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Specialty care is growing fast. Over the next decade, adult outpatient volumes are forecast to grow by 18%, as care continues shifting out of inpatient settings and an aging population drives demand for specialist services. The physician workforce is not keeping pace: the Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortfall of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036, with specialty care among the areas hit hardest.
Put simply, practices are being asked to see more patients, with fewer resources, in a reimbursement environment that grows more complex every year.
None of this is getting easier, but practices that have built the right operational infrastructure are finding a way forward. Those that have moved on from standalone tools and built models in which scheduling, clinical workflows and billing are truly integrated are seeing the impact in their numbers.
From fragmented tools to connected infrastructure
Crucially, the practices making these gains aren’t necessarily the best-equipped. More often than not, they are the ones that have made technology work within their daily workflows rather than alongside them.
Many have accumulated a collection of point solutions over time, including scheduling software, EHRs and billing systems that may not communicate with each other. Each tool may work well in isolation, but the problem is what happens at the seams: Duplicated data entry, communication gaps and administrative drag consume time that clinicians and staff do not have to spare.
Properly integrated infrastructure changes that picture. Put those capabilities into a connected system and the patient journey starts to look very different. Scheduling, intake, documentation and billing all feed into each other. Patients arrive having completed intake on their phones. Clinicians open an encounter knowing the patient’s history, not scrambling to pull it together. Notes are generated and structured automatically. Charges are captured without manual intervention. Each step flows into the next.
Point solutions, however good they might be on their own, can’t provide that.
What connected infrastructure unlocks
Our data shows that gains tend to be realized where practices feel the most pressure: in clinical time, patient experience and revenue.
On the clinical side, ambient listening documentation is recovering substantial physician time, typically 45 minutes to two hours per clinician each day, which translates directly into five to 10 additional patient visits. In practices where front-desk staffing is a persistent challenge, digital self-service is absorbing a significant share of the administrative load. Some practices have seen close to 80% of new patients use self-scheduling and digital intake tools, easing pressure on front-office teams while protecting patient volume.
“When practices deploy NextGen Healthcare’s clinical AI, physicians typically recover 45 minutes to 2 hours each day. That translates directly into additional patient visits or a meaningful reduction in burnout, depending on what a practice needs most.” — Srinivas Velamoor, president and CEO, NextGen Healthcare
Patient experience gains are equally clear. Automated engagement and reminder tools have reduced no-show rates by 40%, and the referral loop has been cut in half for practices running connected systems. When patients are reminded, prompted and supported throughout their care journey, they are more likely to show up.
On the revenue side, the results are also significant. Practices using AI-driven revenue cycle management are seeing 45% faster claim resolution, 30% faster denial resolution and a 75% autocorrect rate on claims before submission. In an environment where payers are deploying their own automation to adjudicate and challenge claims at speed, practices without equivalent capability are going to find their cash flow suffering.
Scale and agility are no longer a trade-off
A persistent assumption in specialty care is that integrated, enterprise-grade technology belongs to large private-equity-backed groups with the resources to support complex implementations. The economics of modern AI tools do not work that way. A well-designed ambient documentation solution is as effective for a solo rheumatologist as it is for a 100-physician group. Cost scales with usage, not with organizational size.
Independent practices have something that larger organizations often lack: the ability to move quickly. Dr. Dodji Modjinou, founder and CEO of Advanced Rheumatology Associates of Nevada, describes this as one of the most underappreciated strengths of running an independent practice.
“When we need to implement a change, we do not need an act of Congress to make it happen. We make the decision and move. Add the right technology to that agility — tools that actually work within your workflow — and you are in a very strong position.” — Dr. Dodji Modjinou, founder and CEO, Advanced Rheumatology Associates of Nevada
As an early adopter of clinical AI from NextGen Healthcare, Dr. Modjinou reports that he can no longer practice without it. During encounters, he focuses entirely on the patient. Within 30 seconds of the visit ending, his notes are summarized and ready for review.
Starting small and proving it works
Most of the tools practices need are accessible today, regardless of size. The harder question is getting them to stick.
Practices that have managed it consistently tend to have a few things in common: leaders who are personally committed to seeing changes through, clinical staff who are brought in early rather than handed something new and expected to adapt, and a clear baseline established before implementation so it is easy to measure what has actually changed.
Start small. Pick a single workflow that is costing the practice time or money, put a focused group of clinicians on it and build from what you learn. That kind of proof of concept, done properly, tends to be more persuasive than any vendor pitch. When colleagues in the room have lived the before and after themselves, the case for going further tends to make itself.
“If you demonstrate results and it tangibly makes somebody’s life easier, they are going to use it. Period. End of story.” — Srinivas Velamoor, president and CEO, NextGen Healthcare
NextGen Healthcare is the technology partner for diverse ambulatory practices with evolving business needs. Learn more at NextGen.
