Fastrack goes on the education offensive

PLAINVIEW, N.Y. - No one has to tell Spencer Kay that providers often don't take full advantage of technology. He sees it all the time. "I can't tell you how many people get excited about our bar-coding capability or delivery systems and then don't purchase those modules when they purchase the system," said the president of Fastrack Healthcare Systems. "They say, 'We'll do that later' and later never seems to happen." Or, Kay added, providers get all excited about features designed to make their company more efficient and purchase the product, but, despite their best intentions, never get around to integrating it fully into their daily operations. Fastrack's out to change that. In June, the business software company launched a major educational offensive aimed at making sure clients take full advantage of its products. The impetus: competitive bidding. As reimbursement decreases, providers must become more efficient and productive to offset the reduced revenue. Successful companies, big and small, understand this, he said. The multi-pronged approach to education involves the entire company, Kay said. Employees visit a client's company, observe the workflow, and then suggest ways to use Fastrack's software to increase efficiency and boost profits. Sales and customer service staff pitch in when they detect a client struggling with workflow and efficiency issues. Additionally, Fastrack intends to organize user group meetings and distribute a newsletter that suggests areas where providers can increase productivity and how the company's software systems can help do that. There's another payoff for properly integrating technology: It helps to eliminate mundane jobs like data entry; that increases employee morale and, in turn, boosts productivity," Kay said. "To me, if productivity is up, then costs will go down and that is what we are trying to look at," he said. In other news Fastrack debuts a new promotion this month month called "Get it Free From Fastrack." During the promotion, which runs Sept. 1 to Oct. 31, providers will receive a free licence to use Fastrack for HMEs for Windows/SQL software, at $15,000 value.