Some of the features included in PCG are:

• Appointment and recall (follow-up) reminders
• Printed and electronic statements
• Patient online payments
• Collections
• Patient marketing
• Appointment requests
• Prescription refill requests
• Secure messaging
• Patient pre-registration
• PHR integration
• Lab result notification

Some of the PCG benefits include:

Browser based
Applications don't need to be installed. Also, the system can be accessed from anywhere.

Full integration with PMS and EMR systems
Full automatic and seamless bi-directional integration with practice management and medical records systems.

PHR integration
Integrates with PHRs – patient-owned health records. Does not require the patient to use a portal specific to the practice for communications supported by the PHR. Significantly improves patient adoption, usage and satisfaction.

Private and secure
Being a hosted service, security is centralized. All communications occur securely. The patient’s privacy is fully respected. Each patient can control the types of communications they will receive.

Cost effective
Because of increased efficiency, in many sutuations the system pays for itself in the first month of use.

Patient Communication features:

Multiple contact methods
PCG supports multiple contact methods: automated phone calls, email, secure messaging (secure email), SMS text messages and fax.

Powerful rules engine
PCG's powerful rules engine allows medical offices to define when and how patient's will be contacted, and can be set up to use alternate communication methods if a primary method fails. For example, if PCG can't get through to the patient by phone, it can be told to try alternate methods, such as sending an SMS.

Online appointment requests

Patients can use the PCG Patient Portal or their PHR (assuming that the PHR supports this feature) to request appointments

Example uses

• If the doctor is running late, the system can SMS or call patients advising them of the situation
• If the doctor has an emergency and won't be in the office, the system can call all patient's affected and inform them
• Appointment reminders
• Recall reminders
• Online appointment requests

Flexible

• For each appointment reason, you can specify multiple reminder methods. For instance, a reminder letter can be sent 5 days in advance; a reminder call can be made 2 days before; an email can be sent at the same time, and a SMS can be sent 2 hours before the appointment.
• Different appointment reasons can have different sets of rules.

Tracking / Rollover

• PCG tracks each notification (when possible) and detects failures. Rules can be defined as to how to handle failures. For example, if there is no cell phone number or if the text message can’t be delivered (if the cell phone is off for example) the reminder message can be sent via an alternate method.

Save money

• Timely reminders cut no-show rates drastically
• MGMA members report an average no-show rate of 4%
• Some practices report no-show rates of 10% - 30%
• This translates into thousands of dollars in lost revenue (even at a 4% no show rate)
• Postage costs today reduced from 43 cents
• If a doctor sends out 300 recall notices per month, the cost is 0.43 x 300 = $129 per month in postage costs
• Electronic recalls can save the practice money

Appointment Reminders

• Patients can reply to reminders to confirm that they will be coming, request to reschedule their appointment, or to cancel their appointment
• Replies are supported via phone, email , SMS, and secure email.
• Flexible reminder rules
• Reminder tracking and failover

Recall Reminders

• Patients who might otherwise not come back are reminded to return
• Patients can request appointments in response to a reminder message
• Patients that don’t respond will be sent repeated notices based on practice-defined rules
• Electronic recalls save money

Reminder methods

• Email
• Secure Email
• SMS Text Message
• Phone
• U.S. Postal Mail
• Fax

No equipment needed

• Does not use practice equipment, or use the practice phone lines

Financial Modules:

• Printed statements & Electronic statements
• Patient online payments
• Collection letters
• Full patient financial history
• Insurance payment arrival notice

Documentation for PCG's Statement Generator

• Statement Generator Installation and Usage    pdf

Why PCG statements are different

• Statements can be sent electronically, saving postage costs
• PCG has many configuration options to control the way statements work. To get the same results with a legacy statement service would require software customizing.
• Clear, simple and easy to read
• Statements can be paid online and the payment will be posted automatically into the PMS.
• Addresses are automatically corrected using the US Postal Service address correction database. The corrected addresses can be automatically updated in the PMS or EMR system.

Features:

• Replaces paper statements for patients with email
• Saves postage costs
• This feature alone can make PCG pay for itself
• Tracks when the statement is opened
• Reminds patients about unopened statements
• Sends statement using postal mail if email remains unopened for a long time
• Patients can easily pay their statement balances online
• The practice does not need to handle the mailing through their own equipment

Address correction

• Statements to patients who moved will automatically get sent to the new, correct address.
• Unlike normal mail forwarding which causes mail to take much longer to arrive, the NCOA correction system that we use corrects the address before it gets mailed, so the statement arrives quickly at the correct address.
• Updated address information is posted back to the PMS system

Electronic statements save money

Current mailing cost for each invoice/statement is 43 cents. As an example, if an doctor sends out 300 statements via mail every month, that is a cost of $0.43 x 300 = $129/month just for mailings. Using electronic statements can result in significant monthly savings.

Patient payments

• Reduce bad debt
• Increase patient collections and satisfaction
• Accelerate payments
• Funds deposited directly into your existing bank account
• Receive email notifications for each payment
• All networks - Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners & more
• Automated posting to PMS - As payment transactions settle, receive an electronic feed of patient account and payment data for automated posting to your PMS

Collections

• Send patients secure electronic notices of overdue balances
• Account can be paid online immediately
• Monitor when patients read their collection notices
• Definable automated collection rules
  • Send more notices if patients read their collection notices and don’t pay
  • Send SMS reminders to patients to read unread collection notices
  • Send collection letters via USPS if the electronic collection letters are unread for an extended period of time
  • Can also make automated collection phone calls to remind patients to pay.

Insurance payment arrival notice

Patient’s will be automatically securely notified when an insurance payment comes. They can check the details via the PCG patient portal or the patient’s PHR (if the PHR supports this feature).

Full patient financial history

Patients can securely view their full financial history via the PCG patient portal or the patient’s PHR (if the PHR supports this feature).