It’s common knowledge that training is essential to eliminating common revenue cycle issues—but what if you could quantify just how essential? At Sutter Health, leaders are pioneering this capability with a combined training and analytics department that designs, delivers, and measures the impact of training programs. Patrick McDermott, senior vice president of revenue cycle, and Laura Blickle, revenue cycle education lead, will share more about this team in an HBI webinar on June 26 at 4 p.m. EST. Here are two strategies you can expect to learn:
How to leverage data so that training efforts address operational needs in a timely manner. Typical approaches to training are often rigid and reactive. They don’t address current issues or technology implementations, or begin addressing them too late. At Sutter Health, the training and analytics team monitors monthly performance for a variety of operational areas (e.g., denials, cash collections) in order to identify trends that may need attention. For example, if the team notices an increase in registration denials, they can drill down to determine the particular registration area of the particular hospital causing the denials, then develop targeted training for that group. The team also keeps track of new technologies being rolled out to the revenue cycle so that they can prepare well in advance and administer training in a timely manner.
How to link performance on core revenue cycle KPIs to training efforts. It can be challenging to prove that revenue cycle improvements are the result of training, often because training teams do not have access to or the capability to analyze relevant data. Sutter Health’s unique approach of blending training and analytics staff ensures this is not an issue. Before each training program, the team establishes baseline metrics by which to assess the success of the engagement. For example, the team monitored upfront collections prior to and after training a group of staff on how to properly use the organization’s insurance verification software. Within a month after the training, the team was able to measure that the staff trained collected more cash upfront than they had the entire year before.
Hear more from Sutter Health by joining their webinar. Complete the form below to register!