No communication breakdowns here!

I got my laptop the other day and am now happily connected to our practice's network and the internet. I have Quickbooks loaded along with the practice's data. The only thing I need now to be a one-woman show is Oxbow. By the way, be sure to look at the new website! It's got video screen captures showing the software at work. 

At home I don't even really need the laptop unless I want to do accounting chores. For example, this afternoon I will log on to Office Ally, and make reminder calls to our Monday patients. I'll be able to file claims to the insurance companies, and if I wanted to, I could even print billing statements right from home.

I've been looking at ways to keep our small staff in touch with one another. Throughout the day we're all so busy doing our various jobs, but there is a lot of information that we really need to share. Our good old-fashioned whiteboard is in the back with lists of things to remember there; we have a bulletin board to post those many insurance company updates, our HIPPAA policy, workers comp, and other employee-type notices. But I'd like something electronic to use that we'll all see as soon as we turn on our computers. I've pretty much decided on going the Google route. I've designed a home page for each of us that displays our shared Google calendar, the user's  inbox, and some good health news sites such as WebMD and Google's health news. For fun I included a weather gadget and something called "the world's healthiest foods (this week's focus is grapes!) I like the shared calendar so far; Lindy and Robyn have been using it too. It even syncs with my Sprint Palm Pre along with my personal calendar at home, so I can see my entire day in a glance!. One gadget that shows promise is the "Things to Remember" gadget. I created it using the Make your Gadget page. This gadget can be shared, and it allows me to post things like "Always collect co-pays upon checkin!" and "Dr. Nelson is now par with Mountain State." The only drawback I can see is that only one person can update it, but that's not horrible. 

So once we play with this setup for awhile, I'll configure Google home pages for the providers, and configure gmail to import all their email from their previous email addresses. Between this and the good old-fashioned whiteboard, we can keep better touch with one another. Just another example of a New Way to Practice Old Fashioned Care!