Healthcare

WELL WELL WELL

Freeze to Heal The health and wellness industry is forever evolving — new concepts that promote movement and innovative recovery therapies are popping up everywhere, including right here in the Valley. One that’s currently trending and making a huge impact within the industry is cryotherapy, and last month Cryoshift made Arizona its home by opening its first location in Gilbert at the Crossroads Shopping Center. Cryoshift offers a range of services that support the current trends of extreme temperatures such as Cryotherapy (takes only three minutes), Normatec Compression Therapy, infrared treatments and Cryo Slim Tone Sculpt.

I was previously the owner of two local Orangetheory Fitness studios, so I’ve enjoyed immersing myself in the health and wellness industry. As a Phoenician, I believe that, because of the Valley’s weather, people here are naturally more active compared to other areas. Like many people in the Valley, I have a passion for movement and exercise, but what most people don’t realize is that the recovery process is just as important as the physical exercise.

I started to understand the body’s need for proper recovery after experiencing a few long-term injuries. Introduced to the cryotherapy concept and trying the services, I immediately fell in love with the technique. Cryotherapy is a whole-body alternative wellness treatment that uses extreme temperatures for positive results. The treatment begins when the Impact Cryotherapy machine fills with nitrogen vapor and a dry chill drops the ambient temperature to a range of negative 90 to negative 120 degrees Celsius (negative 130 to negative 184 degrees Fahrenheit). There are a variety of benefits that people, from athletes and fitness enthusiasts to those suffering from chronic pain, seek out of this treatment, including pain relief, muscle recovery, weight loss, mental clarity and more.

After participating in the treatment and experiencing the benefits, I’m now a firm believer in the restorative and natural healing benefits of this therapy. —Kris Price, owner and franchisee of Cryoshift (gilbert.cryoshift.com) and a veteran in the health and wellness industry

Clinics Are Still Slow to Adopt AI – Here’s Why They Shouldn’t Be

T here’s a popular saying in that no one ever got fired from choosing IBM, and the same applies to legacy Electronic Health Record software. Although the same EHR systems have dominated the market for decades, these tools are a primary reason why practices have been slow to adapt to changes in technology. Some of these solutions rely on software back ends that haven’t been updated since the ’90s, and they’re hindering patient care and slowing down the revenue cycle.

ADDRESSING RISK AVERSION

Clinics choose to keep using outdated systems largely because of risk-aversion, but these legacy systems can pose more significant risks than most clinicians may realize. As it relates to patient health, the following example illustrates this point well. The Hospitalist reported a patient was given 38 times his recommended dose of medication in 2013, simply because that’s what the EHR told his doctors to do. Faulty EHR information isn’t unheard of with legacy systems. Poor user interfaces, coupled with little to no compatibility with other healthcare software systems, are typically the reasons for inaccurate EHR data. Incorrect data is also a primary contributor to poor Revenue Cycle Management (RCM). In addition, many of the administrative tasks that have burdened healthcare professionals for years are due to antiquated EHR workflows and designs that haven’t been updated to take advantage of newer technologies.

When it comes to RCM, clinics risk major slowdowns in the payment process by failing to adopt a modern RCM tool. By having inefficient technology, they experience a higher volume of claim denials, which inhibits the revenue cycle and directly impacts cash flow. According to Change Healthcare, failed claims cost clinics roughly $31.50 each, or $30,000 per year. These figures demonstrate flaws in the RCM system, but AI can help address them.

THE AI DIFFERENCE

Artificial Intelligence is being heavily discussed in all industries, but it’s arguably most important for healthcare providers. Patient well-being is largely dependent on the clinic’s technology, and by having an EHR that prioritizes automation, userfriendliness and interoperability, clinics can start to see results in all phases of the patient life cycle.

This is especially true for RCM because the revenue process is a major stress point for both patients and providers alike. Patients are expected to pay more out-of-pocket costs than ever while hospitals and clinics are seeing little to no improvement in their revenue models. When revenue doesn’t cycle through the system, everyone, including patients, administrative staff and providers, suffer. It’s no easy task to process thousands of claims, but there’s still no excuse for failing to do it properly. When patients’ physical, mental and financial well-being is at stake, clinics can’t risk making errors.

Fortunately, AI is a breakthrough technology for addressing common setbacks in the revenue cycle, and it gives providers the peace of mind that revenue data is being processed correctly. With AI, it doesn’t matter if a clinic is processing 10 claims or a million claims — each one is filed correctly, with no missing, incomplete or incorrect data that lead to denials and a slower revenue cycle.

Correct claims processing is absolutely key, as more than one-quarter of healthcare spending is just administrative waste, according to data from JAMA Network. Poor RCM costs U.S. healthcare organizations between $760 billion and $935 billion per year, or double the amount spent on healthcare waste in Canada. Additionally, doctors are spending up to 20 hours per week on various administrative tasks as opposed to patient care, and spending almost half of their day outside the exam room. With the U.S. spending more time and money on healthcare than any other country worldwide, it’s time AI becomes the new normal to help alleviate these issues. —Khalid AlMaskari, CEO of Health Information Management Systems (HiMS) (hmsfirst.com), a company that offers Axiom Electronic Health Record (EHR) software that harnesses the power of technology to create value for integrated healthcare providers