2019 Product & Technology Wrap-up
Positive Changes

We’re excited about what the new year will bring.

I’d like to take a moment to thank you for such a great 2019 and to cover a couple of items that you can look forward to at AdvancedMD.

At AdvancedMD, we’ve had a great run of new innovations these past years. These enhancements have increased the value of the product suite we call Rhythm, which serves our billing clients and independent practice clients and your patients.

As we reflect on this past year, we’ve been told the rate of change with our product enhancements and updates have been difficult to absorb. To that end, we’ll be focusing on stability, performance and quality as a baseline theme for this year.

The most noticeable change will be in our overall release strategy. We’ll now be releasing major features (with rare exceptions) three times per year, however, we’ll continue to fix bugs and critical issues and micro enhancements along the way.

We’ll soon be announcing some new product features and adding new product features for specific specialties, but our priority is to reduce the disruption of change, provide better user experiences and onboarding, and higher performance and quality to the AdvancedMD suite. We feel we can best meet the needs that have been communicated to us through this release schedule change. Additionally, you’ll know in advance what’s on the horizon and have time to prepare for those features. We’re excited about what the new year will bring to benefit our many great clients.

If you have any specific questions. Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. Have a great New Year.

Stephen Dart
Vice President of Engineering

A New Face at AdvancedMD
Tim Costantino

Tim Costantino is vice president and head of product for AdvancedMD. Prior to joining AdvancedMD, he held multiple leadership positions in both technology and product organizations across the financial and healthcare technology sectors. He is passionate about finding solutions to problems, which has taken on many forms throughout his career.

He began his career creating software, which led to creating products, markets, businesses, and building highly effective teams that create strong value.Tim is an evangelist for understanding customer needs, by empathizing with their pain points, then finding solutions to solve the pain. Tim’s growth mindset, commitment to continuous improvement and inclusive leadership style have been instrumental in his success.

In his free time, Tim enjoys running, playing soccer, and spending time and joking around as much as possible with his three children. Tim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 2004, with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence and Psychology from Case Western Reserve University.

Facing Change with Enthusiasm

As we begin a new year, most people set resolutions to make improvements to their lives. Change is a frequent and unavoidable part of life. AdvancedMD faced many changes in 2019, including new leadership, adjusting to the Global Payments family, new products and product enhancements, and more. If you find change a little unsettling, you’re not alone.

In every product and technology department meeting over the past few months, I’ve been asking: How can we do what we do better? It’s an important question for all of us to ask as we move into 2020. One thing is certain: getting better, involves change. George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

As you’ve read, one of the biggest changes you’ll see from our product and technology teams is a shift from bi-weekly feature releases to three-times-a-year major feature releases. This change is necessary to improve our productivity and efficiency, and more importantly, to reduce disruption to you and your practices.

One last quote, from author Alan Watts: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” As we move into 2020, let’s face change with courage and enthusiasm. Looking forward to a great 2020.

Troy Young
CTO

Most Recent Client Enhancements in 2019

We want to say thank you to our clients for sharing your enhancement ideas with us. We’d also like to thank the AdvancedMD product & technology teams for their increased focus on these enhancements to help improve our client’s experience. Below is a list of enhancements during the past three months of 2019.

September

• Print Denial Tracking Report: A new Denial Tracking Detail report is available in the Reports Center. The report shows similar information to the Denial Tracking module, but this one can be printed, which is helpful when working through a list of denied claims.
• Tie Place of Service to Facility Master File: A default Place of Service can now be selected from the new drop-down field that’s been added to the Facilities Master File.

October

• Primary Care Physician: A PCP field has been added to the Patient screen allowing a Primary Care Physician to be selected.
• Remark Codes – New Screen & Master File: Manage custom remark codes & descriptions within the new Master File, then view & add these remark codes to payments from the Remark Codes screen.
• Inbound Referring Provider Report: A new Inbound Referral Detail report is available in the Reports Center. This report helps track the status of inbound referrals & identify which providers frequently refer patients to your practice.
• Copy of Eligibility Requests: For tracking purposes, we’ve added an Eligibility History button on the Insurance tab which shows the most recent five valid eligibility requests.
• Analysis of Visits Detail & Summary: A Date of Entry filter is now available on Analysis of Visits Detail & Summary reports.
• Schedule Recurring Appointments from EHR: Recurring appointments can now also be added within the EHR scheduler using the Recurrence Icon.
• Mobile Schedule Intervals to Match PM/EHR Scheduler: The schedule in the Mobile app has been updated so it reflects the same time intervals as those within the PM Master Files.

November

• Mobile Send Portal Message from Patient Chart: Messages can now be sent directly from the patient’s chart. Messages can be either internal or to the patient via the Patient Portal.
• Mobile Medication History Import – Show Dosage of Current Meds: Within the mobile app, the patient’s Prescription History can now be easily accessed from the Medications screen.

Top Innovations in 2019
Along with the many changes we faced in 2019, AdvancedMD introduced some incredible features to our application. We’d like to review the items released this year that can save your office the most time by replacing manual processes.

• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Provides an extra layer of security to help protect against unauthorized user access. This can be required for the entire office or only individual users.
• Automatic Disbursal Unapplied Payments Rule: These rules take the manual work out of applying unapplied patient payments. The unapplied payments are automatically disbursed at night so your daily workflow will not be interrupted.
• Automation Center – End of Day Close: Schedule the End of Day Close to run automatically, which includes running & saving the Deposit Slip & Day Sheet Final reports, Day Close, & Claims Submission.
• Period Close Scheduling: No more coordinating period close at 3am. This new feature lets practices automatically schedule their financial periods to close on a specific date & time.
• Custom Claim Inspector Rules Master File – Use Subscriber ID Format Criteria: Create custom claim inspector rules to stop claims based on specific criteria. These rules can be carrier or practice specific. This is a great way to prevent Medicare claims from going out unless the Subscriber ID has been updated from the subscriber’s SSN to the new Medicare card number (or Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, MBI).
• Documents & Problems Cards: Manage content directly from these individual cards. You can now upload & scan from the Documents card & create new, edit & delete from within the Problems card.
• Patient Chart Re-imagined: How do you want your Patient Chart to display? Create a customized workflow within the EHR patient card framework that works for you. Outbound Referral Card: This outbound referral card in the EHR now integrates with the Practice Management’s outbound referral tab. One more data point in the EHR that syncs directly with the PM application.
• Enhanced EHR Charge Slip Creation: With just a single click, you can automatically create a charge slip when signing a patient note.
• Upgraded EHR scanning module: We’ve upgraded the EHR application to leverage the same scanning module that is used within our Practice Management. AdvancedMD is working hard to bring a seamless experience between our PM & EHR applications.