On Our Way to the NextGen Users Group Meeting!
Posted by Josh PadnickNovember 7th, 2009 · Posted in Your Practice is Also a Business, Conferences, The Business of Healthcare
We’ve been busily preparing for our exhibit at the NextGen Users Group Meeting and are excited to head to Washington DC!
It’s funny how healthcare has just lagged behind in doing things online. In many ways, I can understand it — earlier today I spoke with a pain management doctor about whether he wanted to allow patients to request appointments online.
I of course think anything I can do online is great but understand the bar is a lot higher for most people who don’t work with tech every day. But the doctor explained how when a new patient calls up his practice, because “pain” is such a general concept they have to ask quite a bit of questions. They’re also weary of the patient who’s jut seeking another renewal of Vicodin as part of their drug addiction. So, it just didn’t make sense to do the online appointments in that case.
But he did want his patients to fill out their paperwork online before their first visit, and he wanted to make it easier for them to pay their bill online. He also really liked the idea of the patients educating themselves about their condition, and of using tools in his office to illustrate — for example — what a Facet Joint Injection actually involved.
The takeaway is pretty simple: Healthcare wants to go online, but it really has to make sense for the practice. This conference should be interesting because we’re going to meet so many different kinds of practices across so many differen specialties, and it will be great to hear about what does make sense at this point in their practices.
We’ve started using a concept known as the “online receptionist” here, and my guess is that will resonate well with people. Anyway, we’re off to Washington! Looking forward to it.




We recently launched a website for a Phoenix-based podiatry group, the