Premier Gastroenterology uses data-driven decision making to manage new practice

How have advanced analytics changed the way you make decisions?

My name is Todd Greer. I’m the CEO of Premier Gastroenterology in Little Rock, Arkansas. I’ve been in the medical field for over 20 years.

We are a new AFC and GI practice that just started with seven physicians, and we use the help of MedEvolve’s revenue cycle teams. I can get paralyzed by analyzing things, and these analytics prevent me from doing that. I’m able to see the big picture and the breakdown each month of what the adjustments are such as write offs and workflow. I can see the volume each person is working and how they compare to MGMA and AAPC standards. The analytics allow you to determine what you need to do and make decisions in a timely manner.

Which key performance indicators do you find most helpful?

Being a revenue cycle guy and wanting to drill down into the weeds, collection rate is a big deal of mine. The date of entry and days in A/R are also key indicators to me. How fast is the claim getting processed, getting put into the system, going to the insurance company & through the clearing house, and moving on board as a clean claim. If it’s a clean claim, how many are going out compared to front end denials. Also, we have a lot of ancillary services, which the scorecard breaks down. Each month I can predict, find trends, and fine turn. I love focusing on trend analysis.

For instance, if one of our doctors takes a two-week vacation at the same time every year, I can explain to him why his collections went down for two months. If days in A/R is 38 days and the doctor takes a two-week vacation, two months is how long his collections will be down. I can show the KPI reports provided by MedEvolve to the providers by putting it in a picture format so that they see the colors (the reds, yellows, and blacks) to trigger their minds, so I can provide a solution.

How have analytics changed the conversations with your providers?

The doctors look forward to their monthly packets at board meetings, or a monthly packet, not as monthly packet. Ready? Yep. It’s ready. I’ll be handing it out later. There is healthy competition between the providers because we are so transparent. That has allowed us to grow. Some of the doctors have charged more than they ever had and seen more patients than they ever thought they could. I have one doctor that now works on Friday and never worked a Friday before, because he sees the value based on the analytics. and he sees that I just pulled some numbers off of the AGA American gastro association website.

I have also been able to track another trend from the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) website. Compared to 2019 – 2021 data, Medicare will be paying an average of 10% less in upper GI lower GI procedures in the future. What are we going to do? Those are changes that we need to address. Medevolve’s analytics has allowed me to compare numbers with the AGA, come up with some figures, and show the physicians how much we could lose with the same amount of work.

How have analytics helped with recruiting new doctors?

The KPI reports allowed us to hire three APNs quickly. We have a doctor coming on board in the end of December and during the interview process, I showed him KPI reports, and he was amazed that we could take care of his practice like this.

Once you show the data to the new physician, most of them become data driven. They are science-minded people, so they get it. It allows that monthly, weekly, or daily reporting for some physicians that want to keep up with what is happening. I show them trend analysis over three months and determine what changes need to be made like how many new patients they need to achieve their goals.

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