Your clinicians are already busy. The last thing they need is patients juggling multiple access codes, losing track of which program belongs to which clinician, or showing up to a follow-up with no record of what they were doing before.
This article makes the case for moving to patient records in Medbridge and includes what it gets you, what it actually requires, and how to make the switch without disrupting your team.
In short, digital patient management leads to:
- Higher Exercise Adherence: Seven of the ten trials demonstrated significantly better adherence when a digital intervention was added to prescribed home exercise programs compared to control. (Lang, McLelland, MacDonald, Hamilton, et al., 2022, BMC Health Services Research)
- Better Patient Engagement & Motivation: Patients reported increased motivation and accountability when using digital platforms, with reminders and progress tracking reinforcing adherence. (Hinman et al., 2017, Arthritis Care & Research)
-
Improved Patient Outcomes: Digital health interventions in musculoskeletal rehabilitation have been shown to improve pain, function, and quality of life compared to standard care.
(Cottrell et al., 2017, Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
What access codes cost you every single day
Access codes were built for speed, but speed without continuity has a compounding cost.
What's happening right now
When a patient comes in for a follow-up, the clinician technically can look up their existing access code but in practice, that almost never happens. The clinician has forgotten it, the patient doesn't know it, and there's no way to identify the right code from a list. So the program gets rebuilt from scratch. And if any changes were made to the previous program, that created a new code in the system anyway, since every edit to a HEP is treated as a new prescription.
On top of that, there's no way for your organization to see whether patients are following through between visits, how outcomes are trending, or how a patient's care has evolved over time. That data simply doesn't exist without a patient record and once an episode closes on an access code, it can't be recovered.
The "extra step" concern addressed directly
The most common pushback: "Creating a patient record adds a step, and my clinicians are already stretched." It's a fair concern. Here's the honest answer.
Yes, creating a patient record takes a few extra minutes at the start. But once it exists, every follow-up visit picks up where the last one left off. The clinician has context, the patient has continuity, and there's no hunting down a code or rebuilding a program that already existed.
Two workarounds that help
Some organizations have clinicians create patient records during morning chart review, before patients arrive so it's built into prep time rather than done chairside. Others have a front desk staff member or aide handle record creation, so the clinician can focus on building the program during or after the session. Either way, the key is keeping record creation out of the appointment itself.
If a clinician has already built a program under an access code during a session, that program cannot be retroactively attached to a patient record. The data from that episode stays disconnected. This is one of the reasons it's worth getting the record created before the program is built, not after.
A better experience for your patients
Patients can load multiple access codes into the Medbridge GO App and switch between them so it's not that they can't access their programs. The issue is that the burden of managing those codes falls entirely on them. If they lose a code, forget which one belongs to which clinician, or show up to an appointment without it, your staff is the one who has to sort it out.
With a patient record, there's one place for everything. Every program from every clinician on their care team lives in the same record. Their history carries forward across episodes. And when a clinician picks up where someone else left off, they're not starting blind.
What your subscription can actually do with patient records
Access codes
- Program delivery only
- No adherence or engagement data
- No patient record or history
- No RTM or PRO documentation
- No care team messaging
- Data from closed episodes cannot be recovered
Patient records ✓
- One place for all programs across all clinicians
- Full adherence and engagement tracking
- Outcomes data across every episode of care
- RTM and PRO support
- Care team messaging and shared access
- Continuity across every episode of care
Why the data matters for every organization
Without patient records, your organization has no data story. You can't track adherence trends, measure outcomes, understand which programs are working, or identify patients who are at risk of disengaging. That's true whether or not you're doing RTM.
Patient records make it possible to build a picture of care at the individual and population level across episodes, across clinicians, and over time. That's the foundation. Everything else is built on top of it.
If your organization is doing RTM
Patient records are a requirement for Remote Therapeutic Monitoring, it is not an optional add-on. RTM requires documented patient engagement data, which access codes cannot provide. If RTM billing is part of your model now or something you're considering, this is the single biggest reason to make the switch.
If you're actively billing for RTM, every patient you're working with needs a record in the system. Any patient still on an access code is a missed billing opportunity.
How to transition without disrupting your team
Most organizations use a clean cutover: all new evaluations begin with a patient record immediately, while existing access-code patients continue as-is until their next visit. No large-scale rebuild and no disruption to active care.
| Phase | Timing | Key actions |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare | 2–4 weeks before | Confirm the clean cutover approach. Identify 1–2 clinical champions. Configure your org's care settings. |
| Train | 1–2 weeks before | Assign pre-work ("Getting Started with Patient Management"). Run focused live sessions on record creation and program assignment. |
| Go live | Day 0 | All new evaluations use patient records. Champions provide on-floor support for the first week. |
| Reinforce | 1–3 weeks after | Share early wins — adherence data, RTM documentation, patient messages sent. Make the benefit visible to the team. |
Pro tip: rebuilding active patients
If you want immediate tracking on all current patients, you can convert any existing access code into a template in seconds by copying the code, saving as a template, and applying to the new patient record. There is no need to rebuild programs exercise by exercise.
Don't wait for the "right time"
There is no low-disruption moment to make this change. Every week on access codes is another week your patients are managing codes on their own, another week your clinicians are working without context, and another week of episode data that can never be recovered. If RTM applies to you, it's also another week your billing window is closed.
The best time to switch was the first day you had this available. The second best time is now.
Ready to make the switch?
Contact your Account Manager or our Support team to schedule a transition planning session where we'll help you configure your settings, train your team, and go live within weeks.