The primary objective of any healthcare facility is to provide high-quality care to patients but to reach that goal, there needs to be a firm foundation of efficient business operations. By improving financial and administrative processes, a healthcare facility improves billing transparency, protects data security and privacy, prevents physician onboarding delays, and reduces operating costs. Here we’ll explore how we can make the healthcare environment more efficient and compliant by adopting the latest technology solutions.
5 Ways to Improve Efficiency at Your Facility
1. Reducing operating costs
According to a new report by the Health Affairs Council, 30% of U.S. healthcare spending is attributed to administrative waste, which means as much as $600 billion a year goes into non-clinical operations. Healthcare software solutions can free administrative staff from labor-intensive administrative work. Facilities using these solutions see a marked reduction in paperwork and clerical errors that tend to occur in manual processes, while staff once needed for non-clinical operations can focus on mission-critical tasks that lead to better patient outcomes.
2. Improving provider data management
Paper-based record keeping has limitations, not least the time consumed in tracking down and accessing records. The standard medical credentialing process at many facilities today continues to be manually managed through a combination of spreadsheets and paper files. This is inefficient, costly, and poses huge business risks for data management, revenue optimization, and regulatory compliance.
Managing provider data through digital technology is both secure and efficient. A digital medical staff credentialing process can significantly cut down the time it takes to onboard new providers, ensuring timely care for patients and accelerating revenue activation for facilities. Using technology to manage provider data helps facilities pass compliance audits with ease and have the most current provider credentials ready for peer reviews when reappointments roll around.
3. Protecting workplace safety
Points of entry present security challenges to healthcare facilities — on any given day, hundreds of patients, staff, vendors, and visitors may enter and exit your facility. You need a way to track visitors. Traditionally a check-in kiosk met this need. However, kiosks require staffing, take longer for vendors to check in, and are relatively easy to bypass.
Wearable technology such as SEC³URE GO! enables mobile and contactless check-ins so staff can quickly verify visitor credentials and which areas of the facility they can access. The digital vendor credentialing service also ensures that all vendors meet your facility policies and vaccination requirements when they arrive onsite.
4. Increasing onsite visibility
Healthcare management software helps schedule patients' appointments, doctors’ schedules, and upcoming medical procedures. Meeting management services such as SEC³URE Link allow facilities and vendor representatives to set and approve appointments prior to a facility visit. This ensures that everyone coming onsite has been vetted and the facility knows exactly who’s onsite and where the meetings are taking place. The connectivity offered by such solutions also closes gaps in the vendor credentialing process.
5. Decreasing onboarding delays
Healthcare facilities must verify the credentials of all medical staff before onboarding can begin. Traditionally, medical credentialing has consumed time and staff resources, as all credentials require manual verification. The process could take months, during which providers and facilities alike could do nothing but wait. In the face of an emergency, such as the 2020 COVID pandemic, such delays drastically impacted medical response times.
IntelliCentrics’ digital medical credentialing service resolves such delays by performing primary source verification in a fraction of the time than it does in a paper-based process and providing facilities with a privilege-ready file for each provider. The technology platform streamlines the credentialing process and accelerates physician onboarding.
Final Thoughts on Onsite Efficiency
By constantly asking how we can make healthcare safer and better, IntelliCentrics continues to develop innovative digital solutions for all levels of your facility. Contact us to learn more about how these solutions can help improve the efficiency of your operations.
