EVER WONDER WHAT business would be like without computers and the software we run on them? Since May, that's something John Friend, co-owner of MaxMed Medical, Colorado Springs, Colo., has found difficult to imagine.

May is when Friend and co-owner Jack Rocks purchased laptops and patient evaluation software for their field evaluators. The investment in technology is already paying off in several aspects of MaxMed's business.

"Our rehab specialists love it," Friend says. "What it does most is bring a systematic approach to doing patient evaluations. It makes you dot your Is and cross your Ts, which is particularly crucial today, when if you forget to include one little thing [on a claim, certificate of medical necessity or letter of medical necessity], you're going to get denied. And when that happens, the whole process gets stalled out."

Before MaxMed purchased the software and hardware, Friend, who still takes to the field and does evaluations on occasion, and his staff did evaluations by hand, which was time-consuming.

But incorporating new technology into the business operation has done more than simply save time.

"It has really helped on the customer service side of our business," Friend says. "We download the patient cases on a daily basis onto our office server, so anyone in the office can help patients when they call in and the reps have access to the most up-to-date patient information. And that's crucial, because if one of our customer service reps gets a call from a patient, the rep now can instantly access that patient's information on the computer and can help answer the patient's questions even if the rehab specialist who originally did the evaluation isn't around.

"What's nice is once you have your patient's file downloaded, a year down the road when that patient calls you, you already have all the information at hand," Friend continues. "Sure, you may need to update some things that may have changed in the year-such as weight-but you have the basic demographic information in an easy-to-use-and-access file."

Friend also says software would help in the event of a Medicare audit. "It gives [Medicare] a good picture of how thorough an evaluation you did-and everything is nice and neat, printed out and easily understood," Friend says. "I know if I were performing an audit on someone, I would be very pleased to see something like this."

Friend says the software, like any new tool, takes getting to used to, but he says he and his staff were trained on it in one day and using it the next.

And like any piece of software, this system is not without flaws. "We're still working out some of the quirks," Friend reports. "There are some special situations that come up that throw us a curve, but the software company helps us work through it and is receptive because it's helping the program evolve."

So, does Friend believe providers can do without computer software and still operate their businesses? He wouldn't go that far, saying instead, "Let's put it this way: I don't want my competition to get their hands on it."