No dermatology practice intentionally creates a disconnected technology stack. New tools are added over time to address individual problems--patient frustration around making appointments, hand-written invoices getting lost in the shuffle, an EHR system that doesn’t natively supply dermatology-specific templates and codes.
The result? Hidden workflow friction that eats up vital staff and provider time--and patience.
In this blog, we’ll explore the 5 warning signs that disconnected systems are lurking in your back office and how you can evaluate the pain points these gaps are causing.
Just like there’s no set way for all dermatology practices to operate successfully, there’s also not one iron-clad version of a disconnected system. Most practices are operating with their own configuration of platforms--each with its own purpose, pros, and cons.
However, disjointed workflows can offer valuable insights into which systems are “playing well” together, and which aren’t.
This can look like:
If any of these issues sound familiar, you’re likely dealing with a disconnected tech stack in your practice’s back office.
The following 4 warning signs are indicators that something isn’t clicking between your current software systems.
Most modern dermatology software is built with the intention to help staff and providers do their jobs more efficiently. Unfortunately, the intent and reality are often at cross purposes.
Healthcare staff consistently rank manual input and task management as the number one or two leading causes of burnout. This can look like:
More than just a personal annoyance, inefficient reporting and billing can be hurting your practice financially.
In fact, dermatology practices lose between $420,000 to $500,000 annually due to high claim denial rates, un-resubmitted claims, and undercoding.
This severe financial impact comes from:
Patients may not be able to see any visible signs of back-office inefficiency--but they often feel it.
With providers tied up with charting and staff members scrambling to maintain important back office operations, it’s all too easy for the patient experience to decline in quality due to a disconnected set of software.
This can look like:
When a dermatology practice lacks a Single Source of Truth (SSoT), disconnected EHRs, disjointed billing software, and physical charts can wreak havoc on your practice’s operational performance. Process bottlenecks, claim denials, and compliance risks multiply--often overnight.
This often crops up in the form of:
We’ve touched on the warning signs that your disconnected systems are causing more harm than good for your dermatology practice. Now, let’s take a look at the true cost of these inefficiencies.
Each system is operating in its own isolated silo. As a result, your staff has to act as the “connective tissue” between them instead.
Their days are full of switching screens, re-entering data, and chasing down one vendor for support that then directs them to another fo the “true” solution. This time and effort drain reduces overall productivity, adds more manual tasks to staff members’ day-to-day, and increases the risk of falling behind on compliance regulations.
Pairing with operational drag is staff burnout and frustration. While a disconnected tech stack is powering your back office, your staff spends a large portion of their days typing, clicking, and navigating templates instead of actually engaging with patients.
Burnout, in these cases, comes from the workflow, not the workload. Tangled systems create constant cognitive overload and drive higher employee turnover rates.
Hidden in the gaps between systems is more than just operational inefficiencies and staff burnout. Money can also be leaking out of your practice in surprising places.
Denied claims, slow collections, and redundant subscriptions can get lost under the alarm bells of a set of systems that weren’t meant to work well together. Add on the annual price creep of multiple vendor contracts, and your practice can face serious financial consequences on top of its operational ones.
In the world of modern healthcare, patient experience is paramount. Not only for the happiness and health of your patients, but also for your practice’s reputation.
If patients are consantly experiencing long wait times, tedious check in procedures, a frustrating-to-use patient portal, or have to re-enter their billing information every time they have an appointment, they’re unlikely to continue to trust your practice with their care.
Now that we’ve drawn a detailed--and slightly harrowing--picture of what disconnected software can be doing to your dermatology practice, we’re here to provide some relief.
When evaluating your back-office performance and risk of operating with disconnected systems, there are 7 questions you and your staff should be asking yourselves:
With the answers to those in hand, you’ll have a better idea of how disconnected your systems and processes actually are--and be better prepared to find a solution that works best for your practice.
Your staff shouldn’t be the integration layer between systems. Relying on a jumbled tech stack results in operational inefficiencies, staff burnout, financial leakage, and an unsatisfying patient experience.
An all-in-one dermatology software can help reduce the friction that a disconnected tech stack causes. One connected platform keeps all of your practice and patients’ information in a secure, easy-to-access hub. Staff members can get back to their clinical operations and patient support instead of spending hours manually moving data between systems.
Ezderm was designed to be 100% dedicated to dermatology. We pride ourselves and our platform on being a technology that supports, not disrupts, the practice of medicine, creating a seamless experience for providers and patients.
Want to learn more about how our platform can help your practice kick disconnected systems to the curb? Check out our guide, 4 Signs Your Practice Has a Frankenstack, for more information!