Orthotics and Prosthetics Website vs Practice Management and EHR Software

Overview

An O&P clinic needs public discovery and clinical operations.

Those should connect without becoming the same database.

What the public website should own

Current OneStudio features fit the public layer:

• website pages;
• locations;
• practitioner profiles;
• public appointment request or suitable booking;
• ordinary contact relationship;
• media;
• public analytics.

What practice/EHR systems should own

Specialist healthcare systems should own the clinical layer:

• patient chart;
• diagnoses;
• medical history;
• prescriptions;
• referrals;
• clinical notes;
• insurance;
• authorization;
• clinical scheduling;
• device records;
• billing.

Keep the appointment request separate from the chart

Public request:

New patient, prosthetics, prefers the west location, afternoons.

Clinical chart later contains:

Keep both.

The first is scheduling context.

The second is healthcare data.

• referral;
• medical history;
• prescription;
• evaluation;
• measurements;
• device plan.

Keep patient identity specialist

A person may submit more than one public form.

Do not create duplicate patient charts from every marketing enquiry.

The practice system should own patient matching and identity.

Keep prescriptions specialist

Provider documents can contain clinical information.

Use the approved secure practice workflow.

The public website can explain what a referral may need without storing the official prescription.

Keep insurance and authorization specialist

Insurance workflow may involve:

That belongs in practice-management/billing systems.

Do not promise coverage from a generic web form.

• policy/member data;
• coverage;
• authorization;
• documentation;
• payer rules.

Keep clinical scheduling specialist

Public appointment requests can be useful.

But clinical appointment state should remain authoritative in the practice system after acceptance.

If a public calendar is used, use a deliberate integration or confirmation workflow.

Keep device and fabrication records specialist

O&P clinical work can involve:

Keep those records in the specialist clinical/fabrication workflow.

• evaluation;
• measurement/casting;
• design;
• component/device selection;
• fitting;
• delivery;
• adjustment;
• follow-up.

Keep clinical billing specialist

Medical billing can involve:

OneStudio should not be described as medical billing software.

• codes;
• payer;
• authorization;
• claim;
• patient responsibility.

Use one explicit handoff

Choose:

Appointment request accepted into specialist practice workflow

Before handoff:

After handoff:

• public website;
• basic request;
• ordinary contact;
• acquisition source.
• patient chart;
• clinical schedule;
• referral;
• prescription;
• insurance;
• clinical/device records;
• billing.

Source-of-truth matrix

A 24-point buyer test

1. Website and clinical system have explicit roles.
2. Public request and patient chart are separate.
3. Handoff has one explicit trigger.
4. Patient matching has one owner.
5. Clinical appointment has one owner.
6. Referral has one owner.
7. Prescription has one owner.
8. Medical history has one owner.
9. Diagnosis has one owner.
10. Insurance data has one owner.
11. Authorization has one owner.
12. Evaluation has one owner.
13. Measurement/casting has one owner.
14. Device order has one owner.
15. Fabrication record has one owner.
16. Fitting/delivery has one owner.
17. Follow-up has one owner.
18. Clinical bill has one owner.
19. Public CRM excludes medical history.
20. Public CRM excludes prescription documents.
21. Public analytics exclude clinical activity.
22. Public booking never overrides practice-system status.
23. Website can survive EHR/practice-software changes.
24. Staff can explain the boundary in one sentence.

Give the website the patient relationship and the practice system the clinical truth

The public site should make the clinic easy to understand and contact.

The specialist system should make care secure and traceable.

Explore OneStudio features, compare plans, or review the turnkey website service.

Questions businesses ask