Case Study: Practicing the ‘Art of Medicine’

Aug 4, 2022

Bringing Pain Relief with Research at the Forefront

spinaldx

As one of the only private pain management practices in Oregon consistently involved in clinical research, Spinal Diagnostics has made a longstanding commitment to bring the best possible treatment options to their patients. That means going above and beyond to explore non-invasive options before surgery is ever considered because this team of providers is only motivated by results. Additionally, they do their best to educate patients on every pain relief option so that they can make decisions together as equal partners in their medical care. Spinal Diagnostics believes autonomy of care begins and ends with patient engagement which is why they work so hard to maintain their independence as a healthcare practice. 

Analytics platform costs offer unwelcome challenges

When Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager for Spinal Diagnostics came to work for the organization, there was an immediate adjustment necessary in the level of analytics software available. In the past, she had worked with a high-performance platform that while very useful, was also extremely expensive. The new office did not have the budget for such a pricey option so when she heard about the up-and-coming DataDx data analytics software designed specifically for private healthcare organizations, she was interested in learning more.  

“I used to work for a large corporation that could afford an expensive platform capable of organizing their data into valuable reports. It was quite an adjustment when I came to Spinal Diagnostics because joining a smaller private practice meant fewer resources were available for robust software. DataDx was a welcome innovation for us because it has similar high-level capabilities but at an astronomically cheaper price. Having an affordable data analytics solution allows us to make informed decisions and investments for our business to grow.”  

Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager; Spinal Diagnostics

The overarching problem has been the complexity of healthcare operating systems and their lack of connectivity with one another.

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are not the whole story

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are not the whole story

The reporting system within our EMR system is nonexistent compared to others I’ve used before, so trying to make our data useful is time consuming to say the least. I would spend at least 2 ½ weeks juggling my everyday duties while simultaneously pulling raw data from our various operating systems and creating reports that made sense of it all. On top of that, I had to organize the data into tables and charts for our doctors who prefer visual representations of their practice insights when making decisions for the business. With so much time wasted on what I knew could be a more automated process, learning about DataDx in my pipeline of peers caught my attention immediately.”  

Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager; Spinal Diagnostics 

EMRs are not all made equally but it takes someone with some technological expertise to know the difference. That said, there are no platforms that can come close to creating the variety and level of comprehensive reports that DataDx does. The overarching problem has been the complexity of healthcare operating systems and their lack of connectivity with one another. Each platform will create their own reports, but they do not show how those different sets of numbers relate to each other. Traditionally, administrators have had to embark on a time-consuming manual process of entering numbers into a spreadsheet like Elizabeth described. This pain point is what inspired DataDx from the very beginning and was designed to make the lives of healthcare professionals easier in every way. 

With value-based reimbursements becoming more common in the healthcare industry, independent practices have been at a disadvantage without real-time reports to show patient progress through treatments.

Anreputation built with great people

For startup companies, developing a strong reputation with a new product and service can be challenging. DataDx had an early advantage in this because it was launched by established experts in the healthcare industry who understood firsthand the complexities of running a practice. Many of their early clients were introduced to DataDx through members of the team they knew and stayed because the company exceeded expectations. Elizabeth of Spinal Diagnostics was on that list. She had contracted with another service company years before and had worked with one of DataDx’s founding healthcare consultants. Immediately she believed the software would reflect the expertise and efficiency she had come to associate with him. Not only was she right, but all the staff she encountered over the last two years only reinforced that original insight.  

“Working with DataDx has always been great, and the fact that I had already worked with one of their team members before gave me immediate buy in. The team got our practice onboarded very quickly and they have been amazing ever since. I’ve never felt in the dark about anything with such consistent communication back and forth. I don’t think there has ever been even one full day that has passed between sending my message and receiving their response. Sometimes emails are exchanged so quickly, it’s more like texting or a live chat. There has only been one time that a project manager had to take a deeper dive which took a little longer than usual to resolve the issue. Still, they communicated frequently throughout the process, so I never felt out of the loop.” 

Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager; Spinal Diagnostics 

DataDx makes accessing this information easy for doctors with a simple log in to a dashboard with any one of 146 unique measures across 16 different reports.

Finally…a platform that doctors love as much as administrators

With value-based reimbursements becoming more common in the healthcare industry, independent practices have been at a disadvantage without real-time reports to show patient progress through treatments. Add to that the increasingly common productivity-based bonus structure for providers and you have a recipe for more physician interest in detailed productivity reports. DataDx makes accessing this information easy for doctors with a simple log in to a dashboard with any one of 146 unique measures across 16 different reports. Most providers find a handful of insights to focus on and can check them for updates every day if they like. 

“Our doctors love the ease with which they can access the dashboard. We are currently working on implementing a year-over-year performance-based bonus program for our physician assistants and DataDx is critical for that plan. It is really nice to be able to see how their performance last year compares to the year before and reward those who are working harder than ever. Honoring our team in this way would not be as doable without the data analytics software from DataDx.” 

Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager; Spinal Diagnostics 

“Not only have we been able to make data-driven marketing decisions, but we are able to explore future growth opportunities based on the real numbers.”

Sometimes you just can’t say enough

“Recently I provided a quote for DataDx that was used in a press release announcing their partnership with the Oregon Medical Association (OMA). I was happy to do it because they have become such an essential part of our practice. Not only have we been able to make data-driven marketing decisions, but we are able to explore future growth opportunities based on the real numbers. That can be difficult for an independent practice because there really aren’t any comparable data analytic SaaS options available in the healthcare industry. I’ll do whatever I can do to get the word out on this great product and amazing team of people.”  

Elizabeth Ford, Office Manager; Spinal Diagnostics 

We are always grateful for clients like Elizabeth from Spinal Diagnostics who are just as passionate about the data as we are. It is with testimonials like this that we have been able to reach so many providers who, with the help of DataDx, are able to focus more on what matters most, their patients. 

Your practice and your patients deserve DataDx!

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