[APCs] [Compliance [ Pt Access] [Pt Accounts] [ Physician/Nursing] [Clinical Data] [Med Info] [M.I.S.] [Resource Mgmt] [Managed Care] [Medical Staff] [Ambulatory Care] [Current Work] [Continuum]
	AMBULATORY CARE/PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
	Healthcare cost-containment pressures are creating new opportunities and new challenges for ambulatory care facilities simultaneously. Whether they are independent facilities or affiliated with larger hospital based institutions, ambulatory-care centers must strive to maintain clinical excellence while cutting costs and handling increased demand.  Common Concerns  Cardiology, orthopedics, internal medicine, ophthalmology, infusion therapy, obstetrics, hematology . . . the number of outpatient care centers is growing as hospitals continue to find lower-cost settings in which to treat patients. Regardless of their clinical specialty or operational affiliations, they all share common concerns. To succeed in today's managed-care environment, the ambulatory care center must be distinguished in both cost and quality from the patients, payors' and providers' perspectives. This has created new demands on the medical staff and administration from the strategic planning level to the most detailed operational levels.  On the strategic level, accurate, efficient and timely documentation allows your facility to enhance revenue, control resources and match case mix to the population treated. On the operational level, the efficient flow of patients through the facility as well as the availability of appropriate documentation and clinical data allow administration and providers to improve communication, reduce costs and, perhaps most importantly, provide the highest level of care. We at Health Systems Management Network believe that documentation and data management provide the foundation for success in the new era of managed care. We have developed a broad menu of proven methodologies to assist ambulatory-care centers in obtaining their cost and quality goals. From a limited engagement for a review of coding procedures to a complete documentation management plan with electronic support, we tailor our recommendations to the specific needs, culture and practices of your organization.
	Effective Approach  After defining the scope and management objectives of our engagement, we begin with an operational assessment that includes a period of working side by side with staff. This allows us to understand the unique culture and practices of your facility. We interview key personnel, identify leaders, discuss problems and discover past successes. Our clients have found that the staff of Health Systems Management Network integrates seamlessly into operations and minimizes time demands on staff. As part of our operational assessment, we will review sets of historical patient data for quality of clinical data and documentation that affects reimbursement.  Our operational assessment is followed by a planning phase that yields a comprehensive picture of your facility's clinical data and documentation practices.We produce a management plan that details our findings, indicates specific areas where immediate returns on investment can be made and recommends long-term improvements that will move the organization toward strategic objectives. We also identify clinical procedures that would most benefit from benchmarking, such as high-risk, high-cost or high-volume procedures.  As desired, we can assist in the implementation of change. We have found that by successfully implementing immediate improvements first, a track record is provided to help make the more significant changes that might be required. This often entails training programs and teambuilding for the development of best demonstrated practices.  Regardless of speciality, size, affiliation or market, the concepts of total documentation management developed by Health Systems Management Network and proven at major facilities around the country, will provide significant returns at your facility.	Services For Ambulatory-Care Centers  Strategic Case Mix Analysis  Rate Setting  Coding Analysis  Managed Care Contract Evaluation  Outcomes Evaluation  Reimbursement Issues  Accreditation Issues  Continuous Quality Improvement Programs  Operational Data Interface with Parent Facilities  Patient Access/Patient Flow  Patient Accounts/Billing  Utilization Management  Case Management  Documentation/Medical Record Management  Staff and Skill Level Assessment  Training/Education  Electronic Patient Record Development  Management Information Services Assessment  Clinical Clinical Documentation Assessment Physician/Nursing Documentation Benchmarking Best Practices Consensus Building
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Health Systems Management Network, Inc. is a healthcare consulting firm specializing in the following practices: healthcare consultants; consulting. managed care. subacute care, patient flow, information systems. electronic patient record management. Electronic medical records, billing,insurance, acute care, case mix, case management, ambulatory care, and resource management are areas of experience. We are familiar with UB, length of stay, DRG, in patient, out patient and TQM methods. More recently Health Systems Management Network, Inc has been pioneering work with APC, (All Patient Grouper). clinical data, clinical documentation. benchmarking. critical paths and receivables. We work with utilization review. acute care hospitals. practice groups. ICD, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM, CPT, CPT-4, HCPCS, HCFA, medicare, referrals. JCAHO, claims, RBRVS, HMO, reimbursement, Joint Commission compliance, regulations, training, reengineering, (re-engineering) total quality management for both inpatient, outpatient.