Saturday, October 3, 2020

Reversing the decline in childhood vaccination rates with data analytics

Rural New England is dotted with small, quaint, antiquated cemeteries. A stroll through any of these historical areas reminds us of the scourge of childhood diseases that are now mostly vanquished. The smaller headstones list the names and ages of many babies and young children who died before reaching puberty.


From the 19th century into the first half of the 20th century, the United States did not have a full armamentarium of vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, smallpox, tetanus, or diphtheria, to name a few. The development of the vaccine has been the single greatest achievement of modern medical science.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the topic of vaccination back to the forefront. As the U.S. and the world await a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19, another important subplot is developing: the falling vaccination rates for the nation’s babies, children, and teens.



Why are childhood vaccinations dipping right now?


There is a growing vaccine hesitancy movement in the United States. Distrust in the scientific community has led to many parents choosing to forgo vaccinations altogether. This is troubling because, in recent years, the United States has subsequently seen pocketed outbreaks of measles and pertussis.

Second, due to the perceived threat of potentially contracting Covid-19, the CDC reported in May that many parents are also now avoiding going into a doctor’s office or any other healthcare office for fear of catching the virus. The net effect has been a significant drop-off in vaccine rates for children of all ages.


Where do we start?


Predictive analytics, patient stratification engines, and rules-based outreach campaigns have tremendous potential to right the ship. Just as vaccine development had a tremendous impact on modern medical science, artificial intelligence and telehealth innovations are now making an equally important impact on healthcare.

The foundation for effective predictive analytics and rules-based outreach campaign is a patient data asset that is curated, updated, and accurate. Correctly inserting patient information into the health record has never been more important. Errors of omission (missing patients who need vaccines) and errors of commission (communicating with a patient who has already been vaccinated) could be highly problematic

Once you have a high-quality data asset, you can use that information to identify cohorts of high-risk patients–for example, children who need important vaccinations. Consider partnering with a trusted, reliable, and secure analytics vendor to aid in patient stratification. This is especially important for identifying children with pressing health concerns leaving them most vulnerable to contracting a virus and for those who live in rural, urban, or underserved communities.

Finally, with this data in hand, it’s time to orchestrate an outreach campaign to patient families using text messaging and e-mails sent directly to the patient’s parents or caregiver. Successful campaigns can be as simple as reminding the parent to contact their provider’s office for the needed vaccines and reiterating the security measures in place to help the patients feel safe enough to return to the office.

Most vendors can automate these functions, avoiding any additional work for the provider or office staff. Outreach campaigns can be easily customized to target high-risk cohorts first, or to spread messaging out over a number of weeks in an effort to smooth out the subsequent demand for vaccine-related appointments.

Additionally, rules-based outreach campaigns can also be used to share trusted, accurate scientific information from a provider to an entire population of patients. Students in most states cannot start school in person without proof of receiving all vaccinations. With many differing voices on the topic of vaccinations, it can be very helpful for parents to receive easy-to-understand messages from their providers reiterating the important role that vaccines play in protecting children and the most vulnerable in society from sickness and death.


Leave the past in the past


We hope to use vaccines to keep these infectious diseases in the past, but to do to that, we need to also get rid of old ways of thinking. Rules-driven, automated outreach programs, while new, have proven to substantially increase vaccination rates. As physicians, we are now able to reach our patients and their parents or caregivers through text messaging, a modern mode of communication that is familiar and comfortable to them. Technology offers us an opportunity of immeasurable value to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases.

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Friday, October 2, 2020

Learning is key to success for independent MDs

As a physician, here’s something you probably know all too well; a pandemic is an exceedingly difficult time to lead an independent medical practice. Just weeks into the pandemic, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) found that COVID-19 had a negative financial impact on 97% of the 724 medical practices it surveyed. But evenbefore COVID, it was still a challenging field.


Small group and independent physicians are working harder than ever before, dealing with everything from complex value-based payment arrangements, to the ongoing acquisition of physician offices, to ever-changing technology. And yet, history tells us those physician leaders who acquire the right set of skills can better weather the uncertainty. The key is gaining the knowledge that will help you not only compete, but capitalize on current trends in healthcare. Online programs are one way to gain the knowledge needed.



Learning During COVID-19


There are a number of skills today’s independent physicians need, either for themselves or their administrators. These range from financial planning to staffing decisions. But if COVID has taught us anything, it’s that knowledge of other areas is needed as well. These include:
Diversity and inclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic, along with the social justice movement, has highlighted issues of health equity and institutional racism that have been plaguing our country and our healthcare systems for decades. Finding out more about this issue will not only give important insights, but help you foster diversity and inclusion in your employee population and ensure greater health equity for the communities that you serve.

Marketing and social media: Whether you are establishing a new practice or trying to grow your current practice, having strong marketing skills is essential. Unfortunately, “How to use Social Media” was never taught in medical school. Taking a marketing class or refresher, or encouraging other staff do so, can help you learn more about what today’s healthcare consumers are looking for, and how to use new social media tactics to reach them.

Project Management: Need to determine how to roll out a new EHR or shift to a new care model? Project management insights are essential. Yet this is another skill set not taught in medical school. Skills in project management help with current practice challenges and can be of value if you decide to move to another organization in the future.

Liability and Compliance: In times of COVID, medical practices confront a variety of new and complex legal issues, especially around malpractice, compliance, bioethics, and HIPAA. This is another topic that can be effectively covered through online education.


Tips for Finding the Right Educational Programs


In the new era of virtual-everything, taking programs to build these skills has become more convenient. Additionally,many certificate programs and online degrees are now accessible financially and take less time to complete. The advice I always give students is,

Seek out programs that meet you where you are. There is a plethora of workforce development programs. Look for ones that have the content that you need to navigate today’s times. Make sure the course provides the CE hours you need and that it is affiliated with a reputable and respected institution.

Compare prices. Affordability is key for any program or service. Many programs offer a range of payment options, especially ones that fit the budgets for smaller practices.

Look for flexible programs, but not at the cost of being rigorous. Good courses will let you work at your own pace; however, they will also require a “check-in” with the instructor, ways to engage with classmates, and reasonable timelines for each unit.

Note who develops and leads the program. You’ll want to explore online programs created by healthcare leaders—instructors with real-world experience—for the healthcare industry.

Look for recognized and respected university affiliations. It helps to have programs backed by recognized institutions that give you a certificate or degree upon completion that means something to you and others.

Going “back to school” takes an investment of time and energy; however, finding the educational programs that meet the needs of you and your practice can provide many benefits. One of the most important is the ability to connect with industry experts and peers who can share their experiences and provide new ideas and solutions.

Additionally, taking programs to gain the skills and insights to survive the current market uncertainty can now be accomplished in convenient and affordable ways. And that experience may well prove to be what you need to future-proof your practice, prevent burn-out, and ensure you continue to meet the needs of your patients.

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Thursday, October 1, 2020

Optimizing exam room and provider time

How efficiently is your practice using its exam room space?


A new study shows that most practices answer that question with, “We’re not exactly sure.” In fact, nearly two-thirds of survey respondents lack visibility into exam room utilization and lose significant revenue as a result, according to a recent study by Porter Research.

The findings may not surprise practice managers responsible for maximizing patient throughput and provider schedules. Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic, the practical effects of insufficient insight into room utilization have become increasingly evident. As patient capacity ebbs and flows, we’ve seen how both patient care and practice viability rely on the ability to maximize patient access using existing staff and space.


A 3-piece puzzle: Rooms, providers, patients


When it comes to room management, the problem is not that practices lack visibility completely. Numerous spreadsheets attest to ongoing efforts to track and optimize available space. However, this current method is time-consuming, which forces practice managers to prioritize menial tasks above practicing top-of-license. Further,.the issue is that current room management methods reveal only a limited picture—and it’s a view seen in isolation.

You may know that you have two patients in the building and one exam room equipped with a portable X-ray machine, for example. But how efficient is it to have the patient who doesn’t need an X-ray occupy the room with the machine, while the patient with a suspected fracture waits in the lobby?

The key to effective utilization is to place patients into rooms provisioned with the right equipment to care for them, just when their providers are available to see them. It doesn’t matter whether a practice owns its space or uses space owned by a hospital or health system. Practices require an integrated view that brings together all three fundamental pieces of the optimization puzzle: room attributes and availability, provider schedules, and patient needs.

The first piece necessary to pull the whole picture together is not information about the space itself. Although it may seem counterintuitive, it’s actually the provider schedule that sets the initial framework for the puzzle to take shape. After all, it’s peoplewe put into each room, and cloud-based provider scheduling platforms offer the best and most proactive accounting of where people should be within a clinic, as well as what they should be doing.

For example, let’s say Dr. Smith cancels appointments due to a family emergency. The first system to know that Dr. Smith will be gone is the scheduling system. With room management layered onto a multi-user scheduling platform, the entire practice can then see the impact of Dr. Smith’s absence on exam room availability in real-time, and proactively flow other providers into those spaces. Likewise, as providers add time to their schedules, systems that instantly cross-reference each other can be used to pull wait-listed patients into open appointment spaces faster.

A platform that “tags” room attributes—such as identifying which rooms are open on Wednesdays, for instance, or which ones are equipped with specific tools—offers additional intelligence that ensures providers and patients can access to the proper equipment at the right time. Furthermore, insights about room proximity and provisioning can be used to help level providers’ daily patient loads and minimize their sprints between patients located at opposite ends of the building, making for happier and more satisfied staff.

Patients also see the benefit of room utilization in the form of more valuable time with their provider. The average length of a physician’s visit is about 17 minutes. With more visibility and organization around room management, providers can shift from patient to patient more effectively—ultimately improving patient care and their experience.

Just as important are the strategic benefits practices obtain from analyzing the data and information these scheduling systems produce. With deeper insights and the flexibility to re-configure room management in multiple ways, practices can solve the three-piece puzzle and improve practice functionality through better resource deployment.


The benefits of interconnected insight


Most practices today handle exam room utilization as an independent function, which results in the lack of visibility noted in the Porter Research study. The simple truth is that practice space cannot be managed efficiently in isolation. At the end of the day, what practices really must control is the clinical capacity created by the interplay of room, provider, and patient.

Clinical capacity management is all about striking a happy balance between empty exam rooms that drain potential revenue and overcrowded spaces that frazzle providers and patients. Practices that synchronize provider schedules with exam room availability gain the visibility they require to ensure their spaces generate revenue, their providers feel supported, and their patients get faster access to the care they need.

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