Thursday, October 25, 2018 | Nicole Knight
Remember the “old” days when you would put the telephone receiver into a transmission dock and receive pacemaker data through the phone line? Clearly—we have come a long way since then.
Today’s automated, remote management (RM) technologies are far less clunky and they deliver far more data. Add to that the need for in-person visits, the complexity of patient compliance, and capturing charges for these services and it’s understandable that the deluge of data has put so many practices on tilt.
During the recent CV Transforum Fall’18 conference, I heard a lot of questions and concerns about device clinic management: What’s the best way to minimize lost-to-follow patients? How can we provide fast access to patients with urgent needs? How do we make sure we are capturing all the billing? And how can we staff all of this when we’ve got 5,000 device patients who need four RM visits and 1 in-person visit a year, and there are multiple data systems and processes to deal with?
These are just a few of the things practices are grappling with. Let’s face it: reorganizing device clinic operations and staffing to meet all of these needs can feel like turning a cargo ship that’s barreling across the high seas at 300 mph.
Yet, from a patient care and outcomes standpoint, optimizing the device clinic is essential. So if you are one of the many programs looking for ways to improve the infrastructure, staffing, and make sure you are properly reimbursed, now is a good time to ask yourself these questions:
The importance of device clinics will continue to increase as the volume, new technology and variety of data streams grow. Create a device clinic optimization plan now so your organization is prepared for the risks and rewards of these opportunities.
MedAxiom’s blog post is published every Thursday at www.medaxiom.com/blog
Illustration: Lee Sauer
Nicole Knight, LPN, CPC, CCS-P, ACS-CA, is Vice President, Revenue Cycle Solutions and Consulting at MedAxiom. Her decades of hands-on health care experience includes cardiology and neurology practice operations, clinical management, business office management, and consulting for coding and compliance. Nicole maintains her LPN licensure in Louisiana and Florida. She is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders and the American Health Information Management Association. She received her Advanced Coding Certification with the Board of Medical Specialty Coding. Nicole is a certified AHIMA ICD-10-CM Trainer and completed a Lean Sigma Healthcare training course at Johns Hopkins University. She also serves on the Physician Practice Council for AHIMA.
To contact, email: nknight@medaxiom.com
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