Prior to Updox, Tom Ryan, MD, used to spend an hour or more every evening managing documents, reviewing results or signing off on items. Now, he can do that all easily and efficiently during his workday through the Updox collaboration platform.
“I’d estimate that, between my time and costs for paper, toner, phone lines and more, I’m saving at least $30,000 a year with Updox. And that’s just for one doctor! Imagine how much a larger practice could save,” he says.
Time and money are important to Dr. Ryan. He runs Pediatric Medicine of Cartersville, a solo pediatrics practice, located about an hour north of Atlanta. Dr. Ryan, along with three staff members, treats around 4,000 patients. When he sought a technology partner for the practice, he looked to Updox and uses the platform for electronic fax, portal, text and Direct secure messaging with his Amazing Charts electronic health record.
“I use Updox every day. It’s the one thing that always works well. Truly, it’s a real lifesaver for me. Other services can be clunky but the way that Updox helps us organize documents and personalize them makes us so efficient. Doctors don’t get computer training as part of our education so we need tools that work fast and are helpful.”
“Going paperless with electronic faxing is great. We can review results immediately, drag and drop items to patient charts, sign forms electronically, confirm appointments through text, answer questions quickly and respond to appointment requests. It frees up a lot of time.”
Document management from Updox is secure and HIPAA-compliant where all communications, including faxes, texts, portal messages, lab results, prescription requests and other messages, arrive to the business through the Updox inbox – a central location where one person can easily view and act upon them immediately. Items can be read, reviewed, signed, filed, faxed back or forwarded for action – in a completely paperless format. There’s no need to jump between different programs or log in and out of various systems. The platform frees up staff time to step away from the fax or phone and focus more on patient-facing actions.
Dr. Ryan recently added SMS texting to practice services and posts the phone number for texts on his website. “We definitely want to use text more. It’s how more and more people communicate, and I see it as a strategic way for us to connect with patients yet is manageable for our office. In the future, I see us using texting more than making phone calls. It’s a very convenient communications tool,” he says.
Time is money and, when you are saving more of both, that’s a powerful partnership. In fact, Dr. Ryan says it’s a permanent one. “If I ever switch my EMR, it would have to be one that works with Updox. I won’t change from that,” he says.
