Achieve Physical Therapy leverages Prompt to improve patient retention, increase revenue and decrease cost

Achieve Physical Therapy is a 5 location, 17-provider practice based out of Massachusetts. We recently sat down with Head of Operations Kathleen Monteiro to discuss why they chose Prompt, how Prompt has impacted their business, and how Prompt’s automation tools have revolutionized their patient experience. 

Key Stats and Success: 

• Booking over 40% of visits with Prompt’s Online Scheduling Tools
• Saved over $60,000 a year in Labor Costs
• Improved Patient Retention
• Increased Provider Capacity Utilization to greater than 85%
• Grew Profit Margin, Patient Happiness, and Employee Satisfaction
• Increased overall visits by 10%

Why Achieve PT Chose Prompt

Achieve and Monteiro underwent a lengthy search for a new software solution after they identified that their previous solution was holding the business back. 

“We had a pretty extensive evaluation process. We had an RFP that listed out everything we were looking for and enabled us to compare all the systems on the market,” Monteiro said. “Ultimately, the biggest thing for us was automation. During COVID, we moved a lot of our front desk services to a centralized location out of the clinic and had a lot of success with that, and our ultimate goal was finding an EMR and Practice Management solution that would support us in that goal and help us continue to grow and improve our margins.”

On their previous EMR, Achieve had attempted to utilize online scheduling and other more modern tools, but the solution fell short. “On our previous system, we were unable to successfully implement a modern patient experience as the tools that were offered were not robust enough to solve our needs,” Monteiro said. 

In the end, after evaluating over half a dozen leading EMRs, Achieve and Monteiro chose Prompt as their long-term solution. 

“Prompt really stood out because of the level of automation, especially with the Prompt Plus features on the Automated Waitlist, Online Scheduling and Plan of Care Automation,” Monteiro said. “A major differentiator was the fact that Prompt’s online scheduling solution enabled our patients to book multiple visits at the same time. Little details like that mattered a lot in just our day-to-day operations.”

Transition and Onboarding Experience

“So Prompt was my second EMR transition. We transitioned in 2018 to our prior system, and this was night and day smoother for us. I really liked the combination of self-guided learning and access to our Customer Success Manager throughout the journey. I thought the combination approach was unique and enabled our team to do self-guided, interactive learning while still having access to the Prompt team to help with questions,” said Monteiro. 

Prompt’s Data Transfer team was able to smoothly transfer over all of Achieve’s data from their prior EMR, and this significantly reduced the burden for the Achieve team. 

“Prompt’s Data Team was great and the data migration process combined with Prompt’s cutting-edge claim scrubbing system allowed us to catch any issues early on and resolve them,” Monteiro said. “We had claims going out within two days of going live and did not see any unexpected delays in cash flow transitioning to Prompt.”

Automation and Online Scheduling

Once they had implemented Prompt, Achieve immediately began leveraging the Automation tools and Online Scheduling platform that Prompt offered. Since going live in mid-2022, Achieve is now booking over 40% of their visits through Prompt’s online scheduling tools, significantly reducing administrative costs and providing a patient experience that modern patients demand. 

According to a recent study, 67% of healthcare patients prefer online scheduling and over 90% of patients will choose a healthcare provider based on the ability to book appointments online. In addition, clinics leveraging online scheduling typically see a 27% increase in revenue in the following year. For Achieve, they have seen incredible results leveraging Prompt’s Online Scheduling, Automated Waitlist, and Plan of Care Automation Tools. 

“Since implementing these tools, our providers have consistently been operating well above 85% capacity utilization. Prior to these tools, we were struggling to hit 80%,” Monteiro said. “In addition, we are seeing a major uptick for providers that were really struggling to keep a full schedule. The Automated Waitlist and the ability for a patient to confirm a new appointment in a single click has been a game changer and the ability for each patient to book out their entire Plan of Care in a single booking process has really driven massive adoption from our patients.”

These tools have dramatically increased patient retention, with higher average visits per discharge and ultimately, better patient outcomes. In addition, Achieve has experienced major cost savings due to the automation and streamlined operations these tools create. 

Admin Staff Productivity

“Prior to switching to Prompt, our 3 admin staff were drowning and overwhelmed. We had begun recruiting a 4th admin staff just to try and stay afloat,” Monteiro said. “However, because of the automation and incredible scheduling tools that Prompt offers, our 3 admin staff actually came to us and let us know they had extra time available. With that extra time, we have been able to have our admin staff spend more time on other value-added tasks such as verifying benefits, obtaining auths, and helping drive a great patient experience that is leading to higher profit margins and lower denial rates.”

What this all boils down to has been a dramatic increase in profit margin, patient happiness, and employee satisfaction for Achieve. 

“We have seen a massive surge in profit margin since switching to Prompt”

“We have seen a massive surge in profit margin since switching to Prompt, both due to the Prompt Plus tools combined with the incredible RCM and patient collections tools,” Monteiro said. “We have 1 biller keeping on top of billing for all 17 providers and she has raved about the tools Prompt’s billing offers. In addition, our employees have loved Prompt. The admin staff loves the reduction in manual labor tasks and the ability to cross-train and gain new skills while our Providers have loved the improved documentation system and the fact that they don’t need to do a ton of side work to keep their calendars busy. Lastly, our patients love the new tools we offer them and constantly rave about the Online Scheduling and Automated Waitlist tools.”

Why Achieve PT Recommends Prompt

“Since switching to Prompt, we’ve seen an uptick in revenue, a decrease in cost, and have happier employees and patients,” she said. “For us, Prompt is the only EMR out there doing innovative things and the automation that is offered combined with the Customer Services is second to none. Switching to Prompt has made a huge impact for us and we can’t recommend it highly enough.”