1 min read

[Event] Visit Our Virtual Booth During McKnight's Fall On-line Expo

By Prime Care Tech Marketing on Fri, Aug 25, 2017 @ 08:52 AM

McK VTS.jpg

McKnight's Fall Online Expo will feature three separate webcasts starting at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 20. A panel of experts will discuss essential long-term care issues such as payment, wound, technology, quality, and capital. Attendees will be eligible for 3 free continuing education credits (1 for each webcast that is attended live).

Our Post-Acute Performance Cloud is the first and only cloud-based hosting and self-service platform for running your entire long-term care business. Use our applications to automate claims processing, procurement and workforce, or leverage dynamic operational views to visualize and control financial outcomes.

Meet you there!

Topics: automated procurement automated revenue cycle management system claims management IT hosting services centralize purchasing operational excellence multi-facility operations managed care claims managed services
1 min read

[Event] Visit Our Virtual Booth This Week

By Prime Care Tech Marketing on Mon, Mar 13, 2017 @ 07:22 PM

McK VTS.jpg

Don't miss free educational webinars offered through the McKnight's 2017 Spring Online Expo this Tuesday and Wednesday. And be sure to pop by our virtual booth to chat with the team or download our videos and brochures. We'll also be raffling off a free AMAZON ECHO to those who complete our post-acute business intelligence quiz.

Our Post-Acute Performance Cloud is the first and only cloud-based hosting and self-service platform for running your entire long-term care business. Use our applications to automate claims processing, procurement and workforce, or leverage dynamic operational views to visualize and control financial outcomes.

Meet you there!

Topics: automated procurement automated revenue cycle management system claims management IT hosting services centralize purchasing operational excellence multi-facility operations managed care claims managed services
3 min read

It’s time for IT to step up and save the game!

By Prime Care Tech Marketing on Mon, Aug 29, 2011 @ 11:19 AM

IT must demonstrate its ROI in LTC nowIn the Spring of this year, I used baseball as a metaphor for the “game of Long Term Care.” At that time I said that providers were “going to have to step up to the plate and respond swiftly and powerfully to the curve balls of regulatory changes, the sliders of reimbursement, the change-ups of market pressures, and the fast balls of competition.” Little did I know at the time that the term, “sliders of reimbursement,” was going to be uncomfortably prophetic. Because of the drastic “adjustments” to Medicare reimbursement and declining Medicaid rates, the slider is real – a potential slide downhill, that is; they’re game changers. I would like to take the baseball metaphor one swing further.

A successful swing at the plate requires not only skills, talent, great vision, quick reflexes, good upper body strength, and sound judgment, but a solid bat as well, one that each batter can handle comfortably and confidently. It’s the tool that hitters rely on. In the case of LTC, the “bat” I am referring to is IT (information technology). And it’s time for IT to prove its worth as a tool to identify savings without cutting quality and to prevent unnecessary revenue leakage through automated tools and processes.

Savings – the IT Infrastructure

Let’s start with IT itself. Article upon article and one study after another have clearly identified that the “cloud” offers the scalability, flexibility, reliability, and savings that other methods of IT deployment may not offer. Cloud-based computing means lower initial costs and TCO, because all IT-related procurement, maintenance, management, and upgrades are handled remotely. Further, the cloud’s monthly subscription-based model enables providers to use their capital for other critical areas of their business. Earlier this year, the CIO Consortium identified that, “Reasonable, five-year costs to deploy currently available EMR technology and eliminate paper records range from $254,000 per facility for third party hosted solution (italics and color added for emphasis), $259,000 for vendor hosted Software as a Service (SaaS), and $356,000 for an in-house hosted solution.” Clearly, now is the time to carefully consider the cloud as a solid source for immediate and long-term savings.

Real Savings through IT Tools

What specifically does IT offer that will help providers identify savings, stop revenue leakage, and ensure that they are in compliance with regulations? The answer is automation - automated claims management to stop revenue leakage; automated MDS and RUGs reporting; automated procurement to make sure that purchases are per contract pricing, timing, and quality; automated labor management; and automated real-time Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting.

Automated claims management helps providers not only to generate, review, edit, and transmit claims, but to identify and act immediately on issues when and where they occur. This includes incorrect claims codes, codes changes and regulations, missing codes, poor communication between clinical and billing staff, poor pricing practices, and inefficient and ineffectual internal review processes.

Automated MDS and RUGs reporting lets providers identify facilities most "at risk" with poor survey performance; discover how each of their facilities ranks among its peers; pinpoint facilities which are operating below or above critical primary care staffing levels; detect residents/patients who are clinically at risk; observe the financial impact of MDS submissions by facility, region, and corporation; scrutinize QM/QI’s at a facility, region, or corporate level, and analyze reimbursement rates (RUGs).

Automated procurement involves complete commerce automation (purchase orders, invoices, and product and contract maintenance) and reporting with intelligent direction and feedback for procurement decisions.  It connects multiple facilities, satellite locations, and branch offices to the vendors, products, pricing, delivery terms, and service providers carefully negotiated and selected by their parent company. Automation allows flexibility and customization for each corporate entity to support their partner selection, the business rules negotiated with each partner, their internal G/L structure, and their purchasing chain of command.

Automated labor management gives providers the tools necessary to manage and control that which amounts to almost 60-70% of a provider’s spend – labor. Automation offers applicant tracking, time and attendance, payroll, and human resources management. Not only can providers reduce costs wisely, but also increase productivity.

Automated real-time Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reporting, or a digital dashboard, translates into business intelligence, which to LTC providers means they can quickly analyze and act on census levels, admissions, and discharges; labor hours and costs; and receivables and collections. Armed with this incredibly valuable information, providers are able to monitor how well they are saving money and increasing revenue in real time and take action, when necessary, with surgical precision.

Summary

IT through the cloud will not only help providers survive, but ultimately win, by confidently hitting whatever is thrown at them out of the park.

Topics: long term care business intelligence dashboard cloud computing IT infrastructure Key Performance Indicators Data Mining human resources automated claims management automated procurement labor management MDS RUGs revenue leakage cloud-based computing
3 min read

5 Tactics to Becoming the Fittest in the eCommerce Evolution

By Rusty Zosel on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM

Introduction – A review

HiRes-resized-600Last time, when I addressed the theme of eCommerce evolution, I wrote that for eCommerce to evolve Buyers and Vendors alike must trust each other through communication and consistency in services, processes, and meeting commitments. And they must trust and implement technologies and innovations as well as further refine their practices and reach their goals.

Taking this metaphor one step further, evolution implies the survival of the fittest - a natural selection of those who subscribe to the benefits of eCommerce and understand and implement the steps necessary to fully participate.

eProcurement – What’s in a name?

Going forward, I’ll take the license to substitute the term, “eProcurement,” in preference to “eCommerce.” eProcurement, “the business-to-business sale and purchase of goods and services[1],” helps businesses simplify purchasing and reduce costs associated with operations and transactions processing. Since today’s Vendors and Buyers are able to more readily and openly communicate, eProcurement facilitates negotiating, contract and formulary management, order processing, spend management, and reporting.

eProcurement Evolution - Survival of the fittest

Back to the topic at hand: To fully reap the benefits of eProcurement, Vendors and Buyers alike will have to emerge out of the primordial soup of out-dated procurement practices. (Please refer to the blog entitled, What is the ecommerce evolution?, for more details.) In my opinion, the fittest will survive this natural selection, because they embrace the following five survival tactics.

Five Survival Tactics

Survival Tactic #1: A commitment to “Patronizing Partnership” at all levels within the organization

The fittest Vendors and Buyers will internally promote and put into consistent practice procedures to support an open and free-flowing level of communication within and outside their organizations.

Survival Tactic #2: A commitment to the automated procurement process

The fittest will themselves employ “natural selection” to identify and retain those practices and processes which will enable eProcurement. This self-discovery will compare and contrast current practices with successful eProcurement requirements. Based on this discovery process, Buyers and Vendors will be able to naturally discard practices that are roadblocks and retain or acquire enabling practices. Concurrently, they must also have the tools of technology.

Survival Tactic #3: An IT infrastructure that supports eProcurement

Obtaining and implementing a web-based software application, which integrates all aspects of procurement from contract management to automated GL entries, is the first step in this natural selection process. Next, the fittest will have identified and secured necessary IT systems and infrastructure which will give them enterprise-class features, instant application service delivery and management, easy set-up and use, reliability, availability, responsiveness, security and encryption, scalability, data storage and backup, user and systems support services, Business Intelligence reporting, high availability, business continuity, interoperability with many platforms and 3rdparties, and disaster recovery. Many will find that Cloud Computing Services Providers offer the fittest features, flexibility, and affordability available.

Survival Tactic #4: Create a plan to meet the demand of eProcurement

The fittest have a plan that will put into effect their commitment, best practices, and the required technologies. The plan will include a specific statement of the goals; deadlines; obstacles; people, groups, and organizations which can assist; the benefits to achieving the goal; the skills needed to acquire the goals; and development of the plan. 

Survival Tactic #5: Implement the plan

While this may appear to be a no-brainer, I think it’s important to state, because in the implementation of the plan, the fittest revisit the plan regularly to identify progress made and to readjust the plan’s milestones if necessary. The fittest stay focused.

Conclusion

Following these five survival tactics will help Vendors and Buyers naturally take the steps necessary to be among the fittest in this exciting new eProcurement Evolution world.

What steps has your organization taken to leverage the brave new world of eProcurement?

What benefits have you seen as a result?


[1] SearchCIO.com, definition, e-procuremet (supplier exchange)

Topics: IT infrastructure automated procurement eProcurement Evolution eCommerce eProcurement business-to-business sales partnership

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