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Program Operations |
Program Administration |
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Program operations starts with the
implementation phase. An implementation team
is assigned early on to work with the
hospital on recruitment, staffing,
scheduling, clinical and quality
expectations, credentialing, space and
equipment resources, interdepartmental
meetings, communications, PCP
communications, marketing and informational
processes and more. Timelines and action
plans are implemented.
Post implementation the program is
transitioned into an ongoing operations
phase with dedicated operations support
assigned. The Operations Director works
closely with the Medical Director to ensure
the program meets expectations including
regular communication with hospital
administration responsible for the
hospitalist program. Operations Directors
and Medical Directors have full access to
centralized clinical, quality, recruitment,
staffing, financial and leadership resources
to mentor and support each program.
Continual improvement is achieved through
ongoing evaluation and review. Initial and
continuing education on coding compliance is
followed by ongoing chart audit reviews.
Coding training is implemented on the web
for ease of use, tracking and certification.
Our Hospitalists become integral members of
the hospital operation including integrating
with the Emergency Department and responding
to codes. Our physicians actively
participate in hospital committees and non
physician patient care services including
assistance in the preparation and conduct of
surveys (e.g. JCAHO). Internal operational
review meetings are held weekly to review
each program; its challenges, objectives,
needs, plans and timelines.
Utilizing a 24/7 (dedicated) model for
evaluation, admission, management and
discharge of patients allows our physicians
to bring the best of care in a timely and
efficient manner to each and every patient.
Outcomes improve, patient and PCP
satisfaction improve, costs are lowered,
facility and referring physician capacity is
increased.
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Program
administration drives the business cycle
of each program. Administrative
resources include recruitment, staffing
and scheduling, physician credentialing
(payor), claims processing and
collections, quality and compliance,
coding training and chart audit reviews,
marketing personnel and materials,
payroll, accounting, budgeting and
planning. Each area begins early in the
life cycle of the program and continues
in support of the program.
Task
related support services, e.g.
recruitment, grow and diminish as the
individual needs of the program change.
Implementation and Operations personnel
will draw upon these resources as needed
in order to ensure adequate attention
and results.
Process
needs of the program, e.g. claims
processing, are integrated into our
overall processing and reporting
systems. These resources are organized
and managed centrally. Ongoing status
and reporting systems ensure timely and
accurate processing. Each area both
draws upon and informs Implementation
and Operations personnel of needs and
actions required.
Administrative services not only provide
support to the hospitalist program but
also support the information needs of
the hospital and other stakeholders in
the hospitalist program. Reporting on
the status of the program from financial
analysis and planning to recruitment
efforts to improving PCP relations to
improving payor satisfaction is made a
part of the ongoing business cycle.
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Program Leadership |
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Medical |
Operational |
Financial |
Medical
leadership is the foundation for
success. Each of our program’s is built
upon a Medical Directorship role and is
the focal point for each program. The
Directorship role provides both peer to
peer interaction as well as direction
and oversight from our VPMA and CMO.
Working with the CMO, our VPMA provides
assistance and policies and procedures
to each of the Medical Directors for
compliance and consistency of practice.
In addition to ongoing dialogue
throughout the year, we provide an
annual medical director conference in
which we provide updates on clinical,
risk management, coding and compliance,
financial and other current topics. The
director conference venue provides for
person to person interaction among the
physicians and time to exchange issues
and concerns and share best practices.
Robert Holloway, MD is our Chief Medical
Officer and brings extensive experience
in the practice and management of
Hospitalist Medicine. Dr. Holloway
implemented one of the first Hospitalist
programs in the nation in 1990 and has
overseen the implementation and
development of over 40 programs during
the past five years. Dr. Holloway
received his medical degree from The
Ohio State University and completed his
residency in internal medicine at Emory
University. Dr. Holloway is Board
Certified in Internal Medicine, a fellow
of the ACP and is an active member of
the Society of Hospitalist Medicine.
Robert Harrington, MD is our Vice
President of Medical Affairs. Dr.
Harrington has been a practicing
Hospitalist prior to joining IN Compass
and has served as a Medical Director and
Regional Medical Director for IN Compass
prior to assuming the role of VPMA. Dr.
Harrington received his medical degree
from Temple University and completed his
residency at The Medical Center of
Delaware.
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Operational leadership is designed to
manage, monitor, measure and support the
business practice of Hospitalist
medicine. Each program has a primary
point of contact, Director of
Operations, who serves as the liaison
and advocate for the program between the
hospital, program personnel and
corporate support staff.
Our Directors meet monthly with the
hospital to review program status and
progress and are responsible for
opportunity assessments and problem
resolution. In addition to the
Directors, each program has on site
coordinator(s) that provide
administrative support. These
individuals assist with credentialing,
billing, reporting and a wide variety of
administrative demands and are the
administrative contact at each site.
Site coordinators are managed centrally
by our Director of Administrative
Support to ensure consistency and
timeliness.
Utilizing a structure of local primary
resources supported by centralized
management and mentoring assists each
program in staying on target and on
time. Additionally, resources can be
re-allocated to provide cross support
subject to peak demand(s). Each program
has dedicated resources and access to
corporate wide assets. This unique
capability is due to our size and
breadth of operations.
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Financial
leadership is at the core of a
successful program. To that end we have
implemented daily, weekly, monthly,
quarterly, annual reporting systems to
monitor a number of key financial
indicators. Directors of Operations, in
addition to our Medical Directors, are
mentored in the financial implications
and drivers of financial success and are
active participants in the financial
performance of each program. The
Directors of Operations and our Medical
Directors are engaged in the review and
assessment of financial implications of
the program’s business plan. Business
plans and budgets are prepared for each
program on an annual basis and include
expectations, forecasts and plans for
attainment. Monthly analysis and
reviews are held with each Director of
Operations to manage and monitor
progress throughout the year. Daily
census tracking, Daily Charge analysis,
pending claims tracking, physician
credentialing, Days in A/R analysis,
physician to patient staffing ratios,
ALOS, risk management are just a few of
the ongoing indicators managed
Our data
analyst group gathers and prepares a
wide range of performance data designed
to measure People, Quality and Patient
Safety, and Financial outcomes. These
program ‘scorecards’ are published each
quarter and include benchmarking against
internal goals and your hospital’s
comparable provider groups. The
scorecard provides each program a
concise and relevant indicator of key
values provided by the hospitalist
program to the hospital, the physician
community, payors and the patient.
Performance benchmarks led by the
hospitalist group can be uses as a
catalyst for improvement across other
providers.
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