Physical Therapy EMR & Billing Software

Physical therapy electronic medical record (EMR) / electronic health record (EHR) software offers very different functionality from systems geared towards primary care and related specialists. Core features of EMRs for physical therapy do include the ability to track progress notes, treatment plans, and assessments for multiple patients being seen on a regular and recurring basis. However, physiotherapists often will not require the same features that primary care doctors require.

Core features and templates for a physiotherapy EMR include:

Import legacy documents from referring physicians	Since most PT patients come from physician referrals, a PT-specific EMR should be able to interpret scanned documents, faxes, or PDF files and/or plug directly into EMRs from referring physicians to automate and expedite the new patient intake process.
Integrated exercise flow sheets	Document your patients’ daily exercise routines and carry over patient information from visit to visit, allowing easy tracking of patient progress. Incorporate programs with iPad or other mobile devices as desired, increasing efficiency at the point of care.
Physical therapy treatment guidelines	A physiotherapy EMR program should include protocols for the hundreds of diagnoses and treatments performed, providing support where needed and facilitating the overall workflow.
Integration with PT laboratory tests and diagnostic and treatment devices	Any EMR designed for a physiotherapy practice should import X-rays, MRIs, other diagnostic images, and laboratory results and tie them to the patient record. In addition, advanced EMRs may coordinate with electrotherapy devices to track treatments given.
Automated billing & reporting	Reporting on certain physical therapy outcome measures provides a boost in Medicare payments of 1%. Automated reporting of these measures and incorporated codes results in drastic cuts in billing time and costs.

The size of the practice, existing technology, connectivity, and patient demographics may also play an important part in the decision-making process. Of course, therapists will often seek more cost-effective solutions.

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