Case Studies: Total HIM Outsource
Prince William Hospital has always looked for new ways to increase productivity within its Health Information Management (HIM) function. After a number of HIM management changes, newly- arrived Chief Financial Officer, Bob Riley, knew he needed to quickly get Prince William “on a path of consistency and currency” or this suburban Washington, D.C. hospital would continue to suffer physician dissatisfaction and increasing AR levels.
Familiar with Precyse Solutions, Riley hired Precyse to evaluate the HIM department and make performance improvement recommendations. Precyse’s initial assessment in early 2004 identified ways that Prince William could dramatically reduce the number of delinquent charts, gain physician confidence and, most importantly, improve chart completion. While a search had begun for a new HIM Director, Precyse jump-started the process with a seasoned Interim Director who immediately filled critical vacancies, launched intensive staff training and began to work collaboratively with other hospital departments.
The speed and positive direction of the changes was so impressive that in February 2005, Riley outsourced Prince William’s entire HIM operations to Precyse. His goal was to guarantee that the progress was not only sustained, but accelerated. In just ten months, HIM dashboard metrics were running at 95% accuracy and DNFB had dropped to less than seven days post discharge. The reaction of the medical staff is just as telling. An independent assessment conducted in early 2006 reported significant increases in ratings for medical records and transcription services. In point of fact, with a 13% increase over the previous study, Prince William’s medical records ranked in the 99th percentile.
“In the end, it all comes down to quality people,” said Riley. The Precyse team has worked hard...The respect of the medical staff has been regained and the confidence level in the quality of the work performed is high.”
Prince William HIM Dashboard
| CRITICAL INDICATORS | YTD JUNE 2006 PERFORMANCE | BENEFIT POTENTIAL |
| DNFB | < 7 days post discharge | Efficient DNFB management |
| Coding Accuracy | 95% | Efficient DNFB management |
| DRG Accuracy | 95% | Efficient DNFB management |
| Release of Information | < 3 days | Customer satisfaction |
| Record Analysis Accuracy-Deficiency Physician satisfaction |
95% | Efficient DNFB management |
| Assembly and Analysis JCAHO compliance |
95% | Efficient DNFB management |
| Filing and Retrieval Physician satisfaction |
95% | JCAHO compliance |
| Cancer Registry | 95% abstracting compliance | CoC compliance |