About our project
How it works
We all hate having to call a Doctor’s office for just about any reason. How long will they keep you on hold?
Well, it is not so easy for them either. Front desk staff often have way too much to do besides answering phone calls. So if there were an easier for you, they would be delighted to have you try it.
Unfortunately, Federal privacy laws and regulations do not allow Doctors to communicate with you via email or text messages—they are not secure.
That is why we created NextDx – the virtual alternative to telephone calls between Patients and Providers.
Instead of calling to schedule or change an appointment, to get a refill, referral, lab results or a form for summer camp, select a message type, click on a few data points and send.
No composing of messages, no typing, no wondering how to write something. Do this anytime, when it is convenient for you.
Your Doctor’s office will either call or send you back a message to your secure, messaging inbox.
You can also receive important information from your Doctor this way—from test results to care plans to health reminders.
Our site can only be used for messaging between Patients and Medical Doctors. So you may need to be alerted when a new message arrives. We take care of that for you.
Some other neat features let you create your own Personal Care Network – those Providers who you designate can access your record. This includes your Pharmacy – we’ll let your Doctor know where to send that prescription.
You can also select the language that is best for you. Your Doctor can do the same. There is no need for translation between the parties – we do that for you.
Perhaps the best news of all is that you can use NextDx to communicate with any Medical Doctor in the US! Our system works just like cellular networks.
If the Doctor is plugged in, all messaging between the two of you is free to the Patient. If they are not in our network, you can still ‘next’ your messages for as little as 5 cents. Buy a few message credits and the cost is 10 cents per message. Buy a lot and it is 5 cents. Is the time you would otherwise spend on the phone with a Doctor’s office worth a nickel?
Don’t worry about buying too many. You can share your credits with friends and family. And if you spend $50 with us, you are automatically enrolled in our Ambassador program where we put $2 in your Paypal account for each person you refer – no limits!
So get off the phone and onto the web when it comes to contacting your Doctor. Join the cloud and ‘next’ your messages.
Empirical Proof
Studies have shown that the average call handled by a staff person in a medical practice is nearly 10 minutes. And that does not count the time the Patient is on hold.
NextDx decreases the time staff need to take and manage Patient calls. Instead of 10-minute calls, a reply on NextDx takes at most two minutes – that is a 5X savings. Moreover, staff do not need to be at the front desk. They can be just about anywhere – including a central office – for all Patient messaging.
A recent Wall Street Journal / Harris Interactive study found that 74% of Patients would like to communicate by email or text messages directly with their Doctors; 67% would like to receive test results via email.
The study concluded that the “Medical profession is lagging behind other service sectors and professions in use of Internet-based solutions to communicate with Patients.”
Perhaps most importantly, “If given a choice between a Doctor who provides such services and one who does not, more than half of all adults believe this would influence their choice of Doctors.”
How we help Patients
Studies have shown that Patients will actually delay or avoid getting medical care because of the hassles associated with the process and the paperwork. The WSJ/Harris finding that Patients are willing to switch Doctors for convenience reasons alone underscore the importance that Patients place on such factors.
The NextDx system is cloud-based; accordingly, a Patient need register once to begin communicating – or Nexting as we say – with one or more Doctors. This is an important dimension of NextDx because there are systems on the market that facilitate secure messaging between Patients and Providers. However, those systems are ‘Provider-Centric,’ meaning a Patient would have to use system A for Doctor 1, system B for Doctor 2, etc. Who would do this? That is not how online banking works so why should healthcare messaging be any different.
NextDx also allows Patients to create a Personal Health Record that eliminates the need for Patients to register at check-in. This PHR allows three generations to be established under one account – so a mother can not only manage the medical affairs of her children but do the same for her parents or in-laws.
And because all messages and transactions are stored in one place, there is no need for separate multiple accounts. NextDx is a single, total solution.
How we help Doctors
In order for medical practices today to survive, they must be lean and efficient. This means each staff member has to multi-task – greet patients, use a computer, process payments, etc – and take phone calls, often from stressed Patients. The job is anything but the easiest going which is why turnover can be high.
NextDx not only simplifies the process of communicating for Patients but it greatly decreases the time staff need to take and manage Patient calls. Instead of 10-minute calls, a reply on NextDx takes at most two minutes – that is a 5X savings. Multiply that across the total calls in a day, or a week, and the time savings add up quickly and substantially.
Moreover, the ‘messaging’ staff do not need to be at the front desk. They can be just about anywhere – including a central office.
And because the system can be used for sending messages to other Doctors on the Network, a Medical Practice can not only save on administrative costs but also more easily coordinate the care of their Patients with other Doctors.
All of this for the unbelievable cost of $1 per day per Doctor!
Use of Contributions
We have built the secure messaging system into a ‘closed’ platform for a specific client. Because of the widespread enthusiasm for the messaging service, we decided to ‘open’ the service up to the American medical community with a service that can be accessed by any Patient and any Doctor in the US.
This will require carving out the service onto its own platform, a separate website and phone apps for at least the iPhone and Android platforms.
Our Team
NextDx is part of the ClipboardMD family of cloud-based technologies that promote Patient convenience and Doctor Office productivity. Richard and Rob started working together in 2000 to develop an enterprise-wide claims processing and medical billing platform for a healthcare services start-up which was acquired in 2008.
Learn More
nextdx.com
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Have a question?
If the info above does not help, you can ask the project creator directly.
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