ACC CV SUMMIT - PRE-CONF: Clinical Workflow Redesign and Scheduling

Thursday, January 16, 2014

MedAxiom Consulting, noted that physicians are seeing more patients, working harder and feeling the pressure of these increases. She cited data from MedAxiom’s 11-year trending data measuring operational and financial data including charts showing:

• New patient visits and consults together are up 3%
• Established patient visits are up 30%
• Outpatient imaging are up 13%
• Staffing expense are down 1%

Denise offered that there are four things to think about that are key processes within an organization:

1. Utilization and improvement of office templates
2. Improve the use of non-physician providers
3. Streamline patient encounter flow
4. Hard-wire patient recall and retention processes

She added that many staffing models and scheduling haven’t changed even with significant decreases in inpatient services. Again, using MedAxiom historical data, she points out that cath’s are down 25%, PCI’s are down 27%, inpatient imaging is down 83%. So, why is your staffing the same for such reductions in imaging? The message here is that reallocation of physicians and non-physician providers may be needed to improve efficiency.

Ms. Brown recommended that organizations look at refocusing their clinical and operational work teams by utilizing contemporary hiring and training process, clarifying staff roles, creating standard work and measuring staff productivity to benchmarks from within and outside your organization.

Lastly, Denise explains that re-engineering and revising how your organization utilizes technology and network infrastructure can also increase productivity. She says many systems can use their EHR system to better manage their patient population by hosting internal clinical protocols and working as a foundation for clinical decision support tools. Optimally, an HER can decentralize work across teams and sites. Organizations must invest in IT support, even if it’s outsourced.