Rehab Management (RM) recently had the opportunity to interview Gerry Stone, president of The Rehab Documentation Company Inc, makers of ReDoc Software, Nashville, Tenn.

Rehab Management (RM): Tell us about new products and/or product upgrades your company plans to release in 2009.

Stone: In 2009, we will release ReDoc Enterprise Solutions for large hospital chains and other complex therapy providers with multiple locations that provide outpatient PT, OT, and SLP. ReDoc Enterprise Solutions builds on the industry's most mature clinical documentation "point of care" software by adding sophisticated workflow reengineering and performance metric analysis services. The solutions package includes a Management Dashboard that conveys to the director or administrator real-time information on business metrics. ReDoc Enterprise Solutions will provide consulting services to each customer to establish a sound business model to maximize productivity, reimbursement, and compliance. ReDoc integrates with all major hospital IT systems and practice management billing applications, and can include modules for scheduling and paperless document storage.

RM: How does the clinical maturity of your software set it apart from the competition?

Stone: ReDoc's clinical content and workflow maturity make it a "safe" choice for concerned buyers. Any rehab documentation software product must go through the natural maturation process of continuously evolving over an extended period of time based on the feedback of the therapists and administrators using the application. ReDoc product and service lines have been evolving for more than 14 years. There have been many additional enhancements, features, alerts, in-depth clinical content for PT, OT, and SLP, along with patient scheduling and administrative solutions that can only come with time. Today, more than 9,000 therapists and 1,200 organizations are reaping ReDoc Software's enormous benefits while continuing to provide feedback and recommendations.

RM: How does your software help clients increase productivity and profitability?

Stone: Many ReDoc Software customers have documented tremendous gains with regard to increased productivity and profitability. The therapists and administrative staff save at least 50% of the time they currently spend on daily notes using the pen and paper forms methodology. The cost and hassle of transcription are completely eliminated. The therapists are alerted at the point of care for any under or over billing mistakes or coding errors before the charges are submitted. Denials are greatly reduced along with the time and uncertainty of going through an appeal process. Therapists are able to treat more patients and spend more time with them, increasing billable units, job satisfaction, and retention. Automating the billing processes from ReDoc to the hospital IT or practice management system eliminates time-consuming and redundant workflow tasks for everyone, saving time and money, and providing a very tight documentation to posted bill relationship should an audit ever occur.

RM: How has the economy affected the software industry?

Stone: The medical software industry is booming. Under these rising economic pressures, the inefficient use of clinical staff, the under billing for services provided, and runaway expenses are no longer tolerable. The environment has increased the pressure on providers to replace their paper medical record with an electronic one as a stepping off point to optimizing their clinical, financial, and patient satisfaction outcomes. Compliance pressures have increased—most notably by CMS with their introduction of RAC audits—since payors will no longer tolerate paying for services for which documented medical necessity (and efficacy) is not available. Recent economic pressures have simply amplified the sense of urgency to remove the paper record and reengineer those processes and workflows that were inefficient.

RM: You founded ReDoc. What trends are shaping your industry and how will they affect your company?

Stone: Over the past 25 years, various sectors within the therapy industry have thrived or starved based on changes in reimbursement models and the regulatory environment. Some of that will continue into the future, but the demand for therapy services will continue to rise with our aging population. Demand for quality rehab documentation software will also be enhanced by an increasing focus on the relative value of therapy compared to many other medical services – by increasing function or (delaying its degradation), conveying the Medical Necessity of each patient will become paramount.

—Judy O'Rourke, associate editor