Digital planners have potential to increase office efficiency
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
NEW YORK — Digital planning platforms increase office efficiency by reducing dependence on staff and streamlining surgical decision-making, according to one speaker here.
“We still have to try to limit the flow of patients in and out of the office, and we still also want to be able to pay to keep the lights on, so being more efficient is really the way we are trying to keep the lights on,” Brandon D. Ayres, MD, said at OSN New York.
The current workflow model for most offices is physician-dependent, Ayres said. In these models, there is little dependence on technology, with the doctor acting as the examiner, evaluator, decision-maker and prescriber. Multiple offices increase the complexity of planning when the doctor is on the road or at a different office.
“We had to move to a new, more modern workflow where the physician is the decider and evaluator, but that in-between is taken care of by something else, and that is the digital planner,” Ayres said.
As operating rooms become more digital in nature, digital planners will become more popular, Ayres said.
Digital planners allow for integration of diagnostic devices between different practice locations and for data manipulation without direct device access.
“This actually reduces my dependence on my staff because I do all my calculations on my own, but it does put more pressure on the technical staff to get those tests done correctly,” Ayres said.