Live Benchmarking: Words of Wisdom from the Grand Prize Winner
Meet Dr. Deborah Hazen of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Dr. Hazen and her staff were the grand prize winners in athenahealth's 2006 Live Benchmarking competition. An athenahealth client since 1992, Dr. Hazen claims that she could never had succeeded at having her own practice if it wasn't for athenahealth's services.
athenaPulse: Do you have any words of wisdom for other athenahealth clients on how you to keep your numbers down?
Dr. Hazen: Absolutely. There are two key elements to success. The first is learning every patient's eligibility before their appointment. athenahealth posts updated eligibility on patients 72 hours before their appointment so there's no reason not to have that information when they walk through the door. If we know patients are eligible for services before they come in, we know that when we drop a claim, it won't end up on hold.
aP: What's the second element of success?
DH: It's simple. We require that every patient that comes in show us their insurance card. Asking them if they have the same insurance is not sufficient because sometimes they will remain with the same carrier but change from a PPO to an HMO and that affects coverage. If their plan changes at all, even though the ID number may stay the same, the claim will be put on hold once it is dropped.
aP: Is that it?
DH: Basically, yes. We almost never have claims on hold. At the end of each day, I use my electronic device to drop all claims together. As soon as claims have been dropped, I check our hold bucket. Then the first thing in the morning, we check the hold bucket again. We view the hold bucket as the enemy and are very upset when a claim lands there.
aP: What were your numbers?
DH: Our average annual hold lag was .08 days. The other big thing is accounts receivable later than 90 days. We had a rate of 2% for percent of self pay greater than 90 days.
aP: How did you achieve that?
DH: athenahealth prepares weekly aging statements. We always print out the reports and review them - especially any statements that are between 60-90 days.
aP: That's great. How do you keep on top of things?
DH: My staff is great but honestly we are dependent on the tools provided by athenahealth. Thanks to athenahealth, the average number of days a claim sits in accounts receivable is only 19. athenahealth is always one step ahead of others in the field. They were the first vendors to become HIPAA compliant.
aP: Are you excited about your trip to Las Vegas?
DH: Yes! We won a trip for four to Las Vegas and I'm paying for two of my part-time staff to join us. We can't wait.
For assistance with maximizing athenaNet in your office, contact your athenahealth account manager.
