Live Benchmarking Winners: How Did They Do It?
You've seen the Live Benchmarking winners for Q1 and Q2 this year (if you missed the announcements, click here for Q1 and here for Q2 results). This month, we bring you insider tips on how our winners did it. What did they do especially well? What advice do they have for other practices hoping to win?
"Live Benchmarking has started to generate some real interest among our clients," said Anders Engen, Vice President of Client Operations. "Our winners are excited, but other clients are starting to call us and ask how they can win, too. It's becoming a healthy competition."
"We were very excited when we heard that one of our practices - Altavista Medical Center - had won," said Tammy Tweedy, Director of Centra Health Professional Services. "We were especially proud since that practice runs with a very lean staff with only one biller on site."
Fran Schwartz, Executive Administrator of Boro Park OB/GYN says she and her staff were also thrilled when they heard the news. "We were quite pleased," Schwartz said. "We were all congratulating the Billing Manager of Womencare OB/GYN, the site that won."
So what's the big secret to getting a prize? "My advice is to make sure you collect at the time of service, keep working your claims in hold, and do everything you can to ensure a clean workflow," said Tweedy. "Make the most of the tools that athenahealth has to offer, and winning is definitely achievable."
Schwartz agrees. "We do not go home at night until every transaction for the day has been posted and dropped," she said. "Hospital procedures take a little longer to post, but we're connected to the hospital's PAC and OB/GYN record system so we know when a patient is admitted, delivers, or has an outpatient procedure. We're doing what we can to shorten the time it takes to post."
What other recommendations do winners have? "Partnering and communicating with athenahealth is very important," said Schwartz. "Don't always take EOBs at face value. Work with athenahealth to understand why claims might have been denied, and assist in getting those reprocessed quickly and appropriately. You know what you should be paid for, and by partnering with athenahealth to resolve problems, you can help write rules and alerts that help you and other practices get paid quickly and fairly."
"Live Benchmarking is a great thing," said athenahealth's Engen. "It's a win-win situation: we aim to help clients improve cash flow, and Live Benchmarking helps practices do that. You don't have to be a winner to benefit."
For a quick refresher on how Live Benchmarking is scored, see June's Pulse article. Remember, you can see your overall rank in each category over a 7-day average for a real-time view, and a 91-day average for a quarterly view. In order to qualify to win, your practice must enter at least 600 claims over the quarter, and be live at least 90 days prior to the first day of the quarter.
