A healthcare practitioner with a long career in cardiac rehabilitation, Peggy Kraus started a business — Peggy Kraus Coaching — that prioritizes personalized client experiences as she coaches clients on making healthy lifestyle changes. She knew maintaining frequent touch points with her clients to build long-term relationships and keeping their information organized and secure was critical for her success and to helping clients achieve their goals.

By implementing ShareFile and Podio — technology that was easy for her and her clients to use — she:

• Organized and secured client information in compliance with HIPAA
   
• Efficiently scaled her practice with improved organization and data entry
   
• Reduced costs with workflow automation 

“All I have to do is click a button and the patient gets an email and can upload. It’s effortless and seamless.” 

Peggy Kraus 

Owner, Peggy Kraus Coaching

Simple, effective client organization and management

After working in cardiac rehabilitation for 25 years, Peggy Kraus started her own practice transforming the health of her clients through personalized coaching and support. She had a passion for helping people reverse type 2 diabetes by focusing on healthy lifestyle changes around diet, exercise, sleep, and stress. 

But establishing a practice is not easy. New businesses sometimes struggle to find the right software to digitize processes and create time efficiencies needed to grow. 

For example, in the early days of her practice, Peggy recorded patient data by hand and manually entered it into an electronic medical record system. This time-intensive process made it impossible to scale her client base. 

Another common challenge for new businesses is effective client communication. Bigger companies commonly have client portals, but it can be hard for small businesses with limited resources to set up and manage portals for new clients.

Peggy needed a simple solution for herself and her clients, one that made exchanging documents and messages consistent and accessible. 

As a healthcare specialist, Peggy also faced a unique data security challenge: like big hospitals and medical organizations, she had to safeguard patient records and comply with HIPAA.

Peggy needed tools that were simple for her and her clients to use and that ensured seamless and secure management of lab records and data from client visits, as well as enhanced business operations. After a recommendation from Andrew Barbash of The Barbash Network, Peggy turned to ShareFile and Podio for her practice. 

Improving tracking, client data management

Healthcare coaches take a lot of notes when they work with clients. Peggy uses an app in Podio to organize her notes exactly the way she needs, helping her improve her note taking and tracking. 

In the app, she can select client symptoms, update plans, and track a client’s progress toward their goals. She can also capture the session length, which makes time tracking a breeze.

Peggy uses Podio to help manage her business, too. For example, she created an app to track the medical devices she lends patients, including the device ID number, so she knows who had the item last.

Supporting secure collaboration, HIPAA compliance

Peggy’s clients typically complete onboarding documents at the beginning of the engagement and provide her with lab records and other sensitive, personal health information. ShareFile supports secure collaboration and HIPAA compliance. 

Communicating with clients seamlessly

She has an extensive client base to manage, and the customized client portal in ShareFile allows each client to upload and view important information easily and securely.

Peggy gets insights into client activity because she receives real-time notifications whenever they view or download files. She also communicates seamlessly with clients between visits by sending secure messages via ShareFile.

Leveraging technology to protect client data, grow business

Peggy Kraus Coaching is a great example of how small businesses can use technology to prioritize the client. With ShareFile and Podio, Peggy successfully protects her client’s data and also uses automation and digital tools to create new efficiencies that have enabled her to grow her practice.

Learn how ShareFile and Podio can help your healthcare organization deliver a better client experience.