Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic Meets Patients Where They Are with Digital First Statements

Before making the switch to NextGen Healthcare in 2011, Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic was on a limited and outdated EHR and PM system. This inhibited their workflow functionalities and overall efficiency, especially as their clinics were expanding.

Even after their switch to NextGen Enterprise EHR, they still struggled to find a billing solution that met the needs of all the patients they serve. As an orthopaedics specialty, the clinic serves a broad range of patients.

“In orthopedics specifically, we are serving five generations. We treat patients from ages 0 to 100. We serve our local children’s hospital as well as facilities for much more aged patients. We’re trying to meet everyone where they are,”said Jennifer Monroe, Director of Patient Financial Services.

After almost ten years of sending print statements, they looked for an option that was more digital friendly for their large patient base. When the Knoxville Orthopaedics team discovered the functionalities within NextGen Healthcare’s partnership with InstaMed, they found what they had been searching for.

In 2020, Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic realized that they could add a QR code to their statements, which would take patients directly to the payment portal. They quickly saw that patients embraced the functionality, and the clinic saw more rapid responses to statements.

During 2025, the clinic also implemented Digital First Statements to expand payment efficiency even further. Patients now receive a secure link to a digital statement via text or email. Once a patient clicks, opens, and views the statement, the Knoxville Orthopaedics team receives feedback that the statement was received and looked at, so a paper statement is not printed or sent to the patient.

Digital First Statement adoption at Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic has been strong. In the first three months of using the interface, 96% of statements have been successfully delivered to an email address. Of those delivered statements, 72% of patients opened the message, and 32% of them then opened the link and looked at their statement, thus eliminating the need for a printed statement.

To date, Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic is excited about their early success and is looking forward to continued improvements. “We are studying all of our numbers. We’ve had good adoption of the digital statements. People are clicking on them. So, it’s saving us,” said Monroe. Specifically, the team is seeing cost savings for postage and improvements in payment completion.

Postage costs rise every year, so the expense of mailing paper statements quickly adds up. As the number of Digital First adoptees at Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic grows, so will their cost savings on statement printing and mailing. Additionally, the Knoxville Orthopaedic team appreciates the security and insight that comes with digital delivery.

“Mailed statements can lead to all other kinds of complications. They can get lost. They can get in the wrong mailbox. People don’t get them. If they’re receiving them digitally and clicking on them, we basically have the confirmation that they got that notice and that benefits us down the line. If that account goes to a collection status and patients say, ‘I never got my bill,’ we actually have evidence that they did and they looked at it. So, that’s been very beneficial to us,” said Monroe.

Most of all, between direct payment links on mobile and easy-to-scan QR codes, accessing, viewing, and paying bills has become an easier and faster process for patients.

Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic is seeing firsthand how a digital approach meets their patients’ preferences while also promoting streamlined revenue collection and continued success for their clinic overall.