Running frequent reports is crucial for radiology practices to expertly analyze data, pinpoint weaknesses and develop informed action plans to maximize ROI and improve patient care. In fact, there are five very specific metrics that every radiology practice should monitor to improve patient turnaround times, increase referrals, decrease cancellations and improve time management. Learn what reports your radiology practice should be running to maximize your profitability below.
1. Referral Sources
Analyzing patterns is a great way to pinpoint your highest and lowest physician referrals during each month or quarter. Running these reports is important for your marketing team to evaluate and plan a good strategy on how to increase referrals based on specialty. Sometimes, the solution is as simple as communicating the various services based on the type of practice/specialty and educating new staff members from your referrer’s office.
2. Average Report Turnaround Time by Radiologists
By analyzing report turnaround times, you can identify outliers that ultimately lead to dissatisfied patients and referring physicians. This should be looked at as a whole, but also by modality, subspecialty and referring physician to name a few. Based on the metrics, you can work with your radiologist to determine what changes need to be made and compare SLAs (Service Level Agreements) you may have with your local radiologist or teleradiology providers. When reviewed on a daily basis, outliers can be identified before they become a problem.
3. Reimbursement Reports
Cash flow and account receivables are extremely important to stay on top of considering the reimbursement cuts the industry is dealing with. So it’s paramount that you perform regular audits. Your review could show that a particular carrier is behind 45 days, when it’s typically paying in 25 days. Upon review you may find that a communication update including all claims containing a new data point was overlooked. Performing regular audits also helps when comparing bill rate versus actual payment. You may find you’re not being reimbursed for your negotiated rates due to an issue or change in the carrier’s database.
4. Canceled Appointments and No Shows
Running frequent reports is crucial to decreasing no shows, improving patient service and saving money. Analyzing reports for trends that lead to no shows, such as failures to send appointment reminders, failures to confirm appointments in advance and sending appointment reminders via phone versus email, will help you construct effective solutions to reverse each trend. Not only will identifying and resolving these issues lead to better customer service, but it will save your practice money in the long-run.
5. Time Management
Running reports to identify the busiest and slowest times of the week is a great way to adjust staffing shifts. This enables you to effectively schedule staffing coverage for each modality as well. For example, you can identify what times you require multiple technologists to manage high patient volumes on certain days and to coordinate lunch breaks effectively. The goal is to limit overtime (especially for shifts scheduled early in the day), so staff members can work more effectively and under less stress to increase their productivity.
