“With athenahealth, our dollars outstanding over 90 days have declined by 50%, and total collections as a percent of billed charges have increased by 10%.”
Stuart Weprin, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer, OGM
Letter from Jonathan
Wish you could enjoy your summer vacation without worrying about chaos back at the office? This month, we highlight some special athenahealth capabilities that reduce your burden when it comes to practice billing, clinical management, and keeping up with new trends. For example, find out how we help clients effortlessly participate in the new Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). And we check in with one practice that’s been using athenaClinicalsSM for more than a year. Discover how life is different now (hint: no more overwhelming paper stacks – instead...an EMR that really benefits the practice, staff and patients). We also introduce our new Client Advisory Board (CAB) which gives clients an official say in our products and services. In the Compliance Corner, you might be surprised to see what the surveys say about health care quality in different states. Finally, we catch up with Lisa Melanson, yoga master and PQRI expert, in this month’s athenista Spotlight. Enjoy!
Inside athenaCollectorSM: How the New CAB Works for Our Clients
Have an idea for improving athenCollector? Want to see new functionality or tweak a current process? At athenahealth, we don’t just talk about working with clients to achieve the best possible solutions and service. Find out how the new Client Advisory Board (CAB) gives clients a real say in what we do.
An Easy Way to Participate in Medicare’s New Pay-for-Performance Program
Wouldn’t it be nice if your practice management system automatically incorporated emerging performance initiatives so you didn’t have to spend valuable staff time figuring out the new rules? Find out how athenahealth’s web-based practice management system, athenaCollector, helps clients take advantage of the new Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
One Year Later: Checking In with an Early Adopter of athenaClinicalsSM
Dr. Dhiren Sutaria became interested in electronic medical records (EMRs) after talking to fellow physicians. More than a year after implementing athenaClinicals, athenahealth’s clinical cycle management service, we check in to see how his practice life has changed.
Ann & Natalie’s Compliance Corner
This month, we report on two surveys highlighting surprising differences in health care quality among states. Where does your state rank and what can we do to improve care? Find out here.
athenista Spotlight: Meet Lisa Melanson
No wonder this athenista has been practicing her yoga: she works on the athenahealth rules engine, one of the fastest-paced areas of athenahealth. Recently, she’s been creating new rules to help clients successfully (and effortlessly) participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative. Meet Lisa Melanson, this month’s featured athenista.
Performance Stats
Days in Accounts Receivable (DAR) dropped 2.5% between June 2006 and June 2007. We saw decreases across almost all areas, but the biggest improvement came in Medicaid, one of our most challenging payer segments.
What is DAR?
athenahealth’s Days in Accounts Receivable (DAR) represents the claim lifecycle end-to-end: starting the day a charge is entered into athenaNet to the day payment for a charge is posted. We calculate DAR by taking the total outstanding, averaged over the last seven days of the month, and dividing by a rolling average of daily charges for the past 60 days. So it’s not simply a measure of a payer’s payment cycle. It’s actually a full assessment of a provider’s A/R cash flow. When DAR drops, your practice gets paid faster. It’s one of the many ways we use data to help you understand (and improve) your practice profitability and workflow.
Best wishes,
Johnathan Bush
