An integrated billing application to streamline clinician workflow.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Billing
• Clinical Documentation

Background:

• Transition to electronic provider documentation using a commercial EHR system between 2008-2010 presented challenges.
• Attending physicians experienced frustration due to the EHR system's failure to support existing electronic billing workflows.
• Poor system integration made it difficult to verify bill supporting documentation and track billable notes with corresponding charges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the challenges and benefits of workflow integration across disparate applications.
• To present an example of innovative software development within a commercial EHR framework.
• To introduce the iCharge application for streamlining clinical documentation and billing.

Main Methods:

• Development and deployment of an integrated billing application, iCharge, in 2011.
• iCharge streamlines clinician documentation and billing workflow.
• Simultaneously populates the inpatient problem list using billing diagnosis codes.

Main Results:

• Over 550 physicians use iCharge monthly, submitting approximately 23,000 professional service charges for over 4,200 patients.
• On average, 2.5 new problems are added to each patient's problem list.
• The application improved workflow integration and addressed previous system limitations.

Conclusions:

• Workflow integration across disparate applications presents challenges but offers significant benefits.
• Innovative software development within a commercial EHR framework can enhance clinical and billing processes.
• The iCharge application successfully streamlined physician documentation and billing, improving data accuracy and efficiency.