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Topic: Process improvement

Online Patient-Relationship Management Platforms Streamline Office Functions
A sea change is taking place within the health care system. The fee-for-service reimbursement model is being replaced with a value- and outcome-based model of reimbursement in which unnecessary health care procedures, tests, and hospitalizations are penalized rather than rewarded, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine (http://tinyurl.com/ 6nxf6tn). This evolving treatment model is the byproduct of the new age of accountable care, and it is based on the premise that patient-centered care is more effective than billing-centered care. In recent years, a number of technological platforms have been developed to facilitate patient-relationship management, with the goal of cultivating this desirable patient-centric approach, while saving physicians time and money.

Debate Continues Over E-Mail Communication With Patients
I’m on the board of directors of a community health center that is preparing to become a certified medical home. One requirement is creating a patient portal to enhance communication between patients and the health center. Although the center’s IT systems are secure, many staff physicians are concerned about privacy and liability issues, and how communicating with patients via e-mail will affect their productivity.

How to Combat the High Cost of Alienating a Patient
All physicians understand that as health care costs rise, patients demand a higher level of service. This expectation goes beyond the bedside to include every aspect of the patient encounter, from check-in to final statement. Every individual involved in the patient experience has an impact on satisfaction, from receptionists to medical staff.

Outsourcing Day-One and Day-60 Early-Out Programs for Health Care Accounts Receivable
Harsh economic conditions have hurt health care accounts receivable (A/R). Volume has been reduced, patients’ ability to pay has been pinched, and thanks to increasing deductibles and co-pays required by employer-provided insurance plans, health care providers’ patient-pay receivables have mushroomed. The practice of outsourcing patient-liability A/R to outside vendors for recovery has existed for some time. These vendors reach out to patients on behalf of the provider to recover patient-pay balances. This outsourcing process typically takes place after an acceptable statement cycle has completed, usually 60 days from when the patient balance was identified.

CMS Launches Tools to Assist Quality Improvement Organizations, Inform Patients
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 5 announced a new tool for patients and caregivers, and other enhanced initiatives to empower consumers to make informed choices about their health care.

France Provides a Good Example of Access to Primary and Preventive Care
I’m writing this editorial while on vacation in Paris. At lunch earlier this week, I spoke with a Canadian couple from Toronto, an anesthesiologist and a dentist. The wife extolled the virtues of the French system. Earlier this year while staying in the French countryside her teenage grandson woke in the middle of the night with a fever and a severe sore throat. She called SOS Medicin, a physician house-call service, and within an hour her grandson was visited by a physician. The physician charged 55€ (about $75) and apologized for writing an expensive prescription that cost 10€.

Patient Check-In Devices Streamline Front Office Function, Improve Payment Capture
Busy physicians are constantly seeking ways to improve their practices’ efficiency and improve patients’ experience during office visits. In their efforts to streamline office procedures and reduce staffing levels or decrease staff overtime hours, medical practices in recent years have adopted numerous solutions, including electronic medical record (EMR) systems, patient engagement solutions, practice management software, and a variety of other technologies.

How Social Media Will Affect Medical Practices and the Health Care System
Most companies and even a growing number of medical practices recognize that social media have become established as a viable business tool. Many effective medical practices and a large number of businesses are using sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to connect to their customers, recruit followers and promote their services in real time. However, medical practices have yet to realize the opportunity to “connect the dots” and utilize social media in a safe and meaningful way. Whoever achieves this goal first has the opportunity to revolutionize and forever change the medical industry.

A Prescription for Turning Self-Pay Accounts Into Revenue
As a result of persistently high unemployment and increasing costs of health insurance, medical practices and hospitals are seeing an increasing number of patients paying for large amounts of their medical expenses out of their own pockets. According to the Health care Financial Management Association (HFMA) 2009 study, “The Changing Face of Self-Payment in Hospitals,” 97% of hospitals surveyed experienced an increase in self-pay accounts receivable compared with the prior fiscal year. At almost one-third of respondent hospitals, receivables are growing faster than patient revenue.

How to Improve Your Practice’s Forecasting and Collections Performance
The ability to forecast cash flow and collections performance is vital to any medical practice. Yet many practices don’t realize they have valuable data at their disposal to improve these processes and increase revenue. The key to success for many practices is to understand how to target and mine their own data and use them to their best advantage. Effective new collections and performance models are helping to lift the industry out of its “the way we’ve always done it” mindset.