08/01/2005

Issue 3

 

Health Probe Empowers Your Practice
Health Probe News
Did You Know That:

-With Health Probe Professional you can see or print all the patients scheduled for that day in a organized and easy to read order. No more eraser marks or whiteouts. See your whole day planned out in an easy to read manner. Know who missed their appointment, and print “missed appointment” letters with just one click.

-With Health Probe Professional you can print, fax or email prescriptions securely at no charge per script. Other companies charge as much as 5 cents per script; this adds up fast. Eliminate pharmacy confusion and call backs as well as dangerous medication errors.

-The Health Probe Professional Search Module finds patients you want to recall based on multiple criteria (medications, orders, chronic problems, etc.) and creates exportable or printable lists, email addresses, and customizable letters.  

All of our great improvements to the program come from our users and their ideas. If you have a suggestion that you think might help improve the program don’t hesitate to let us know. Call
(765) 342-9947 or email   support@healthprobe.com 

Visit us at
 www.healthprobe.com

Health Probe Adds New Features
We update the program very frequently and we are constantly enhancing it and adding new features.  Please make sure that you update the program at least weekly.  It is very simple, just go to Internet > Check for Updates from the Patient Finder Screen.  This also automatically updates the manual on your desktop.  Please be sure that your maintenance fees are current in order to take full advantage of Health Probe and to empower your practice.  Here are some of our latest new features:

New in depth accounting reports with many new options for viewing the period end and numerous revenue reports.  Please refer to the manual to learn more about this new feature.

-The Health Probe 837 electronic claim is available for sending FREE claims directly to Administar Medicare in Indiana and Kentucky.  These claims may also be sent to clearing houses who are accepting it over the 1500 print image.

-The growth percentiles can now be graphed by clicking the desired percentile column and clicking the graph icon from Vitals Screen.

-There is an option for new patients with no previous encounter, when the first transaction is made, 5 H type orders can be automatically entered:  You may chose to use or not to use this feature.  To learn more about how to activate this feature, please refer to the program manual.

If you have any questions about our new features please refer to the manual, or please feel free to email us at sales@healthprobe.com or call (765) 342-9947.

Important Reminders

- All Health care providers are required by law to apply for a National Provider Identifier (NPI).  To apply online visit https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov, or call 1(800) 465-3203 to request a paper application.
Visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/ for the latest information regarding the NPI including a transcript from CMS’ recent Roundtable conference call.

- Health Probe Professional users who refer our program to other doctors who buy it, will get a discount on their maintenance subscription fee.

Health Probe Hits the Road
We have already been to many shows and exhibits, and installed many new offices all over the country this year!

Our new users so far this year hail from Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, California, Tennessee, Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Texas.  Health Probe is being used by physicians in almost every state.

We try to attend as many shows and exhibits as possible, in order to reach and educate as many health care providers as we can.  Here is where we have been so far this year:

- EMR Exhibit Chicago, IL (April)
- DOQ-IT shows, Chicago, Indiana, Colorado (June)
- Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians Annual   Meeting  Louisville, KY (May)
- Workshop for Directors of Family Medicine (AAFP) Kansas City, MO (June)
 

- In addition, Dr. Douglas A. Darbro, Health Probe CEO, was a panelist at the EMR road how in Indianapolis, IN (June)

If you wish to see us at an exhibit or are interested in talking to some of our other users please contact us at sales@healthprobe.com or call (765) 342-9947.

Overlooked Office Procedures Can Trigger a Lawsuit.  Here is How to Avoid Them:

1. Keep track of tests, follow-ups, and referrals.  Failure to supervise or monitor a patient’s case is the fifth leading cause of malpractice lawsuits.

2. Don’t let reports go unnoticed.  A doctor doesn’t intentionally ignore a patient’s results; usually the results have been filed away by a staff member before the doctor had a chance to view them.   This is where Health Probe can help resolve the issue.  Lab or test results flow into the program by either scanning or email and queue up in the patient's outstanding/received order list.

3. Maintain an updated medication list.  This will help you avoid drug and allergy interactions and help determine dosages.  Health Probe will show all the allergies in red, and can alert you if there is a drug or allergy interaction.

4. Document patient phone calls.  It is a good idea to document conversations you have over the phone with patients for making any kind of diagnosis change, prescribing medications, or making referrals.  If you document your actions then you are safe from claims to the contrary.

5. Do chart revisions the right way.  Improper alterations to a patient chart can make an honest doctor look dishonest.  Adding a sentence to an month old visit about a clinical finding, makes you vulnerable if the patient decides to sue for malpractice.  The proper way to add a comment is to add a new date and explain your finding.  Our program will not let you add comments to old transactions.  It will, however, let you add addenda with the current date, just the way it should be done.

6. Be sure your writing is legible.  Bad handwriting can kill a patient.  To achieve legibility, use our program to write prescriptions, document encounters, or print education order.

7. Check the patient's chart before you approve a refill. 

It is impossible to limit your liability risk to zero.  However, mastering the flow of information in and out of your office can reduce the risk to an acceptable level. 
To learn more about how Health Probe Professional can help you achieve this level or better, email us at sales@healthprobe.com or call (303) 449-7441.

Health Probe is a Proud Member of the AAFP Partner for Patients Program. The program helps provide affordable, high quality Electronic Medical Records to physicians.