Faced with shrinking federal reimbursements and a growing number of new patients seeking treatment under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and care facilities need to seize every advantage to keep costs down. Failure to do so can lead to issues with healthcare revenue cycle management, which can grow to negatively affect the facilities' ability to provide quality care.
At Cape Regional Medical Center in New Jersey, teamwork-based training and education programs focused on sepsis recovery have led to faster recoveries from the infection, and ultimately, reduced treatment costs.
The training focuses on teaching care staff to identify the early stages of sepsis through online courses, electronic mannequin simulations and one-on-one training with doctors, according to The Press of Atlantic City talks with hospital officials.
"Our patients didn't progress to a severe diagnosis because we were very rapidly identifying sepsis and intervening and starting treatment early," Deborah Baehser, vice president of patient services at Cape Regional, told the source. "The patient may have gone in with sepsis but because we started early, they didn't progress with severe sepsis."
As a result, Cape Regional was able to reduce sepsis mortality rates by 13 percent and lower costs by 31 percent. Sepsis patients also spent less time in the intensive Care Unit and were able to be discharged sooner, according to Baehser.
Helping patients speed their recovery is one of the most important aspects of reducing overall health care spending, and ultimately, eliminating care facilities' issues with bad debt. If your facility is experiencing issues with cash flow, it could be time to consider accounts receivable outsourcing. This decision can lead to a more manageable claims load for collector and a reduce losses to bad debt.