Many chiropractors see electronic clinic management as cost-prohibitive.

Yet numbers show that the digital clinic is an investment that pays for itself.

The majority of chiropractors know the switch to electronic health records (EHR) and digital clinic management is approaching rapidly. Still, many have only adopted the most basic components of available practice technology, like electronic billing, and not much more. But why?

The strongest roadblock to EHR is the perception that it is a cost that should be avoided until mandatory. But when the numbers are evaluated, such a conclusion is inaccurate. Analysis of cost-benefit ratios clearly shows that investment in the right digital clinic management yields a good return on investment.

Paying for itself

Without question, this technology is not inexpensive, and implementation does require planning. But when the digital switch is done correctly, the technology should literally pay for itself.

• Save by going green. The digital practice is known as the paperless practice for good reason: It involves the removal of most of the paper in clinic management and replaces it with encrypted e-mail, electronic faxes, digital documentation, and electronic billing.

With a “greener” office, there is less waste and less need to purchase reams of paper, scheduling books, manila envelopes, and other supplies such as file folders and x-ray jackets.

• Reduction of waste lowers overhead.Paper management, with paper documentation and filing systems in particular, requires constant attention from clinic staff. This attention costs money.

For example: The average practice will spend a minimum of $2,400 a year pulling and refiling paper records.

These costs do not include other hidden costs of file maintenance, including time spent looking for misplaced files, putting new files together, fixing damaged files, and making copies. Also keep in mind the expenses of HIPAA-grade storage cabinets and the square-foot cost of storing this paper in your clinic space.

• Integrated management increases billable hours available for patient services. [/BOLD] According to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) 2005 Job Analysis of Chiropractic, chiropractors only spend half of their time in direct patient care. The rest of the time is spent handling such tasks as documentation, patient education, and clinic management.

These hours represent nonbillable doctor time. If they were factored into a daily balance sheet, they would fall into the liabilities column because they are a cost of doing business.

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