News & Upcoming Webinars

On January 25, 2017, PDS hosted a free webinar, “Visualizing Effective Healthcare Dashboards,”presented by Russell J. Hendrickson, CEO. Becky Cook, Executive Consultant, and Scott Everitt, MBA – PDS Vice President of Analytic Solutions.

Webinar Description:

With literally dozens of Visualization tools, how can a healthcare user begin to understand the right approach to designing visual dashboards? The use of Visualization tools to focus dashboards is critical to communicate effectively across the organization. 

  Topics Included:

• Understanding leading Visualization software tools
• Best practices in designing and building visual dashboards for:
• Patient Access
• Population Risk Acuity
• Physician Compensation
• Denials Management
• Effective strategies for phased deployment of dashboards
• Understanding how context is critical to any visual dashboard
• Evolving Visualization strategies based on changing organizational needs
  
  

Practical Data Solutions (PDS), a leading healthcare analytics company, is pleased to announce that Thomas Parry of Greenville, SC, has been appointed National Sales Director.

“We are excited to welcome Thomas to PDS,” stated Russell J. Hendrickson, President and CEO of PDS. “He brings significant healthcare sales and marketing experience to our team as we continue to focus on managing healthcare performance through best practice analytics.”

Mr. Parry comes to PDS with 16 years of experience in the healthcare IT industry, most recently with ClearDATA, the market leader for healthcare cloud computing and information security services for healthcare providers and software and service companies. Prior to ClearDATA, he was instrumental in the rapid growth and new market penetration of lifeIMAGE’s enterprise image sharing solutions. Mr. Parry is also considered one of the pioneers of Orthopaedic PACS, playing an instrumental role in taking orthopedic practices digital during his tenure at SECTRA. He earned his BS from the University of West Virginia and his MS from the University of Missouri.

“This is an exciting time for PDS,” said Mr. Parry, “as we continue to evolve our business to meet the rapidly changing needs of healthcare and technology. Our focus on the future, combined with more than 20 years of proven experience, is a true formula for success and continued growth.”

PDS specializes in analytics, dashboarding, business intelligence and data warehousing for healthcare organizations, leveraging industry best practice analytical technology and data modeling, paired with proven healthcare expertise in managing the business of healthcare. PDS solutions are used for revenue cycle, operations, collections, patient access, physician’s compensation, productivity, and clinical and quality reporting. PDS solutions are compatible with data coming from leading healthcare software companies like Epic, Cerner, GE, Allscripts, NextGen, Meditech, Great Plains and other leading healthcare applications.

By Becky Cook, Executive Consultant

Today’s healthcare organizations must measure key performance metrics and push revenue cycle operations to a higher priority level than at any point in history. Recent value-based changes in healthcare have intensified this demand. Yet, no matter how much the focus changes in healthcare, one thing will always hold true: revenue cycle effectiveness will remain the primary responsibility of the practice administrator and CFO.

Our physicians and patients expect outstanding quality and service despite operating at a time when payers are turning our world upside down and demanding more data. Payer contracts with fixed fee schedules are disappearing. Claims are being paid at a percentage of Medicare fees. And new contracts contain provisions for quality standards, incentive payments, risk measurement, patient engagement/access scores and cost savings metrics. If you participate in certain contracts such as MSSP, Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid, Patient Centered Medical Home or Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), you have most likely already been engaged in identifying, tracking and reporting this data.

The common denominator in all these measurement systems is the physician. Although we do not like to think of ourselves as a statistic or have our life’s work defined by a numeric score, we must acknowledge – even if we don’t care much for the system – that the physicians in our groups are being measured by Medicare, Medicaid, payers and physician ranking services that offer ratings to the public.

In my work with multiple ACOs, I’ve encountered many of the measures that payers, both government and private, are using to gauge our groups’ and physicians’ performance. These metrics – including productivity, patient access and quality benchmarks – are critical to your success. As you might expect, the challenge is data that comes from multiple sources, including payers, the Medicare Stars program, required patient satisfaction scores and clinical programs. And none of it fits neatly into a data mart with the billing data we normally work with.

This new data must be managed to blend meaningful pieces into a comprehensive, balanced document that carefully describes to a physician how others view his or her practice and highlights excellence or opportunities for improvement. To create such a report requires the use of new tools and techniques, such as data blending, the use of web-based analytics that can be rapidly built and updated, and delivery to mobile devices – technology still in its infancy in the healthcare environment. And this technology must be easy to use while maintaining the highest levels of privacy and security for our patients’ data.

We are beginning a new journey down a pathway with new payment models, evidence-based care protocols, patient engagement and community involvement. As with other clinic processes where administrators and financial managers have had to implement changes, this is an area where being proactive and making “front-end” improvements can provide significant benefits for better-quality contracting, revenue enhancement and patient retention. Obtaining the best payer rates, outstanding patient loyalty and bonus payments requires the practice to understand and manage both the perception and the reality of clinical quality and patient satisfaction. Measuring outcomes for the “Triple Aim” of improving quality, reducing cost and improving patient access will become the prevailing standard over the next few years. In a challenging healthcare environment where hitting revenue goals is not enough, organizations must be proactive – planning and implementing new strategies with an eye toward future practice improvements. As the New Year continues to bring new changes, successful healthcare practices will be the ones that lead the way.

By Scott Everitt, Vice President of Analytic Solutions

There is a common misconception among healthcare organizations seeking to incorporate Benchmarks into their standard reporting practices. 

Typically, organizations turn to a 3rd party source for benchmarks.  Trade associations like MGMA or HFMA, are familiar sources in healthcare.  The addition of benchmarks to compare key metrics in operational reports is an obvious starting point.

While this is probably the best known way of Benchmarking, PDS has found there are several different types of Benchmarks which have value in assessing organizational performance.  Each type of Benchmark has various benefits and shortfalls, but when used together, they can provide some very persuasive information to managers and stakeholders.

Trend Benchmarks:

As organizations often begin viewing new data points and metrics for the first time, the question typically arises, “We ARE performing at this level for a particular metric.  Where SHOULD we be performing?” My answer is usually “Let’s start off by focusing on being better than we were at this time last year…or last quarter…or last month.”

Trend Benchmarking is a process of evaluating the entity against itself over time.  It can be a particularly useful practice because Trend Benchmarking provides a comparative snapshot for ANY data point the organization wishes to measure. Trend benchmarking can also be useful for organizations who wish to view trending performance without the inherent biases contained in external benchmarks being compared to organizations with differing sizes, missions, resources, or geographies.  Once the implementation of data collection and reporting standards is in place, management should be certain that past and present metrics are calculated the same way. 

While Trend Benchmarks can have distinct advantages for groups beginning the Benchmarking process, there can be pitfalls if the organization only utilizes Trend Benchmarking.  While it’s good to see a positive trend in performance across these measures, the rate of the improvement may not be matching that of the industry as a whole.  Management may be satisfied with the positive trends, but they may not be aware performance is lagging without utilizing a broader benchmarking campaign. 

Internal Benchmarks:

Not all benchmarks need to be derived from a 3rd Party.  In many cases, utilizing Internal Benchmarks can be a more effective way to drive organizational performance.  Internal Benchmarking is the process of comparing locations, divisions, departments, specialties, or even providers against their peer group within the enterprise.  As with Trend Benchmarks, Internal Benchmarking can be done across almost any data point the organization measures.

Internal Benchmarking, if done effectively, can be an advantageous way of identifying particular outliers of poor performance.   These outliers may be driving down the performance of the entire organization.    A great example of an Internal Benchmark is to use averages.  Choose a metric and calculate the average of the peer group.  List all the peers and their score along with average, and then rank the peers.  You can very easily understand who is performing below or above average.  Reports like this provide management with a quick view of where they can focus their efforts.  Internal Benchmarking also removes many of the arguments management teams face.  Low peer performers have a harder time challenging when others within the same peer group are exceeding the average.  Take provider charge lag for instance.  If the average charge lag for the department is 3.2 days, it is hard for a provider to argue why their charge lag is 8.4 days, or 5.2 days higher than their peers.

Internal Benchmarking can also drive continuous improvement even when the organization as a whole is performing well.  By definition, half of all peers being benchmarked will be performing below the average.  Even if the lowest performing group is above a national or regional average, there is room for improvement within the group.  This can help drive competition and ongoing performance improvement.

Care should be taken in using Internal Benchmarking to drive change, however.  Internal Benchmarks can result in dissatisfaction and contention within the organization if not managed effectively.  PDS typically recommends a philosophy of “Generate Light, Not Heat” in utilizing Benchmarks to impact organizational change.  Groups or individuals performing at below average levels should be viewed as opportunities for quick returns on investment, rather than targets for punitive action, unless the poor performance fails to improve. This philosophy will assist management in getting buy in for new initiatives, training, and/or programs to bring about the highest level of improvement, instead of creating hostile or uncomfortable working environments.

External Benchmarks:

External Benchmarks are metrics which are usually submitted to a 3rd Party for comparison against groups of similar size, mission, or geographic region.  This can often be accomplished through submission of a survey or direct data pulls from the billing, scheduling, or clinical systems.  Typically, the 3rd party receiving the data then meticulously scrubs the data, calculates an average or best practice, and quantifies how an organization compares to its peers.  External Benchmarks are very powerful tools in providing insight into performance on a regional or national level.  This information is invaluable in developing strategic plans, highlighting areas where the organization is a superior performer and areas where there is a need for improvement.

The disadvantage to depending strictly upon External Benchmarks to evaluate performance is that there are usually only a handful of measures collected and reported by the Benchmarking Organizations.  Some metrics are incredibly difficult to collect from enough participating organizations to provide a statistically significant sample size.  Those metrics which are collected can be very resource intensive when it comes to collection, calculation, data scrubbing, and benchmark generation.  Additionally, not all organizations calculate certain measures the same way.  Some good examples of metrics with many different formulas for calculation are Days in AR, Charge Lags, Net Collection Rates, Denial Rates, etc.  All said, External Benchmarks are still the most common types of benchmarks utilized by provider organizations.  Why?  Because the comparison to other like entities is the most compelling data points utilized to formulate long and short term strategies and get the organization positioned to improve performance.

In my next blog, I’ll discuss how to apply these types of benchmarks strategically to achieve relationship analysis and predictive modeling.

By Scott Everitt, Vice President of Analytic Solutions

One of the most common questions I am asked by new clients or prospective clients is, “Do you have benchmarks?”  As a company specializing in healthcare business intelligence, it is not surprising that this request is so common.  Typically, PDS is bringing hundreds of new performance metrics to our clients, along with business logic, rules and various dimensions or perspectives for managing these metrics.  As such, it is only natural to want to compare the newly accessible KPIs to similar organizations to see how performance stacks up... and possibly where there may be the greatest opportunities for improvement.

Incorporating benchmarks can be an incredibly useful tool in managing the performance of a physician practice.  KPI dashboards and reports are important, but adding benchmarks can provide managers and key stakeholders with better context and meaning behind the numbers.  Comparing your practice’s performance against similar organizations in key revenue cycle areas such as provider productivity, patient access, collection efficiency, AR management, denials, etc. can be an invaluable tool in driving goal-setting and overall strategy for the group.  Additionally, benchmarking can highlight variances, identify outliers, and provide practice managers with laser-focused opportunities to achieve performance improvement.

However, there are challenges to benchmarking which can make the process discouraging or ineffective if not addressed early on in developing your practice’s benchmarking strategy.  The strategic processes behind a benchmarking initiative can often be time consuming and costly. 

Management teams often struggle to define what to measure or which KPIs are relevant for benchmarking.  There can be uncertainty as to whether the benchmark is calculated the same way as your practice’s key metrics. For example, is the benchmark using gross or net AR, and are they calculating aging from date of service or date the AR was transferred to the current payer, etc.

The greatest risk to benchmarking is in the communication and presentation of the comparison reports.  If not managed effectively, benchmarking efforts can lead to questions of validity of the data and/or applicability of the benchmarks.  As a result, there can be internal resistance to the whole initiative.  Over the years, there have been a countless number of times I have heard providers say, “You can’t compare what I do to some ambiguous average.  I’m different.  My patients are sicker.  The diseases I manage are more complex…”

The fact is, benchmarking has great value in the management of a practice, but there are a number of pitfalls which need to be avoided in taking on the effort. In the coming weeks I will discuss more about best practices on how to incorporate a benchmarking strategy into your practice. I will also share some additional strategies in which benchmarks have been effective in helping drive change within organizations.  

Tulane University Medical Group to Implement PDS iMPower Analytics Suite for Revenue Cycle and Patient Access Performance Management Reporting Practical Data Solutions, Inc. (PDS) announced that its iMPower Analytics Suite will be implemented in early 2015 at Tulane University Medical Group (TUMG), located in New Orleans, LA. TUMG selected PDS' iMPower Analytics Suite for its ability to quickly and easily deliver pertinent and actionable revenue cycle and patient access data into the hands of their executives, administrators and physicians.

“We chose iMPower Analytics to empower our department administrators, revenue cycle management and eventually our physicians to drive improvements in our academic plan environment,” stated Jerry Feddersen, Chief Executive Officer of TUMG. “We needed a solution that is easy to use but powerful enough to provide comprehensive healthcare analytics while maintaining the flexibility for ad-hoc reporting and visualization of data into dashboards. By putting this type of information at the fingertips of our management team, they will be afforded the opportunity to drive improvement and potentially identify additional forms of revenue not currently recognized.”

Read the full story here.
(http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12594338.htm)

Greenville Health System to Implement PDS PRISM Performance Management Technologies and Data Models for Revenue Cycle and Patient Access Practical Data Solutions, Inc. (PDS) has licensed PRISM Analytics and its suite of Performance Management Technologies to Greenville Health System (GHS). PDS will be collaborating with GHS to build an infrastructure that will enable seamless analytical and reporting capabilities for revenue cycle and patient access as GHS transitions to the Epic system in mid-year 2015.

Currently, GHS is utilizing multiple practice management systems due to the acquisition of physician groups made over the past few years. As GHS begins migrating physician practices to Epic, the PDS DASH data blending technology will be used to allow GHS to report across systems during the transition and eventually join with the PDS data models for Epic.

“GHS is a large organization with complex needs, and we believe PDS is best suited to meet those needs,” said Mike Duffey, director of practice financial analysis at GHS. “We look forward to working with PDS to streamline our analytical and reporting capabilities during this time of transition.”

Read the full story here.
(http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12567563.htm)

By Russell Hendrickson, President & CEO

When we started our business 20 years ago, the buzz word was decision support.  Over the years, other buzz words have come and gone – data marts, data warehousing, business intelligence, dashboarding, balanced scorecards, etc.  Today, it’s all about analytics and everybody does it to some degree, but it’s really back to decision support for managing business performance!

In speaking with one of our clients recently, they mentioned having to sometimes tell others in the organization “we just need to GET ANSWERS QUICKLY.”   Navigating the never-ending supply of healthcare data and making fact-based decisions is, without a doubt, a multi-billion dollar consequence to most of our clients.  Although our data consumers want everything fully web and mobile and wish anything they ever wanted to know could instantaneously appear at their fingertips at a touch of button—sometimes getting back to the basics is the most practical solution.   I’m talking about Microsoft Excel—and its ability to publish, communicate, calculate and help data consumers solve business problems and make decisions quickly and efficiently.

The flavors of Business Intelligence (BI) software have evolved over the past two decades, and most of them can do just about any type of analysis and much, much more.  MicroStrategy, QlikView, and Tableau are making tremendous headways into healthcare and offer great promise as new apps are developed with these platforms to solve a wide variety of needs.  As the healthcare industry transforms, these pioneering BI technologies will continue to thrive.  These technologies also have one thing in common – Microsoft Excel.

Love Excel or hate it, bar none, it’s the most widely used reporting tool worldwide.  In addition to any BI software platform’s ability to export data to Excel, Microsoft has dramatically improved the integration of SQL Server and Excel over the past few years.  For healthcare business needs that are still evolving or poorly understood, Excel empowers you to do things quickly – and help people get results to make better business decisions.  Our customers use Excel to quickly publish and communicate ideas until they can be formalized and built into the Enterprise Data Warehouse.  At the end of the day, don’t forget that sometimes you just need to “Get Answers Quickly” and sometimes although not the most elegant.  It’s about data driving decisions—quickly!