the most relevant parties within your practice.

At PPM Software, we’ll happily walk you through the different measures that are designed to make sure your practice’s information is completely safe.