Driving Your Practice Forward, No Matter Where You Are
Eugene Psychological Assessments is a mental health practice in Eugene, Oregon, that specializes in neuropsychological evaluations, including autism, ADHD, and personality disorders, for patients ages two to 30. Founded by Dr. Gretchen Scheidel as a solo practitioner in 2017, the practice quickly grew and became even busier after another individual provider, Dr. Jennifer Hogansen, joined in 2021.
Like many mental health and medical offices in 2020, their in-person operations were strongly impacted by the concerns and restrictions brought about by COVID. Also, like many practices, this greatly increased their remote patient interactions. Even though Eugene Psychological Assessments had always run a good part of their operations virtually, as their staff and doctors are from around Oregon and Washington, they still needed help bringing it all together as their operations grew.
Keeping everything together… even when your team is not
“One of our main challenges was that we had one central office, two full-time medical staff coming from different areas, two completely separate phone lines and two faxes, several other support staff, and I had to bring this all together remotely,” explains practice manager Julie Higdon. “We really had difficulties combining everything until we came across RingRx.”
When Julie says “remotely,” she really means remotely. While originally based in Spokane, Julie has spent the past several years traveling the country full-time in her RV, doubling as her office. Despite always being on the road, she can manage the practice seamlessly, set appointments and answer the phones for 40-plus hours a week – without most patients realizing she may actually be hundreds or thousands of miles away at the time.
“In my role, I need to be able to transfer calls and access faxes immediately, and I also need to be able to send texts from those same phone lines,” adds Julie. “RingRx was really the only platform out there we found that could do that, especially securely. I actually use both RingRx’s phone and desktop apps, so I can jump to the RV’s secure wifi even if my phone isn’t getting a good signal.”
Adding new capabilities to the mix
While the actual testing conducted by Eugene Psychological Assessments is always conducted in person, using RingRx enabled them to provide additional services to patients through phone and text capabilities.
“It was really a game-changer for us and helped take our practice to the next level,” says Julie. “Now our service starts from the moment patients call in; they can be directed to me or a variety of automated messages that provide them all the information they need.” Eugene Psychological Assessments’ doctors also use RingRx’s texting capability daily to share and coordinate directly with patients. “We originally needed better texting capabilities during COVID,” explains Julie, “because patients had to let us know they had arrived at the facility. However, now we’ve expanded that to include other patient communication, including informational text messages for patients. It all reduces admin time and increases efficiency.”
The additional importance of security
Another aspect of RingRx that appealed to Eugene Psychological Assessments was the platform’s built-in security and compliance. “HIPAA compliance and privacy are really crucial for us as well, especially as so many of our patients are children and young adults,” adds Julie. “Having this gives us and the patients confidence to share personal messages and information, as we know it’s secure. It also makes patients more comfortable calling in.”
When Eugene Psychological Assessments decided to switch to RingRx, it took less than two weeks to get everything up and running. Initially, the practice just used it to combine the phone and fax lines, but over time, they have started to use newer features like message dictation, which saves Julie lots of time with transcription and listening. This increased efficiency means she has more time for her other duties as practice manager.
“Driving” the business forward
“Now that we have RingRx in place, we’re looking at adding other providers to the practice, including other evaluation providers and even therapy providers,” explains Julie. “We’re even looking at growing and moving into a bigger office. RingRx has allowed us to do everything without worrying about phone lines, so we can stay cost-efficient and keep things moving.”
This is moving in the literal sense as well, based on Julie’s office arrangement. At RingRx, we’re excited to continue to be a partner for Eugene Psychological Assessments, no matter how far down the road they go.
Discover how RingRx can transform your practice’s communication like it did for Eugene Psychological Assessments. Book a demo today or contact us at (888) 980-6860 and request a free trial.
