The Medical industry has been pushed by policy and legislation to rethink the way healthcare is delivered. For now dentistry has largely been immune to these pressures. What lessons can be learned from the painful transformation in medicine and how can this help dental practices deliver quality care while protecting profits?
Information without analysis is useless
Memorial Care Health system in Los Angeles was facing a crisis. Emergency room visits at one of their hospitals spiked from 245 to 285 visits a day, partly due to increasing numbers of insured patients under California’s healthcare exchange.
So how did they manage to decrease ER waiting times from 2 hours to less than 5 minutes?
Using data analysis they were able to redesign the delivery system to eliminate bottlenecks and streamline patient flow. In addition, they were able to ensure enrollment with a primary care provider to further eliminate future ER use for common ailments. By using analysis, they were able to both speed up and improve the process. This was a true win:win.
Turning a $22M loss into a $35M gain
Cape Cod Healthcare was facing a crisis. They were losing $35M a year and with the potential for further decreasing reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid. The hospital system was looking at additional losses over the next ten years. With analytics focused on strategic market growth, expense control, and care delivery, they were able to turn around this loss and turn a $35M gain.
Do you know where the bottlenecks are as information flows through your office?
It's likely you are already changing procedures in your office due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. So why not use this time to analyze failing procedures and look to more modern ways of doing things.
How to really use data to institute change
Your practice data should be easy to find and easy to monitor. If you are asking your CPA for quarterly reports, you are not using current actionable data. tab32's complete solution cloud based dental software can provide daily updates for key performance indicators, top line goals that ensure bottom line growth. Without analytics you really are just guessing at possible solutions then hoping for the best.
Socialize your data! It is vital that your entire office knows what your goals are and how they are doing (Check out this video, where a community member talks about how this has benefited the practices in his DSO). It’s most likely that you, as the practice owner or as a busy provider, don’t really know what the problems are. Chances are your team, the front lines performers doing the job every day, they intuitively know what is slowing them down or where the redundant processes are. Share your data and have them think about ways to improve processes around the dental practice. With approval and measurement, you’ll be able to track your improvements to keep those processes that work and quickly change the ones that don’t.
Defining key performance indicators then gaining actionable insights are key steps to streamlining the patients' and team's experience in your office!
It’s important to have a solid understanding of which patients are most profitable and where it’s best to focus future growth. It’s equally important to have systems in place to recruit and retain these key patients. Effective analytics & patient communication will help you fill your schedule; not just with more patients but with more of the right patients to help your practice thrive.
Just as healthcare analytics are key drivers in healthcare reform, practice analytics are key to process improvement in your dental practice. With tab32's full suite dental practice management software, all of your data is in one place making everything tractable! Transform your practice from a system built on a subjective understanding to one based on an objective standardized analysis of key performance indicators aimed to drive your growth and profitability.
See how analytics and a complete solution dental software can help improve your practice by talking with our solution reps today!
No Comments Yet
Let us know what you think