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IT Programs That Can Improve Healthcare Cost Reduction Strategies

Healthcare IT can be leveraged for more than just enhanced performance. Learn how the most popular HIT innovations can even save your facility considerable finances.

In an effort to optimize healthcare cost reduction, IT programs and patient data management systems such as EHRs have become integral to healthcare cost reduction strategies. Afterall, the more information a hospital has on patients the more educated, optimized, and cost-efficient an approach to treatment they can deliver.

However, there are dozens of IT-based programs a facility can employ. Which of these programs can be easily implemented and have a proven track record?

Predictive Modeling Systems

Predictive modeling systems have become notably more popular for their ability to use AI to scan through a patient’s EHR and other available data to predict what care they’ll need now and in the future. But how does this help lower costs?

Providers are beginning to use these systems and machine learning algorithms in order to better predict which patients are likely to be readmitted for treatment in a short amount of time. They’re able to do so by gathering data on a patient with a certain condition as well as information from other patients with a similar condition. From there, the predictive modeling system can predict how likely a patient is to be readmitted after treatment.

Patients deemed high risk can then have more resources put towards their treatment or transitioning from one facility to another.

Lowering hospital readmission rates helps lower costs in two ways. Naturally, fewer resources and time are used readmitting and caring for a patient whose conditions flared up. Beyond that, lowered admission rates help your facility bypass payer penalties from readmission reduction programs such as the CMS’.

Prior Authorization Automation

Prior authorization is a necessary part of healthcare, but one that causes strife as it can often ask physicians to fill out several forms and perform manual tasks in order to submit an application for a treatment change. Fortunately, avenues of automation exist for this incredibly monotonous practice.

FierceHealthcare actually illustrated a very promising use case for prior authorization automation in which Holon Solutions in Fort Lauderdale was able to use an automated program to save 50 hours of manual data entry a month.

Using programs like these, clinicians can simply log into their patient’s record and click on an option to request an authorization. Medical grade RFID tablets and computers can even further cut down time needed for prior authorization by removing the need to manually log in altogether. Replacing manual keystrokes with an RFID badge that needs to only be scanned in once can save your staff more hours and also go a long way towards addressing physician burnout.

Telehealth

Several hospitals such as Jefferson Health have been able to gauge patients and their symptoms over telehealth solutions such as video chat apps and messaging boards. Doing so has allowed these facilities to see more patients in a short amount of time and save money/resources on patients that don’t require testing, treatment, and bed/room allocation.

Telehealth, since before the outbreak, has also been used commonly to remotely monitor patients for acute or pronounced changes in their condition, allowing physicians to respond much more responsively to red flag symptoms. This is often done through wearable devices given to patients or mobile apps that allow users to log things such as their vitals, activity rates, and more. Gaining real-time access to this data, physicians can deliver timely changes to treatment plans remotely, eliminating the need of a time and money-draining appointment or a worsened condition due to late adaptations to unhealthy life-style choices.

Healthcare Cost Reduction Strategies Require Investment

Optimizing treatment in such a way that allows you to cut costs for both yourself and your patients takes considerable investment. It takes time to ideate plans and come up with strategies best fit for your specific facility and it takes the proper hardware and staff training to ensure these ideas take off the ground and become realized. But once these investments are made, however, you’re very likely to see them pay off in dividends as patient outcomes improve, physicians experience less burnout, and less time and resources are used up on readmitted patients. For more information on the type of hardware and strategies needed to begin your healthcare cost reduction strategies, contact a specialist from Cybernet today.

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