The 3 keys to healthcare efficiency: ERP, EHR and CRM systems in synergy

Imagine a seamless, fully automated healthcare organization. Imagine automated approval policies, staffing levels that always meet demands and real-time patient data readily accessible, enabling effortless decision-making.

This isn’t just a vision. It’s currently available.

And yet, the healthcare industry is lagging behind on digital transformation.

This doesn’t imply that no advancements have been made. The widespread adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology, particularly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has revolutionized how healthcare providers manage data.

By integrating financial data from ERP with electronic health records (EHR) and other systems, healthcare organizations achieve greater efficiency and a comprehensive view of both financial and clinical data in one centralized location. Yet, four years after the pandemic began, efforts to sustain this modernization trend have waned.

What is causing the industry to hesitate?

Staffing shortages in both patient care and administrative support are major challenges for the industry. With fewer staff members managing an increasing workload, there is a temptation to postpone significant changes to standard operating procedures. However, transitioning to a streamlined digital system can actually address staffing issues and boost productivity.

Financial pressures, such as rising costs not aligning with reimbursement rates, also hinder the adoption of expensive digital ecosystems. Yet, the benefits can outweigh the costs, leading to notable increases in productivity, enhanced insights into billing and financial data, and advanced automation that makes previously costly and time-consuming processes almost effortless.

The shift to digital recordkeeping brings significant cybersecurity concerns, causing many organizations to hesitate due to the perceived risks. While this is a valid concern, proper implementation, maintenance and employee training on these new systems can help mitigate potential data breach threats.

Despite the challenges, the digital transformation in healthcare is already underway, and the necessary tools to elevate the industry are readily available. By fully integrating EHR data, financial systems and customer relationship management (CRM) systems through an ERP system, healthcare organizations can achieve a future of seamless, automated care.

To realize this transformation, providers need to take one crucial step: Dream bigger.

The tools you need

ERP acts as the connective tissue that synergizes clinical EHR data, financial records and patient information into a single, easy-to-manage workstream. It also creates greater efficiencies in staffing and inventory control.

EHR, already widely implemented in healthcare, is the first crucial component of digital transformation. It encompasses all clinical and patient data within an organization, as well as data for mandatory reporting.

The current challenge lies in integrating EHR data with financial systems, using an open and flexible framework that allows multiple data streams and sources to be easily accessed and synchronized. This is where ERP comes into play.

Leveraging the power of open application programming interface (API) technology, EHR and ERP systems can collaborate to create a custom-tailored workspace that aligns with your organization’s needs. Open API serves as a two-way bridge between separate software platforms, enabling you to import files across systems and create custom dashboards that combine all the patient health, billing and financial data needed to run your business more effectively.

Combining all your data with the capabilities of a sophisticated ERP system results in a significant breakthrough in efficiency.

With ERP at the forefront, operations become almost effortless. Inventory management can be largely automated, staffing concerns mitigated and productivity boosted.

After implementing EHR and ERP systems, CRM is the final piece of the cohesive puzzle. It focuses on the connection between the clinic and its patients, addressing important considerations such as scheduling appointments, pre- and post-care communication, patient records management and billing. When powered by ERP, a clinic’s CRM can elevate the entire patient care process by minimizing errors and maximizing responsiveness, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes.

What’s working vs. what’s possible

The primary obstacles to this transformation are time and internal inertia. Implementing a professional ERP system in any environment is a time-consuming process, especially in an industry with rigorous regulations and strict reporting requirements. It can take six months to a year to have a fully integrated digital system operational, not including the time needed to overcome the learning curve.

Faced with these challenges, it’s easy to revert to tried-and-true methods. After all, why change what already works?

But even if current procedures are effective, the question remains: Are they making your life easier?

To fully embrace digital transformation, healthcare providers need to look beyond the present and imagine the possibilities that integrating an ERP system can offer. Automated processes, real-time data analysis, and streamlined communications are all within reach with a fully integrated ERP system as the backbone of an enhanced workspace.

For instance, staffing is a major concern for healthcare organizations. With an ERP system working alongside EHR and CRM data, they can analyze data points like revenue per procedure and by provider, or the number of patients treated per day relative to the number of providers on staff. This enables real-time trend identification and accurate staffing forecasts — not based on last month’s numbers, but on yesterday’s.

Immediate access to information is especially crucial for federally qualified health centers to timely submit and analyze data for mandatory reporting requirements. The ability to track the number of residents per day or per week against forecasted staffing levels helps them meet these requirements and continue receiving the funding needed to serve their residents.

Inventory management and approvals also become significantly more streamlined. Currently, the procure-to-pay process might involve entering purchase requisitions, physically delivering documents for approval and manually entering information into a database. This could include walking a piece of paper to the CFO’s desk for a stamp to cut a check.

While this process works, consider the alternative: a notification in the ERP system about a submitted requisition that is automatically sent to the next person for approval. Once the requested inventory is received, the receiver verifies the order and pings the CFO to trigger automatic approval and payment, with an audit trail in the system for verification.

Some clients have embraced fully paperless offices. With automated approval policies and optical character recognition capabilities embedded into their apps, vendors can email invoices that are automatically coded and uploaded into the system. This eliminates paper invoices and waiting for the mail to arrive.

In the end, clinics are equipped, paper use is drastically reduced, workflows are automated and seamless, and vendors are paid effortlessly. And this is just the beginning of what’s possible with ERP in the healthcare industry.

Creating a more productive environment

With a fully integrated ERP system working alongside EHR and CRM systems, not only can labor hours be saved, but the need for waiting and adherence to office hours is eliminated — you can operate 24/7.

By connecting financial systems and patient data through ERP, clients have experienced transformational time savings and productivity boosts. Some report significantly reduced times to close out their months after integration, achieving this in as little as five to 10 days.

Automation provides real-time visibility into data, enabling users to drill down into individual source transactions that make up the balances on financial statements, as well as view graphs and charts. Everything synchronizes seamlessly, allowing you to sit back and watch the data flow in effortlessly.

Focusing on your patients

An automated office boosts productivity, but the true measure of a healthcare organization is how effectively it works with its patients — the very reason for its existence.

ERP integration can help ensure clinics and facilities are appropriately staffed and fully stocked, while also freeing up valuable administrative time to better serve patients’ needs. However, this is just the beginning of the enhanced experience it can offer.

Interacting with the healthcare industry from the outside is already challenging. Navigating insurance, paying bills and even booking appointments can be difficult, especially in underserved areas.

With ERP drawing insights from an organization’s CRM system, patient interactions can become more personalized and efficient. Automated appointment scheduling can ease the burden on administrative staff and help patients secure time with their preferred providers at convenient times. Managing follow-ups and specialist referrals also becomes simpler. Automated prescription refill reminders add a personal touch and streamline the care process.

Using ERP for data-driven decision-making not only improves patients’ experiences at your facility but also leads to better health outcomes. When patients can easily access care and manage appointments and healthcare providers can efficiently access relevant information and manage treatments, a healthier future becomes attainable, all powered by ERP.

Making the leap

Connecting your financial, EHR and CRM systems with a powerful ERP system is the future of healthcare. The synergy of these essential elements can increase productivity in your back-end operations, automate time-consuming processes and maximize the effectiveness of the care you provide. The future is finally here.

How Wipfli can help

If you’re still working with outdated systems and telling yourself, “This still works fine for us,” it’s time to start dreaming bigger, and Wipfli is ready to make it happen. Contact us today and imagine the possibilities of a streamlined, automated workplace, powered by fully integrated ERP, and see how far you can take yourself.