What Are The Top 5 Things That Come To Mind When You Consider Agency Operations?

Making Adjustments: What Comes First?

Often times, the biggest mistake in operations is just immediately making cuts in staffing to decrease operating costs. More often than not, the problem lies in how you operate. It isn't necessarily how many people you have running the ship.  Let's look at our top 5 things to consider when it comes to operations:

1. Admission Process:  Take yourself through process step-by-step from the time your agency first receives the call to when you are ready to submit the RAP. How many employees are involved in the process? How many "hands" does the referral go through before the completion of the admission? Often times, the process includes a back-and forth between multiple employees that ultimately slows down the process. Who does insurance verification and authorization? Is it multiple different employees? What happens if someone is behind working through your admission process? Who picks up the slack?
2. Nursing:  What is your average time for nurses to complete visits or admissions/ recerts? We all know staff that are slower in completing work, but what is your average for nursing staff? If you employ your own therapists, then you should know this as well. How does this look compared to the rest of your state? Often, it is not about efficiency on the part of the nurses or clinical staff. Many times the issue lies in the process. We see a lot of nursing staff managing things that can be completed by office staff. Therefore, agencies take their most expensive employees to complete administrative tasks. Clinicians can also be hindered when it comes to the EMR and this is our #3 consideration.
   
3. Electronic Medical Record:  Now, this does not mean we are suggesting a change in your EMR. We are telling you to take a hard look at your documentation. There is still a ton of double and triple documenting. When software is first adopted by an agency, often times everything is activated by the agency. Therefore, clinical staff have to jump through every hoop and address so many items that may not even be relevant that  patient's situation. This is a ton of wasted time and money for your agency. Somewhere in the mix of improving accessibility of information to provide the patient can get lost in a sea of data. 
4. ICD 10 Coding:  If you aren't employing certified coders or using them as your coding solution, then stop. You are missing out on accuracy and most likely the right amount of reimbursement. You also need to verify ongoing competence with your coders. This means making sure all the information is present in the charts to  justify the codes being used on the 485. An objective look into the accuracy of your coding is always a good check-and-balance.
5. Billing:  Again, consider how up-to-date you are on billing and collection of receivables. Let's face it, many agencies struggle with outstandings and collecting the money owed by others. Employees get tired of the run around from insurance agencies and patients with unpaid bills. We see many of these get written off because of lack of routine and consistent follow-up to get dollars owed your agency. These employees cost you a lot of money. Consider if the person you have in charge of receivables is the best person to collect for you. What is the process of how and when employees work on these? Who checks to see if it is being adhered to by staff?

This is just a small list of considerations relevant to a good operational assessment. In order to make the most informed decisions, make sure it is all broken down before you make staff cuts and just assume this will fix your issue. 

Let Kenyon Homecare Consulting Help You With Operations:

At Kenyon Homecare Consulting , we help agencies put together the pieces of operations management. It is often the eye of someone objective looking at your agency that can make the difference of finishing in the red or the black. From clinical to finance and marketing, we can help you find a solution to make a difference. Call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online to see how we can help you turn things around in your agency.