Page 22 - HME Business, May 2017

The Great Claims Data Treasure Hunt
Data Collection 2.0:
A Q&A with Andrea Stark (continued)
is so important. To get this data, providers need to monitor activity by payer. Is your AR [Accounts Receivable] going up? Is it going down? What are your sales doing? How much are we collecting? Evaluate these ques- tions in terms of product and payer mixes. Solid answers to these basic questions can really give you helpful insight to dig in deeper and prune or expand where the numbers support it. From a high-level overview, these are a few starting points. You need to run your reports at the end of the month after all activity is posted. Determine where you sit by payer and product, then do it again next month. The numbers should tell you where change is most needed, especially as you monitor month over month.
HMEB: What are some of the reasons providers may not be collecting the right data?
Stark: Many providers don’t, or can’t, make the time; perhaps they’re frustrated because they’ve been unsuccessful at creating a useful reporting package. But making time is important — we tell clients that collecting and acting on data is something you have to do. If it’s not something you will or can do, then find someone who can get you started and, most importantly, help you be consistent about it.
Not everyone needs outside help for extended periods. Some just
need a jumpstart, a diagnostic health checkup using their data and their software. Others acknowledge they just won’t stick with it if left to their own devices and distractions. Those are real challenges. It is not dis- similar to a personal trainer. For some, they just need to be shown how and they can go from there; others acknowledge they need that outside pressure to hold them accountable. In our firm we see both scenarios. But either way, the end result is a healthier company.
While they all differ, I have yet to find a software package that can’t facilitate the necessary data extraction. I think for some providers this is the initial hang up — they can figure out how to get to the useful data. However, in my experience, the trick is to export the data, get it into Excel or some type of database format, and then manipulate it from there. We’ve taught several courses at Medtrade and at state association conventions with the end goal of getting people over their discomfort of working with exports and database programs. It doesn’t require rocket science. Suppliers sell themselves short all too often, but these are really smart people who can understand the numbers once they get there. After you get a base level of comfort, you can always build up experience with higher functions and do more with the data using pivot tables and other whiz bang — but you just have to get started.
HMEB: Who in the HME organization typically does the data mining?
Stark: It doesn’t really require an IT professional. Most of the billing software packages enable end users to export data. In the right culture, we should be encouraging our AR managers and even our AR staff, intake managers, owners, and other personnel to leverage data to help them perform better. The healthiest companies have a culture that encourages staff to leverage data to solve problems and evolve.
“Data can and should drive business operations and decision making. HMEs that have a
better understanding of their competitive landscape are likely to have more success than those not seeking out opportunities
for greater efficiencies.”
— Ryan Ball, VGM Market Data
“In order to use their data effectively, a provider must first know what are the most significant questions to be asked about their operations, patients, payers, employees and so on,” he says. “Once the questions are defined and written down, extracting the data into useful reports, graphs and dash- boards is very straight forward.”
For Wagner, providers’ lack of data collection is a simple matter of awareness.
“Providers should proactively ask questions of their software vendor as to how and where KPI [key performance indicators] data is readily available,” she explains. “Also, providers often fear that to get to the data needed, it will involve time-consuming running of reports and extensive manipulation of spreadsheets. There are advanced business management software solu- tions that can offer advanced tools to simplify and provide quicker access to reporting and dashboard formats.”
Ball says that providers have traditionally focused on patient care, so many are new to key sales and marketing strategies. He pointed out that multiple software platforms also make data tracking more difficult to use day to day. The goal, he says, should be to not just track key data points, but to enable sales and marketing to use that information in their daily duties.
“Data can and should drive business operations and decision making,” he notes. “HMEs that have a better understanding of their competitive landscape are likely to have more success than those not seeking out opportunities for greater efficiencies. Providers should ask themselves: ‘Who are my largest competitors? How many referral sources exist in
my market? Who are the highest volume prescribers within my market?’ Answers to these are obtainable and should be used to plot sales and marketing engagement strategies.”
“When providers receive a
doctor’s order form, and the
information for a specific patient
on there includes the diagnosis
codes that the physician is
labeling a patient with, the
provider can then drill into its
patient base on that specific diagnosis code.”
— Richard Mehan, Noble House
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