The Continuing Rise in Rehabilitation Outpatient Care

Hospitals across the country are reporting a constant rise in the number of patients seeking outpatient rehabilitation care.  This trend is driven by several factors, with one of the most notable being the fact that insurance providers are attempting to manage costs by steering patients away from higher cost, inpatient settings.  As copays are also on the rise, patients are also looking to minimize their out of pocket expense while ensuring convenience and quality care.  Operating margins are under constant pressure and the optimization of outpatient care has proven to be an effective solution to improve budget adherence.

Hospital administrators continue to search for ways to optimize the performance, and minimize the cost, of their outpatient rehabilitation departments as the volume-shift from inpatient to outpatient care continues.  Trindent has been very successful in helping our hospital clients manage these challenges by focusing on several key areas – scheduling and registration, documentation and billing, and labor management.

One of our clients experienced a 61% reduction in patient no-shows and a 28% reduction in cancellations due to the development of a more robust proactive scheduling process.  We designed and optimized processes and systems where patient flow was streamlined (and therapist time was best utilized), enhancing the overall patient experience.

We worked with another hospital to improve billable rates by 7% across the organization, as well as reduce accounts receivable and bad debt expense by focusing on improving data integrity and accuracy of information.  We also improved billable rates by use of therapy aides, scheduling tools, performance metrics, and development of daily dashboards.

As one hospital CEO told us, “Every healthcare organization in the country should bring Trindent to the table”.  Contact us for more information about how we can help you to achieve true, rapid, and sustainable improvement.

By: Sally Ryberg