Since opening its first facility in April 1999, HealthQuest Physical Therapy (HQPT) has expanded its network to 42+ locations across Michigan, Ohio, and Florida.
The organization dedicates itself to improving community health through rehabilitative care — employing a team of over 161 qualified physical therapists. In 2017, the Detroit Free Press recognized HQPT with the Top Workplace Award.
In fulfilling its mission to enhance patient care, HealthQuest Physical Therapy needed to address a growing challenge many organizations face: Maintaining HIPAA compliance while responding to increased medical records requests.
CHALLENGE
Physical therapists receive record requests from various channels, including collaborative medical specialists and lawyers seeking data on behalf of their clients.
Yet, keeping up with enormous request volumes can be overwhelming.
As HQPT’s patient community grew, manual record exchange became a barrier for staff. They needed a solution capable of scaling their data transfers.
“The growing need for medical records requests exceeded our capacity for our current billing staff. We were looking for a cost-effective solution, that can maintain our customer service standards, be user-friendly for our patients and other requestors, along with maintaining HIPAA compliance requirements.”
HQPT sought help from ChartRequest — the top-rated medical data vendor — to resolve its record exchange needs.
OBJECTIVES
In early 2024, the team at HealthQuest Physical Therapy reached out to ChartRequest. Their top goals included:
- Finding a compatible solution for the RainTree EMR system
- Reducing the time spent on medical record management
- Ensuring compliance with HIPAA, the Cures Act, and all state statutes
- Refocusing staff efforts on patient care and other impactful work
SOLUTION
On July 24, 2024, HealthQuest Physical Therapy partnered with ChartRequest to automate the release of medical information. Staff onboarded in under 30 days with ChartRequestComplete.
“Onboarding with ChartRequest was fast and efficient. Within just a couple of weeks, they were able to integrate with our EMR and website and start completing requests fast and efficiently. They have several dedicated staff to our company and communication has been great.”
ChartRequestComplete is a HIPAA-compliant record release service that processes inbound requests with a 5-day turnaround guarantee. As a custodian partner, HQPT also enjoys:
- White-Glove support and troubleshooting for HQPT and its requestor community
- 24/7 real-time status updates to keep patients, law firms, and other providers notified without picking up a phone
- Military-grade security features and access controls to protect patients’ data from cyberattacks and theft
“Our company standard has been 24–48-hour turnaround. ChartRequest has assured us they are an extension of our company with high customer service standards. They have been able to maintain that standard, and we’ve been very happy with this partnership.“
BENEFIT
ChartRequest processed over 500 requests for HealthQuest Physical Therapy between July 2024 and December 2024. Thanks to our RainTree integration, our record specialists have achieved a 2.4-day average turnaround time for HQPT.
“Something we didn’t have before was a platform that organizes all requests with status of each request. The previous process was very manual, on paper, and could not be reviewed remotely. Having the ChartRequest portal makes things very organized, and we can see the status of every request. I also love the reporting and statistics available.”
Reducing phone calls and eliminating manual processes helped the record management team at HQPT reduce admin burdens and operational delays.
ChartRequestComplete saved the team at HQPT an average of 50 hours per week on phone calls, retrievals, QA, and other essential tasks!
“Removing medical records requests off our to-do list allows us to focus on working medical claims and other duties. ChartRequest’s later business hours also allow for requestors to make their requests, outside the previous timeframes our office was open. The communication is quick, whenever questions arise. Call volume has also decreased, as the requestors are able to see status of their request online.”
At ChartRequest, we’re thrilled to support the staff and patients at HealthQuest Physical Therapy. We’ll continue maintaining a high standard of excellence for HQPT and all of our partners.
