Artificial intelligence (AI) is making waves across industries, and healthcare is no exception. With rising costs and a shortage of skilled talent, leveraging technology to streamline tasks is more critical than ever. It’s essential to understand how it can be implemented effectively, especially in O&P practices, where precision and accuracy are paramount. Empowerment Through AI In the current O&P landscape, where reimbursement is tightening and talent is hard to find, AI offers a promising solution. By automating routine tasks, AI can transform orthotists and other clinical professionals into reviewers instead of doers. This shift allows staff to focus on reviewing and validating AI-driven insights rather than getting bogged down with data entry and administrative tasks. The result? Improved efficiency and more time for patient care. Nymbl’s AI-Powered Solutions At Nymbl, we are dedicated to leveraging AI to enhance three core areas in O&P practices: Streamlined Data Intake with AI and OCR: Our AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology simplifies the data intake process. By automatically extracting and digitizing patient information from various sources, our system helps create comprehensive charts quickly and accurately. This reduces the time spent on manual data entry, allowing healthcare professionals to focus more on patient care. Enhanced Documentation and Transcription: Nymbl’s AI listens to and records patient interactions, transforming them into detailed clinical notes. This feature ensures that all relevant information is captured accurately, reducing the burden of manual documentation. O&P professionals can then review and finalize these notes, ensuring high-quality records without the tedious process of transcription. With large sample data available from the orthopedic surgery world and leveraging our own Large Language Model (LLM), Nymbl has piloted this functionality and can confirm that AI technology can create meaningful efficiencies. These efficiencies turn into more time for practitioners to see patients, and in some cases, practitioners were able to see two or more patients a day with this capability enabled. Optimized Billing Processes: Our most ambitious project focuses on revolutionizing the billing process. Nymbl’s AI suggests appropriate billing codes and modifiers based on the clinical data provided. It also alerts users when there is a mismatch between HCPC codes and the products used. This feature aims to minimize billing errors, enhance compliance, and streamline the reimbursement process, ultimately improving the financial health of medical practices. Augmenting Human Expertise with AI The goal of AI in O&P practices isn’t to replace human expertise but to augment it. AI can handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as scheduling, documentation, and preliminary diagnostics. This frees up staff to concentrate on complex decision-making and patient interaction. By enhancing workflows, AI helps practitioners maintain high standards of care while managing a growing workload. Ensuring Data Quality and Security For AI to be effective, high-quality data is crucial. Healthcare practices must prioritize accurate and comprehensive data collection. Additionally, robust cybersecurity measures are essential to protect patient information. Collaborating with data scientists and cybersecurity experts can help ensure that AI systems are both reliable and secure, minimizing the risks of data breaches and biased outcomes. Here at Nymbl, we handle that for O&P practices. Navigating AI Implementation in Healthcare Implementing AI in O&P practices requires a strategic approach: Start Small: Begin with AI tools that handle specific, well-defined tasks. This allows for easier integration and less risk of errors. Nymbl solutions can get you started on your AI journey. Continuous Training: Regularly update AI models with new data to improve their accuracy and relevance. As our core business, Nymbl continuously updates our models and our software to maintain accuracy and relevance. Collaborative Efforts: Work closely with AI developers to tailor solutions to the specific needs of your practice. Nymbl employes several AI experts on our product team who work closely with O&P practice leaders who are interested in new use cases and advantages that AI can bring. Conclusion AI holds immense potential to transform healthcare, making it more efficient and effective. By empowering O&P business and clinical leaders to be reviewers instead of doers, AI can help address the challenges of rising costs and talent shortages. However, successful AI implementation requires a focus on data quality, security, and transparency. With Nymbl’s innovative AI solutions for data intake, documentation, and billing, healthcare practices can enhance patient care and optimize operations, ensuring a brighter future for both providers and patients.

Business Intelligence (BI) platform offerings are no longer a niche set of database management tools requiring deep, technical skills. The field has expanded into a competitive marketplace of solutions – businesses now self-select for their specific needs. The result of this healthy competition? Access to data and BI tools is no longer a luxury – it’s an expectation. This has elevated data’s role in strategic planning. For healthcare providers, data allows them insight into optimizing care delivery, enhancing patient experiences, and projecting trends to ensure financial health. Visualizing vast amounts of data is now incredibly accessible, making critical information readily available for informed decision-making. Instead of holding access to data hostage, Nymbl Systems puts your data to work for you. At Nymbl, our BI offerings to customers fall into two categories: “canned” dashboards and customizable, ad-hoc analysis dashboards.

Nymbl Systems has partnered with the Limb Loss and Preservation Registry (LLPR) to make data collection and submission easier for O&P practices that participate in the effort. An automation within Nymbl’s software allows the transfer of LLPR-collected fields from practices to the database without any additional effort on a practitioner’s part. How it Works When an O&P practice using Nymbl Systems decides to participate with the LLPR, their first step is to contact the Nymbl Customer Support team. Then, Nymbl ‘flips a switch’ on their end and begins transmitting data from that practice to the LLPR data base. Users of Nymbl will be able to easily identify any fields transmitted to the LLPR from the business management platform; these fields are marked by a tooltip icon. “The information is automatically sent as employees and practitioners go about their daily routines,” Josh Lau, CEO of Nymbl Systems, said. “It’s designed to be seamless and eliminate any barriers for practices who want to contribute to this incredibly important effort.”

Nymbl Systems is proud to continue supporting LLPR and is excited to continue to see the organization thrive under the new direction of TLI. If you'd like to learn more about Nymbl System's partnership and automation that connects with LLPR's database, contact us directly.

Using an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software system is a non-negotiable in the tool belt of healthcare providers today. But, finding the right software that has adapted to the Home Medical Equipment (HME) market is a challenge – one that is only surpassed by the challenge of actually implementing a new-to-you EMR system.

In the realm of DME (Durable Medical Equipment) billing and O&P (Orthotics and Prosthetics) billing, the role of clearing houses is a pivotal link between providers and insurance payers. Clearing houses, such as Waystar, are key players in smoothing the path of revenue cycle management. Let’s dive into the role of clearing houses, the services they offer, and how they integrate with EMRs.

Many practitioners like to joke that insurance payers are more often in the business of denying claims than paying them… and from my point of view, they have a point. To maintain a stable stream of payments, you need a reliable system to help double, and triple check your work.

The significance of this act for orthotists, prosthetists, and their patients cannot be overstated – it represents a monumental shift towards patient-centered care and a statutory and regulatory separation of O&P from the umbrella of DME, allowing for more appropriate regulation in the future.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of home medical equipment (HME) providers, business leaders are increasingly confronted with a trio of challenges: navigating complex payer rules for claims, managing high turnover rates among billing specialists, and grappling with complicated software solutions that impede rather than enhance operational efficiency.