OVERVIEW
Measuring patient leakage is a complex task; it involves not only tracking where patients are going outside the system and which specialists they are visiting; it also requires a thorough understanding of the provider’s intricate referral patterns and awareness of the system’s limitations.
By addressing these issues, healthcare organizations can strategically grow their service lines and reduce patient leakage, enhancing patient care and maximizing their operational efficiency for improved patient retention and sustainable growth.
CHALLENGE
As mentioned above, knowing your system’s limitations is the first step to understanding why your patients leave, and where else they’re going.
Limitations often include:
- Internal Metrics Limitation: Organizations have strong internal metrics for patient referrals within their system but struggle to track patients going outside the network.
- Patient Leakage: Difficulty in measuring where patients are going outside the system, which specialists they are visiting, and understanding the structure of these referrals.
- Network Integrity and Retention: The need to increase network integrity and retain patients within the system to drive revenue growth and improve patient retention.
- Data Acquisition and Transformation: The importance of leveraging outpatient claims data and transforming it into actionable insights to track patient flow and relationships effectively.
- Operational, Provider, and Patient Factors: Identifying operational challenges, provider relationships, and patient factors that contribute to patient leakage.
APPROACH
HSG’s Insights to Action Methodology takes clients through six key steps to identify problems and create long-lasting solutions.
These challenges highlight the need for a comprehensive approach to measure and manage patient leakage effectively. Through a detailed data analysis, HSG works with hospitals and health systems to identity where leaks are happening, develop strategic plans to stop leaks and regain any loss of revenue, and look for growth opportunities to strengthen the organization.
DATA ACQUISITION
What data do we aggregate to solve the problem?
- Organizations can use internal EMR data for detailed patient information.
- For outpatient and patient leakage data, a claims-based approach is recommended.
- Outpatient claims and professional claims data sets are leveraged to evaluate patient movements both within and outside the healthcare system.
DATA TRANSFORMATION
How do we extract information from the data?
- Claims data is simplified and brought to life through visuals that help make it actionable at various levels (practice, provider, network).
- Specific Workbook Solutions, like Strategic Growth analytics and Patient Flow components, are used to measure patient relationships and leakage.
- Data is then packaged and delivered through HSG Dashboard for a seamless virtual experience.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
What expertise do we apply to find a solution?
- Our data analysis experts review and discuss operational factors, provider relationships, and patient factors affecting patient retention.
- We comprehensively evaluate various metrics and determine which is necessary to track for understanding patient behaviors and movement in or out of the system.
PACKAGING
How do we structure and apply our expertise?
- We establish baseline metrics for patient leakage and bundle those data sets into Workbook Solutions. We also include additional metrics like provider productivity, market demand for specialties, and access metrics.
DELIVERY
When and how do you receive solutions?
- Data sets are published in HSG Dashboard, giving us the ability to look at overall performance and specific details, such as patient destinations and provider relationships.
- Updates are published quarterly and supported by structured discussions with your HSG experts at network, service line, or practice levels.
- Recommended partnerships range from 3-to-5 years to track overall progress.
IMPLEMENTATION & MONITORING
How do we provide ongoing support to your organization?
- With established baseline metrics, business development liaison discussions can take place to target practice-level opportunities:
- Focus on specific specialties creates a better return on investment.
- Addressing operational, provider relationship, and patient factors improves patient retention.
NEXT STEPS
Don’t let valuable patients slip through the cracks- finding leaks is only the first step, it’s important to proactively monitor your providers and network to ensure that any changes you put into motion are being upheld across the organization.
- Service Line-specific growth efforts help clients focus in on the areas with the best potential for success.
- Provider Scorecards analyze provider relationship and identify and remove access barriers, prioritize outreach, and build closer physician-organization alignment.
Discover how strategic growth and patient retention can transform your healthcare organization. Implement proven strategies to expand your service lines and keep your patients within your network.
Contact DJ Sullivan to learn how you can achieve sustainable growth and improve patient care.
