Using Business Intelligence and Analytics for Orthopedic Billing

Technology has changed the way business in general is transacted. It has also changed the way a medical practice is managed.

Technology has changed the way business in general is transacted. It has also changed the way a medical practice is managed. You can take advantage of business intelligence and analytics to understand how your practice is functioning, where there are gaps that need to be filled and how to improve your orthopedic billing practices.

A business intelligence and analytics system allows you to instantly see the status of your accounts receivable, any areas of weakness in your orthopedic billing practices as well as where there may be unnecessary spending.

What is business intelligence and analytics?

A business intelligence system is a computer software program that collects data about your practice including demographics of your patients, patient diagnoses, charges for services and other relevant information.  The program then organizes the data and provides you reports that allow you to easily identify problems as well as areas in which you are achieving success.

Physicians often overlook the many business aspects of their medical practice.  Even sole practitioners have departments they may not even think about as being departments.  The business intelligence system will also analyze these departments and show you areas of success as well as identify deficiencies.  For example, some areas of your practice that can be identified as departments are:

• The front desk receptionist.
• The billing clerk.
• Human resources, which deals with employment issues including hiring, firing, payroll and benefits.
• Ordering supplies.
• Purchasing equipment, including investments in new technology.

Even an excellent human practice manager can benefit from the assistance of a business intelligence and analytics program.  The system constantly collects and monitors data in order to track performance, including where there is wasted spending, inefficiency in administrative practices and even provider errors.

Pin-pointing the inefficiency allows you to increase your productivity and gives you the tools and knowledge you need to make better business choices.

A good system should provide reports in the form of graphs and charts that allow you to review past performance of your medical systems as well as predict the future of your practice systems.  The investment in this type of program gives you an ongoing report in real time of the weaknesses as well as the strengths of your orthopedic billing practices.

The reports identify insurance claims that have been denied and the reasons for the denial. Once you are aware of the common reasons for denial, you can implement changes in your orthopedic billing practices that avoid denials, which in turn makes your practice more profitable.  No more time will be wasted by having to repeat billing.

The generated reports also allow you to identify gaps in performance of ancillary personnel. You can see at a glance where there has been a waste of resources or where poor performance has resulted in collection gaps.

Enhance your orthopedic billing as well as your overall practice performance.

Consistent use of analytics helps you define your business goals and objectives.  You will be able to easily determine, from the business intelligence reports, what you need to do to meet your objectives.  Do you need to decrease the number of patients who are no-shows?  Do you need to increase collection activities and follow-up?  The system identifies fluctuations in your key performance indicators (KPI) and highlights any areas that need improvement.

Image: imagerymajestic/ Freedigitalphotos.net