If all goes according to plan, the landscape of the American healthcare industry will be drastically revamped over the next 18 months. The implementation of the ICD-10 coding upgrade, coupled with the continuing adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) through Meaningful Use (currently in Stage 2), will ideally lead to a surge in efficiency and recordkeeping accuracy in many medical practices, from smaller clinics to larger hospitals.

But as exciting as these developments may be for practitioners and clinicians, it's important to remember that they are ultimately meant to service the patient and deliver an overall stronger customer service experience. While providing patients with improved and more up-to-date chiropractic EMR — and all the information that entails — can go a long way in making sure that they are better informed when they leave your office, these are far from the only ways to practice better customer service.

Lea Chatham at the medical billing software company Kareo has recently published a new "Patient-Centered Checklist" that details some of the customer-centric approaches that medical practices can take. We addressed some of these suggestions last week, but here a few more:

• An appealing website: Curb appeal can be a make-or-break factor in buying a home and the same holds true for websites as well. While you shouldn't tailor your online portfolio to focus on style over substance, creating a website that is mobile-friendly, details office hours and directions and offers complete transparency on prices and policies can help patients feel better about whom they're placing their trust in.
• Check-ins should be convenient: It can often feel like most of the time spent in a doctor's office is in the waiting room, filling out form after form. The check-in process is essential and necessary, but it can also be streamlined into something more convenient and patient-friendly. Providing check-in papers on your practice's website or offering card-on-file options for co-pay and deductible payments can help make the process go by faster and easier.
• Patient reminders: It's important to remember that patients lead busy lives too and may not always commit to memory any appointment times or dates they may have made. Use phone calls, email, letter mail and even text messages to send patients reminders of upcoming appointments or follow-ups.
• Social media engagement: Some companies may resist the call to make use of social media and may even dismiss it as a fad. But like it or not, social media is here to stay, so why not take advantage of it? If your patients live on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, then what better way to reach them? Social media can make for a quick and effective way of communicating wellness recommendations, service updates and any changes in practice policy.
• Stay on top of reviews: In a world where referral sites like Yelp can determine whether or not a potential patient even visits your practice in the first place, it's important to stay apprised of what others are saying about the service you provide. Make sure that any information you post online is up-to-date, respond to positive and negative reviews alike and always communicate any changes that have been made or past issues that have been resolved. 

Investing into chiropractic documentation software can also create a more patient-centric experience while bringing your practice further into the 21st century. The best chiropractic EMR software can help you make the switch to a more digital approach without disrupting your typical administrative duties in the process.