Continuing the care cycle: 3 things you can learn from tracking patient data

Patient care is an ongoing effort. Its success relies heavily on regular caretaker interventions, and it’s partially dependent on how invested a patient is in their well-being. Patient data also plays a role in the coordination and effectiveness of care.

When skilled nursing professionals are able to easily understand the recurring trends of their patientshealth, they can better focus their efforts. Over time, care efforts can shift from a reactive process of caring for the symptoms of serious conditions to a proactive approach that can prevent certain symptoms from affecting patients.

This can’t happen if patient data is sitting in silos. The data must be collected, compiled and analyzed for providers to utilize its full potential.

Wondering what you could accomplish with predictive analytics and insights?

Here are three things you can learn from tracking patient data.

1. Your biggest opportunities to improve care quality

Most providers assume they don’t need to track patient data because they already have a thorough understanding of each patient’s condition. This misconception causes them to miss out on the opportunity to greatly enhance the care quality levels of their entire organization.

By compiling the patient data of multiple people with similar conditions and treatments, providers can better understand how well they’re performing across the board. They can confirm which efforts work best and identify where their team has the most opportunities to improve.

Some providers may discover that assessment errors or lack of patient engagement have negatively affected treatment results. Others may be surprised to find that they’re performing below or perhaps above their state’s average star ratings. These are valuable pieces of information available via ABILITY CAREWATCH®, and they’re just scratching the surface of what utilizing comprehensive patient data can accomplish.

2. Why readmissions are occurring

Missed opportunities during treatment can lead to more serious conditions for patients and costly consequences for your organization. If you’ve seen a spike in readmissions, it’s time to take a closer look at what’s causing patients to leave your organization and return to a hospital. Assessing the data of a patient’s treatment from start to finish can help you find the turning point of their condition.

Analyzing patient data for a group of individuals, though, is what allows you to spot workflow trends in your organization that need to be improved. One benefits you on a case-by-case basis, while the other can significantly improve the results you’re able to provide all patients. By utilizing the data of all, you can reduce the risk of readmission for many.

3. How much revenue you’re not capturing

In addition to improving quality of care, patient data can boost financial performance. This occurs when you analyze the claims associated with a patient’s treatment records. If all the claims for a treatment haven’t been submitted, accepted and paid in full, revenue is slipping through the cracks.

There’s also a chance that you have untapped revenue in the form of claims that haven’t yet been created for services you’ve completed. This may happen because your billing staff is prioritizing other claims, or maybe, because they’ve overlooked the opportunity to bill for a service altogether. Another possibility is that the supporting documentation you currently have in place isn’t meeting payersrequirements.

There are many additional reasons why a claim may not have been submitted or paid in full. But, you can’t leave money sitting on the table or allow conditions to worsen. With the right approach, a little bit of extra time spent analyzing patient data can lead to significantly stronger financial performance and more effective patient care efforts.