Insourcing Not everything the group will do should be accomplished by outside subcontractors at remote distances from the practice location. It is beneficial to control disbursement as closely as possible, so payables can be reconciled and processed at the group's central offices. The registration and verification of insurance coverage for patients, centralized scheduling of appointments, market development, quality assurance, community relations, human relations services including training, administration of regulatory matters, as well as communication with managed care and insurers can be done locally. The management information system also has clinical applications. Some data base computer applications provide an additional clinical system interface to generate complete records of the patient encounter through a hand-held electronic notepad used by the primary care doctor.
Similar systems are now available on the market at nominal cost.
The costs of the computer hardware and software, including communications lines, have been constantly decreasing. But, there is a price to be paid by the physician and his staff to qualify on what will become a data base management system. There will be a transition period during which old computer files are converted and new systems mastered. Ultimately, efficient usage of the MIS system will decrease existing costs, provide greater utilization efficiencies and grant the physician more time for his practice and family life. Ultimately, groups that utilize such technology will prevail over practitioners that do not.