“A whole is only as good as the sum of its parts.” Just like health care organizations, this sentence is attempting to integrate disparate components – in this case, metaphors - to increase its effectiveness.

It isn’t as easy in healthcare. Each “part” of a healthcare organization, from the emergency department to the billing office, affects patients’ lives, and the viability of the “whole.” Yet each also has its own priorities, systems, processes and budget. Often, many of the key areas of the revenue cycle are geographically spread out, making communication distant and infrequent. As the pressure mounts to improve overall performance with limited resources, healthcare leaders often ask us, “Where do we begin?”

“There isn’t a definable starting point, due to interdependencies within organizations, and differences between them,” says Paul Fox, Principal Consultant. “For example, if you want to improve reimbursement levels, you may need to improve billing and patient registration – two different areas. However, you should know upfront what your issues are across the board.”

Like a physician who assesses all aspects of your health, Hayes provides “checkups” for healthcare organizations. Hayes’ version of a checkup is called MDapproach. Its methodology includes analyzing three interactive work cycles that determine the effectiveness of your organization: the patient access, clinical and revenue cycles. Within these cycles, we assess the operations, information systems and performance measures.

“Pretty quickly, the puzzle pieces start coming together,” says Bill Berry, Senior Consultant. “Often, the problem is that there are too many unnecessary tasks or hand-offs in the overall process flow. So we start by addressing these, which takes us to different places in the organization.”

Once the ‘diagnosis’ is made, contingency planning can take place. “The worst case scenario is when a department makes a change and doesn’t take into consideration how it could impact other functions,” says Marti Pons, Senior Consultant. “It’s easy to focus on your department’s needs. You have your own budget, and your priorities are different than other departments. However, it is much more effective to have an organization-wide strategy that starts from the top.”

Easier said than done? True. But as everyone knows, it’s better to be pound-wise than penny-foolish.

Learn more about Hayes’ MDapproach methodology.

 Back to the Newsletter Main Page