There is an increasing need for analytics to help hospitals and health plans systems manage cash collections, comply with government regulations, and improve clinical efficiency and quality of care, speakers told a gathering of national healthcare leaders today at the MedeAnalytics Fall 2012 Client Summit. The two-day summit, being held at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, is sponsored by MedeAnalytics, a leading provider of healthcare performance management solutions.
Summit highlights:
Frank Long, corporate director of patient financial services for Adventist Health's 17 hospitals in four states, and Gary Friestad, corporate patient access supervisor for Adventist Health, detailed how MedeAnalytics' Patient Access Intelligence (PAI) solution is helping them improve upfront cash collections and significantly reduce bad debt. Long noted that, "Our patients like being handed a piece a paper that explains how much they owe. It has improved patient satisfaction."
Patricia Puckett, senior compliance analyst for West Tennessee Healthcare, a six-hospital system with more than 1,000 beds, detailed how the system struggled to respond to Medicare audits using a manual process before adopting MedeAnalytics to help manage an increasing number of government requests for records. "Our goal was to become proactive and get control of correspondence, denials and audits," explained Puckett. "We can now spot potential problems and respond in a heartbeat."
Mark Finch, MD, lead medical director, Blue Shield of California, which insures 3.3 million Californians and coordinates care with 200 medical groups and 300 hospitals, explained how change in physician behavior is being driven by analytics. He noted that in problematic areas like ER admissions and one-day admissions, doctors are able to immediately see the source of the problem and work with colleagues to fix it. "We're demonstrating the effectiveness of being able to move the right information to the right people in a timely manner," he said.
Julius Santiago, manager of business development and analytics, Shriners Hospitals for Children, described how the 22-hospital system used analytics-based solutions to, among other things, develop and implement a revenue cycle infrastructure. "Historically, our organization had never produced bills or insurance information," he said. "It was critical to our overall health that we rapidly adopt solutions for improving our revenue picture, improving clinical performance, and complying with government regulations and audits."
Anthony "Mac" McKeever, chief executive for MedeAnalytics International, compared and contrasted healthcare reform in the U.K. and U.S., noting the critical role analytics plays in solving major challenges in each country's healthcare system.
Daily Summit highlights available
About MedeAnalytics
Founded in 1994, MedeAnalytics delivers performance management solutions across the healthcare system—including hospitals, physician practices and payers—to ensure accountability and improve financial, operational and clinical outcomes.