Ambulatory Surgery Center Software: How To Pick the Right One

Are you ready to upgrade the operational efficiency at your ambulatory surgical center (ASC) but don’t know which solution to choose? The ambulatory surgery center software you choose directly impacts customer satisfaction, scheduling rates, revenue flows, in-office wait times, patient engagement, payment fulfillment, and more. Figuring out which solution you should select for your outpatient clinic isn’t easy, especially when so many options exist.

Read on to learn how you can pick the best ambulatory surgery center platform for your office. Weave’s comprehensive Medical Software combines internal surgical information systems with outward-facing patient experiences for an all-in-one solution.

Types of ASC Software

First, let’s cover the basics. Your office likely requires numerous types of software to cover various tasks. You may find software solutions that combine the following categories, or you may need options that can integrate together. 

Patient Management Software

Patient management software combines tools to perform administrative tasks and digital patient records to automate and streamline patient care. Patient management software can do everything from helping patients schedule a surgical procedure online and fill out their forms with pre-op instructions to automatically giving their patient information to your surgeons in their clinical documentation. 

Rather than manually keeping up with patient information, you can use management software to track everything for you to reduce errors and maintain the patient’s full medical history for improved care. 

A few things that patient management software can do include the following:

• Patient intake with digital forms
• Appointment scheduling
• Visit note recording, including behavioral health notes
• Referral management
• Payment processing
• Electronic health record updates
• Patient portal communication

Patient management software is typically a catch-all platform covering most office requirements. Healthcare providers can enjoy a more well-rounded view of the patient’s medical history, and patients can log into telehealth portals to view vital information regarding exam results, messages from their doctor, upcoming appointments, and more. 

At Weave, our patient management software includes all of the above features and more, like text-to-pay, review collections, and insurance verification. 

Surgery Scheduling Software

Appointment scheduling is a common feature of patient management software, though you can also purchase platforms that focus entirely on scheduling for ambulatory surgical centers. Surgery scheduling software streamlines the process to free up your front desk staff, allowing patients to make appointments on their own. Scheduling software makes it easy for patients to make appointments at the office, at home, and via text reminder links. 

Surgery scheduling software should sync with your EHRs for optimal scheduling rates. This way, if a patient requires a follow-up visit, the provider can note the frequency in their chart so the software can automatically send the individual a reminder to create the appointment accordingly. Weave’s appointment scheduling software can also integrate with digital forms so patients can complete pre-op paperwork before their outpatient surgery to reduce in-office wait times. 

The best surgery software can increase scheduling rates, improve the patient experience, streamline office workflow, and free up your staff to focus on more complex matters. 

Billing and Coding Software

Billing and coding software helps your team handle insurance claims, verifications, denials, customer payments, and more. With the right medical billing service, you can automate tasks like verifying coverage or processing payments to improve your office workflow while boosting claim acceptance and payment fulfillment rates. Medical billing software can often help your staff:

• Translate diagnoses into medical codes for your team to prevent inaccuracies
• Submit codes to insurance companies for claims
• Track patient payment responsibilities
• Send invoices to patients
• Offer numerous payment options for patients
• Track patient payment fulfillment statuses
• Provide payment analytics and insights
• Oversee revenue cycle management

Time spent on tedious billing and coding can kill efficiency in healthcare organizations that do not have the proper systems in place. Integrating your payment system with patient data can streamline the entire process. At Weave, our platform includes insurance verification and rich payment features, like text-to-pay and financing options. 

Inventory Management Software

Inventory management systems allow your facility to forecast your equipment needs to stay ahead of supply chain issues and ensure more efficient budgeting and patient safety. In ambulatory settings, you can prevent the hazards that could occur from outdated supplies or shortages of certain supplies. With an automated system, your team won’t have to spend manual hours keeping track of supplies, and you can cut down on wasted resources to maximize your budget. 

Prominent organizations in the ASC industry, like Surgical Care Affiliates, have numerous locations and must keep up with supplies, orders, and spending across dozens of accounts. Management software becomes necessary as your business expands to this level. You can use such solutions to ensure that each provider on your team has the tools they need to succeed. 

Important Features To Look For

Now that you understand the different types of ASC software, let’s look at the features you should consider when choosing the right platform for your office. Of course, your facility must consider factors like price, user-friendliness, and reviews. Beyond these base-level considerations, we recommend looking for software that offers the following key features:

Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

Electronic health records are necessary in healthcare settings. When you use outdated manual tracking records, your team may accidentally chart errors that can harm the patient, lead to insurance denials, and reduce office efficiency. Electronic health records automate patient data so healthcare providers can view the patient’s full medical history for an improved level of care. 

At the same time, EHRs allow patients to enjoy features like telehealth portals, online exam results, and more. Your team can look back on a patient’s appointment notes from a few years ago, while patients can enjoy the ease of filling out their current medications one time rather than before every appointment.  

Platforms like Nextgen Healthcare offer rich EHR systems with numerous features. We recommend choosing an EHR that can integrate with your patient management platform for full insights and efficiency. 

Scheduling and Appointment Reminders

Your surgery center can only stay afloat if you have appointments on the schedule. You need software that makes the scheduling process easy for patients so you can keep a full schedule. Easy scheduling may include the following features:

• Text-to-schedule links
• Patient portal scheduling
• Appointment reminders

Automating the scheduling process also improves your staff’s workflow so they can focus on other complex matters rather than getting patients on the calendar. 

Reminders of upcoming appointments can prevent no-shows, helping you reduce wasted resources. Based on clinical research, organizations that use automated reminders can significantly reduce no-shows. In the research trial, only 17% of patients who received automated reminders did not show up for their appointments, whereas the number of no-shows spiked to 23% for the group of patients who didn’t receive reminders. 

Billing Options and Payment Processing

Your organization treats patients and relies on direct payments and insurance reimbursement for revenue. That means you need a billing solution that can help you track payments and insurance claims. Beyond this, finding software that can make payment submissions easier for patients can improve fulfillment rates. In recent years, more people prefer to pay their bills online rather than mailing checks.

By offering more comprehensive payment options, your office may be able to generate more revenue while boosting patient satisfaction. Some of the most popular payment features you should look for in billing software include the following:

• Text-to-pay links
• Patient portal bill tracking
• Financing options
• In-office manual card entries
• Mobile tap-to-pay
• Card on file storage

At Weave, our payment platform includes the above features and more. Patients can take advantage of features like Buy Now, Pay-over-time to finance expensive bills, or text to pay for easy fulfillment. Offering such features shows your patients that you care about their experience.

Compliance Features 

All healthcare facilities must comply with various federal healthcare laws to protect patient privacy and safety. The most common healthcare compliance laws in the United States and across North America include the following:

• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• The Social Security Act
• The HITECH Act (which expands HIPAA)
• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
• The Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule

The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association provides resources on additional compliance rules that are more relevant to hospital outpatient department organizations.

When seeking software for your facility, you must consider compliance features. All platforms should adhere to the compliance laws relevant to your practice. 

For example, healthcare organizations must protect private patient data. To do so, you need HIPAA-compliant software that hackers can’t break into. Be sure to consider all compliance requirements before selecting any platforms for your office. 

Analytics

Analytics may not immediately come to mind when comparing software features for your practice — but it should. As a medical practice, your primary focus typically revolves around patient outcomes. 

That being said, you cannot forget about the business end of things. Without a steady stream of revenue, your business may not stay afloat, and you won’t be able to continue helping patients. 

Software with integrated data insights helps your business discover improvement areas so you can increase efficiency, reduce wasted resources, and maximize returns. The best platforms can show you information about scheduling rates, spending, profit, losses, revenue streams, market share, and more. You can watch how these key metrics change over time as you optimize your business model. 

You may also find platforms with in-depth patient-oriented analytics. With such tools, you can learn about the demographics of your average patients so you can better tailor your marketing efforts toward high-converting clientele. For example, you may discover that your target audience is 55-year-old construction workers. 

Analytics can also show you which experiences your patients prefer. For example, you can view how many people respond to text-to-pay links versus in-office fulfillment to learn the best payment processing system for your clinic. 

Check out Weave’s Practice Analytics here, and see how to start monitoring and improving your clinic.

How Weave Combines the Best Software Features

We’ve covered a lot of information on software for medical clinics, so let’s review. The perfect ambulatory surgery center platform should include all of the patient management features your office needs, like appointment scheduling and payment processing, plus integration abilities with your EHR system. At the same time, the software should comply with patient privacy laws and offer rich analytics for practice optimization. 

At Weave, our system provides exactly that. With Weave’s Medical Software, you can combine all of your internal systems and outward-facing experiences into a single, intuitive platform. Some of our top features include an IVR phone system, automated texting, digital forms, full payment processing, business analytics, and HIPAA compliance. 

Attracting, Engaging, and Delighting Patients

The software you choose shouldn’t just improve your internal efficiency but all interactions with patients in the outpatient setting. With Weave, you can attract more patients, engage them, and boost satisfaction rates:

• Attract: Weave features built-in marketing tools to help you reach more patients so you can expand your care clinic. You can take advantage of automated email campaigns, review management tools, and more. For example, you can send out a company press release or guide on post-op instructions to patients without manually crafting each email. 
• Engage: Weave can boost patient engagement and care by providing easy communication tools, access to exam results, and more. 
• Delight: Your practice can boost satisfaction rates by cutting in-office wait times, improving payment methods, and offering more communication options.

Combining Practice Software Solutions at a Lower Price Tag

With Weave, you can combine all of your internal software solutions into a single powerful platform. From payment processing and appointment scheduling to patient management and insurance verification, Weave covers it all. 

You can integrate Weave with your EHR platform for a fully seamless solution that automatically syncs patient data across all touchpoints. From the first time a patient fills out a digital form to when they fulfill an online payment after their appointment, all of their information will sync to one record that your office can track moving forward.

We help you grow your practice by attracting patients, communicating effectively, and delighting patients so they can become advocates for your health care center. Schedule a demo today to see Weave in action, or call us at 833-572-2139 with any questions.