Guest guest Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 $3/mo/pt is pretty pricey for limited functionality. If you have 1,000 patients, that translates to $36,000/year. Compare that to e-MDs, which is about $8500 for the initial license and $3000/year for upgrades and support, including the Patient Portal and clearinghouse interface for billing. We pay an extra $289/mo for 3 users so that we don't have to maintain a server. So over the course of 5 years, HH would cost $185,000. E-MDs would be about $41,000. With full functionality, including billing. Even with a 500 patient panel, you still save about $10,000/yr if you are thinking of charging the patients anyways. No financial interest in e-MDs, just very happy customers. Pratt With a new IMP in mind, I demo'ed HelloHealth yesterday. Here's what I learned. A very unique business model. It's a web portal designed for " patient management, " instead of practice management. Patients pay for it. $3/mos to sign up. As a patient, if you use it (and if your physician uses it), it's wonderful. You log in and can view/use a secure messaging platform. You can request an appointment, specifying the type of appointment, e.g., office visit, or virtual video visit, or annual physical, and then you see a calendar of available slots. You decide. Cannot get more open access than that! You can also review and amend your health information, vitals trending, family history, medicines, allergies, procedural history. Lastly you can see your " My Library " which is where you can read copies of past visit notes, lab results, consult notes, etc. You can also add information here. Everything the patient can see is in the control of the physician. You decide what part of the visit notes are visible, what kinds of appts are available, when they're available, and, if someone does add something to their record, you are prompted to approve it. The physician logs in to the same site, sees a lot of the same information, but also has access to the whole Schedule, TO DO lists, and the Visits section, or the note generator part of the EMR. As an EMR goes, this section is fairly boilerplate. Not that customizable. Easy templating. I would say, " functional. " I think I would have trouble using this section in my current practice--wouldn't be quick enough--but might be fine in a micro practice. Once you are done with the note, you can tab over to a billing section, and enter, for example, a visit charge, and charge for any additional supplies. You have on that screen the option of choosing CARD or CASH. If you choose card, their credit card on record simply charges the visit. But they have the option of paying on the spot instead. Finally, the next tab opens and generates a Superbill which can, with a click, be sent to their " My Library " as a pdf, and which they can use to TRY to get their insurance to reimburse (MWHA HA HA, we all know what that means!). It does not any further billing functions. If you're using this in a traditional practice, you would have to print the day's Superbills and simply send them to your biller. So, overall, the strengths are an elegantly simply interface, from the patient's perspective and the physician's. Also just the new way of running an office. The weakness is its use as a Note Generator and the lack of insurance billing functionality. And, possibly, its newness and questions about their longetivity. I don't know the whole story, but I guess HelloHealth started as a project of (or included) Jay Parkinson, MD, the pediatrician that got a lot of press a few years ago for his innovative Brooklyn practice. But there was trouble and there was a big split and he is no longer part of the project. It's now run by a Canadian company called Myca Health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 The Patient pays the $3. > > > > With a new IMP in mind, I demo'ed HelloHealth yesterday. Here's what I > learned. > > A very unique business model. It's a web portal designed for " patient > management, " instead of practice management. Patients pay for it. $3/mos to > sign up. As a patient, if you use it (and if your physician uses it), it's > wonderful. You log in and can view/use a secure messaging platform. You can > request an appointment, specifying the type of appointment, e.g., office > visit, or virtual video visit, or annual physical, and then you see a > calendar of available slots. You decide. Cannot get more open access than > that! You can also review and amend your health information, vitals > trending, family history, medicines, allergies, procedural history. Lastly > you can see your " My Library " which is where you can read copies of past > visit notes, lab results, consult notes, etc. You can also add information > here. > > Everything the patient can see is in the control of the physician. You > decide what part of the visit notes are visible, what kinds of appts are > available, when they're available, and, if someone does add something to > their record, you are prompted to approve it. > > The physician logs in to the same site, sees a lot of the same information, > but also has access to the whole Schedule, TO DO lists, and the Visits > section, or the note generator part of the EMR. As an EMR goes, this > section is fairly boilerplate. Not that customizable. Easy templating. I > would say, " functional. " I think I would have trouble using this section in > my current practice--wouldn't be quick enough--but might be fine in a micro > practice. Once you are done with the note, you can tab over to a billing > section, and enter, for example, a visit charge, and charge for any > additional supplies. You have on that screen the option of choosing CARD or > CASH. If you choose card, their credit card on record simply charges the > visit. But they have the option of paying on the spot instead. Finally, the > next tab opens and generates a Superbill which can, with a click, be sent > to their " My Library " as a pdf, and which they can use to TRY to get their > insurance to reimburse (MWHA HA HA, we all know what that means!). > > It does not any further billing functions. If you're using this in a > traditional practice, you would have to print the day's Superbills and > simply send them to your biller. > > So, overall, the strengths are an elegantly simply interface, from the > patient's perspective and the physician's. Also just the new way of running > an office. The weakness is its use as a Note Generator and the lack of > insurance billing functionality. And, possibly, its newness and questions > about their longetivity. > > I don't know the whole story, but I guess HelloHealth started as a project > of (or included) Jay Parkinson, MD, the pediatrician that got a lot of > press a few years ago for his innovative Brooklyn practice. But there was > trouble and there was a big split and he is no longer part of the project. > It's now run by a Canadian company called Myca Health. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 You are right. The cost will add up. The $3, in my case, would be included in the membership fee. You see up the program with HelloHealth, and the fee can be whatever you want it to be, but they get their $3/mos. So if the membership is $45/mos, you're only getting the $42. They also take a cut from the video visits, but I am not sure what that is. I guess the selling point is that there is no startup fee. Minimal hardware needs. No upgrade or support fees. It will add up though, you are right. I am thinking of a panel more like 400-500 though. Need to look into other options. Like the Avado someone mentioned the other day. Totally free. G > > > > > > > > With a new IMP in mind, I demo'ed HelloHealth yesterday. Here's what I > > learned. > > > > A very unique business model. It's a web portal designed for " patient > > management, " instead of practice management. Patients pay for it. $3/mos > to > > sign up. As a patient, if you use it (and if your physician uses it), it's > > wonderful. You log in and can view/use a secure messaging platform. You > can > > request an appointment, specifying the type of appointment, e.g., office > > visit, or virtual video visit, or annual physical, and then you see a > > calendar of available slots. You decide. Cannot get more open access than > > that! You can also review and amend your health information, vitals > > trending, family history, medicines, allergies, procedural history. Lastly > > you can see your " My Library " which is where you can read copies of past > > visit notes, lab results, consult notes, etc. You can also add information > > here. > > > > Everything the patient can see is in the control of the physician. You > > decide what part of the visit notes are visible, what kinds of appts are > > available, when they're available, and, if someone does add something to > > their record, you are prompted to approve it. > > > > The physician logs in to the same site, sees a lot of the same > information, > > but also has access to the whole Schedule, TO DO lists, and the Visits > > section, or the note generator part of the EMR. As an EMR goes, this > > section is fairly boilerplate. Not that customizable. Easy templating. I > > would say, " functional. " I think I would have trouble using this section > in > > my current practice--wouldn't be quick enough--but might be fine in a > micro > > practice. Once you are done with the note, you can tab over to a billing > > section, and enter, for example, a visit charge, and charge for any > > additional supplies. You have on that screen the option of choosing CARD > or > > CASH. If you choose card, their credit card on record simply charges the > > visit. But they have the option of paying on the spot instead. Finally, > the > > next tab opens and generates a Superbill which can, with a click, be sent > > to their " My Library " as a pdf, and which they can use to TRY to get their > > insurance to reimburse (MWHA HA HA, we all know what that means!). > > > > It does not any further billing functions. If you're using this in a > > traditional practice, you would have to print the day's Superbills and > > simply send them to your biller. > > > > So, overall, the strengths are an elegantly simply interface, from the > > patient's perspective and the physician's. Also just the new way of > running > > an office. The weakness is its use as a Note Generator and the lack of > > insurance billing functionality. And, possibly, its newness and questions > > about their longetivity. > > > > I don't know the whole story, but I guess HelloHealth started as a project > > of (or included) Jay Parkinson, MD, the pediatrician that got a lot of > > press a few years ago for his innovative Brooklyn practice. But there was > > trouble and there was a big split and he is no longer part of the project. > > It's now run by a Canadian company called Myca Health. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 That's the big question. I look forward to another demo and maybe the test login so I can play with it. Big questions I have after quick demo is... How clunky is the ICD-9 lookup box? All of the metrics depended on coded entry so, although it would just be easier to type in " NIDDM " you really need to get to " 250.00 Diabetes... " with a simple, easy-language search. How would a user interface to a billing solution? How usable is the EMR-notes section? In real-time, with a typical multiple-complaint FP patient? And I need to demo the messaging and the video conferencing tools, both from a patient and a physician point-of-view. So, if anyone else is interested and sets up a demo, note these questions, and I'll write more about it if I do another demo. Next up for me, I look forward to talking to the Avado people... Greg > > From my perspective, yes, it's expensive, but if the service is a noticeable enough improvement over its competitors (I don't know that it is),.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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