“Business problems are like mice: they go unnoticed until they start chewing on the cheese,” and that’s when the alarm bells go off.
A tertiary care cardiac health center that had been in business for the past decade and doing brisk business saw a static pattern in its revenue stream despite the fact that the hospital was at 90 percent occupancy (an impressive figure by hospital standards). industry), even with such high occupancy rates, the hospital was unable to scale its revenues, setting off alarm bells for management.
From the beginning, the apparent problem was the static revenue stream despite the ninety percent average occupancy; this symptom required further investigation to diagnose the root cause.
On further analysis, a set of mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive lists was prepared which shed light on the problem…
Rebranding of the health center:
From a multi-specialty center to a super-specialty center
Change in the communication scheme
Upgrading equipment and soft skills
Baseline change
Optimal use of resources:
Simplification of operating processes.
Management of accounts receivable
Rebranding of the health center:
In careful analysis of hospital records, it was noted that the facility was operating at ninety percent occupancy, but the majority of these cases were low-level general surgery/general medicine cases that blocked a hospital bed for the same period of time. days than a high level. to finish the surgery, but the results were different: the corrective measures consisted of promoting the hospital as a super-specialty center, doing the work at a high level. The center had an excellent cardiac and nephrology infrastructure, which it never promoted, and the general impression it conveyed was that of a hospital that did only routine medical work.
Promotion of super specialties:
This requires a special focus on the particular medical specialties for which we want the center to be a super-specialty center: specialist doctors must be promoted accordingly. They should be encouraged to participate in community programs (through camps held outside the hospital); this is an inexpensive means for specialists to reach people and develop a relationship with the wider community; Special CME (Continuing Medical Education) programs should be held in the hospital facility and all referring physicians should be invited to attend; this allows for healthy interaction between the medical community and also showcases the hospital facilities, building trust among referring physicians. The marketing collateral used by the hospital must also convey the same message.
Streamlining of operational processes:
It was noted in another facility that although the patient was discharged in the morning, the patient was able to leave the hospital only in the afternoon, due to a delay in discharge summary and subsequent delay in final billing, the patient’s bed hospital. it was blocked until the afternoon and did not generate income for the installation. The streamlining of the discharge process ensured a timely exit from the system and the hospital bed was free to be assigned to another patient.
Management of accounts receivable:
An important part of the hospital’s clientele are corporate clients and insurance companies: their clients obtain treatment on credit and the hospital receives payments after a specified number of days as agreed.
Typically, the hospital must submit all invoices at the end of the month to maintain its accounts receivable cycle, but because its internal processes were not in place, the hospital was unable to submit all accounts receivable by the end of the month. the 10th of the following month and then the corporate/insurance company would make the payments, according to the days specified in the agreement from the date of receipt of the invoices. The hospital must ensure the timely submission of invoices to keep its accounts receivable cycle in order.