Why Healthcare Financial Planning Must Include Workflow Analysis

As a healthcare provider, your costs are often higher than other businesses. Staffing, utilities, and medical expenses can push your operational costs into the hundreds of thousands annually. In healthcare, financial planning is a necessity to keep your business running so you can continue helping patients. 

You’ve probably spotted obvious savings, such as switching to synthetic drugs where possible, or buying in bulk. But you may not have considered how workflow management is costing you money.  Learn how much you could be throwing away on operational waste and workflow inefficiencies. Also, here are ideas for implementing strategies to improve your operational costs. 

The Hidden Costs of “Just Getting it Done”

Your staff may be operating inefficiently because that’s the way they were trained. Or they might be too busy to learn new, more effective systems. Operating normally is wasting time and costing you money. 

Common causes of workflow inefficiencies include poor communication, outdated technology, and administrative burdens. If you’re still relying on manual data entry or you’re using electronic health records (EHR) software that doesn’t connect to your billing software, your team is wasting time. They may be entering the same data into multiple systems or spending time reviewing each entry for errors. 

Without a cloud-based document management system, your administrative and clinical teams may spend time tracking down relevant information. 

Where These Costs Hide

Although each business is unique, there are common workflow areas that are proven time sucks, such as: 

• Intake: When your patients have to fill out paperwork, your team has to enter the information manually and follow up with insurance companies. 
• Order Tracking: Using outdated systems that don’t integrate with your other software makes your staff reenter data manually. Paper systems require you to fax or email documents to the physician for a signature, which delays patient care and billing. 
• Approvals: Like order tracking, manual approval processes are cumbersome and take a lot of time going back and forth with the approving physician. 
• Medical Records: If your EHR doesn’t integrate with your billing software, your team has to manually enter the data, which is prone to errors. 
• Documentation Delays: When clinicians are overloaded, they may submit incomplete documents to your administrators. They then have to track down the missing information. Without standardized documentation procedures, your administrative team has to decipher information from multiple clinicians and reformat it for billing. 

What to Watch For

Hidden operational costs aren’t always obvious, especially if you’re sticking with long-standing processes. Look for clues that signal operational waste, including missed deadlines, manual tracking, and disconnected tools. 

Manual processes can lead to higher rates of claim denials, and you only get a set window to correct these errors. If you’re missing the deadlines, you’re losing money. 

Frequent billing errors are a sign that you could tighten up your processes. If you notice poor interdepartmental communication, start thinking about how you can improve it. Information silos are a common sign that you’re not operating efficiently. 

Struggling to adapt to new regulations is another sign you need to assess your workflows. When your team is using outdated software, they may be unable to generate reports that meet new regulatory requirements.  

What to Do Instead

Investing in new, connected systems is your first step to home health cost control. A billing solution that integrates with EHR, document management systems, and other software enables you to automate repetitive tasks. 

For example, referral intake automation software will capture patient data from referrals and flag incoming paperwork for missing data. These systems can also verify insurance and match patients with caregivers. 

An integrated document management system designed for home healthcare gives your team access to patient records and other documents without having to chase down clinicians or call multiple offices. These solutions are also compliant with HIPAA and other regulations. These tools will help you standardize handoffs, making data entry easier. 

Finally, encourage your teams to communicate. A culture of communication helps keep dispersed teams connected. Encourage your employees to share feedback and take their suggestions seriously. You never know who holds the key to your next money-saving solutions. 

Big Changes, Big Gains

Overhauling your software systems and implementing new procedures is costly and labor-intensive. But once you’ve made the switch, you’ve given your team the tools they need to simplify their workflows. They can spend less time on tedious, repetitive work and spend more time with patients. 

Your administrative and billing team can spend less time investigating claim denials, chasing down missing paperwork, and other time-wasting tasks. This also reduces burnout, which saves you the cost of replacing staff when they leave. 

Your patients also benefit. You easily coordinate care with multiple caregivers and start treating them faster, instead of waiting for the right paperwork to process. 

WorldView offers healthcare workflow automation solutions that integrate with popular healthcare and EHR software. You can implement our solutions without an entire system overhaul. Start cutting operational costs without disrupting your staff. Contact WorldView for a demo to learn how.