If you’re a practice owner or an administrator, you’re no doubt paying very close attention to the practice’s bottom line. And, it can also be safely assumed that you’ve seen a trend toward your reimbursements decreasing year over year, despite you being busier than ever.
More responsibilities. More work. Less time. And less money? How is a practice supposed to survive, let alone have the space it needs to give their patients the attention and care they deserve?
It’s an immense responsibility to bear, and without having the confidence that your daily, weekly, and monthly decisions are leading to better outcomes for the practice and the patients, then burnout — for yourself, your team, and even your patients — is all but inevitable.
Not too long ago, these challenges would equate to a death knell for most independent practices. Either they’d shutter their doors altogether, or they’d get swallowed up in corporate consolidation.
Luckily, all of today’s practice’s have a secret weapon they can use to combat decreasing reimbursements, operational roadblocks, and factors that distract them from giving their full attention to their patients.
The answer to these common practice problems? Data.
But here’s the thing: Data in and of itself is just information. Unless it’s contextualized, it’s just another thing that’s demanding your time and attention. Our goal at DataDx is to provide our partners with a data software solution that helps them achieve the best possible outcomes for their patients and for the practice, including what’s best for each parties’ bottom line.
So, how does DataDx help practice’s save time in their contract negotiations? Let’s take a closer look!
How the right data can help you with contract negotiations
You already know how much time contract negotiations can take. And since many practices don’t have in-house credentialing or contracting specialists, these responsibilities will often fall to you, the practice owner or manager.
Since this isn’t typically your area of expertise, you devote as much time as you can to the task, hoping for the best, or you end up just signing off on the first rates you’re offered in the negotiation phase, and that’s if you even have enough time to renegotiate your existing contracts!
The process is tedious and stressful, and odds are, despite your best efforts, you’re probably leaving money on the table.
Using your already existing practice data, you can create a fact-based story about your practice, one where clear patterns emerge, enabling you to build predictive models for potential future reimbursement.
This gives you a strategic advantage in the credentialing and contracting processes. Your awareness of your practice is far clearer, and your understanding of your operational successes and opportunities means that, given the right adjustments, you can improve your practice’s approach to patient care and your profitability.
You should never have to come to the negotiating table without this level of understanding about your practice. DataDx makes this process simple!
How DataDx gives you an upper hand in contract negotiations
First, we have a proven process in place to help you organize, understand, and leverage your practice data to create better outcomes.
Not only do we have an advanced software system that seamlessly integrates with several major EMRs, but we also have credentialing and contracting experts on staff, allowing you to focus on practicing medicine.
We’ll access all of your existing contract documents, including, where necessary, contacting payors to ensure that we’re using the most up to date and accurate contract information available.
After we’ve accessed your contracts, we’ll create what we call a “payor matrix,” where we’ve gathered and organized the most important information about your payor contracts.
This data will include fee schedules, reimbursement policies, and submission and appeals deadlines. Once the data is in order, this information will become a foundational resource for you and your team when it comes to managing your contracts.
This also will help us understand who your best and worst payor partners are, including information related to who is most responsible for denied or underpaid claims. When it comes time to renegotiate contracts, it will be easier to determine who to move forward with, who to negotiate terms with, and who to cut loose altogether.
Up to date on changes in CPT codes? What about termination deadlines? Fully aware of your fee schedules? DataDx combs through the data to help you discover new or updated CPT codes, terminations you may not have been notified of, and your fee schedules so you can ensure you’re allocating your resources appropriately and billing using the most current and profitable codes.
Speaking of schedules, we also recommend and help you implement a schedule for payor negotiations so that you can begin your contract negotiations during their off season, which gives you an advantage over your competitors who are attempting to work with them during their busier time.
Beginning your negotiations during this time also helps you help them understand the value your practice provides the community, and you can use your practice data to bolster your value proposition and your reimbursement rates.
Of course, these rates rely on you using credible data to create reliable predictive models for future earnings. DataDx makes this possible. You’ll have total awareness of how each and every one of your staff members are contributing to the practice’s health, far greater insight into trends and anomalies in your patient community, and a precise understanding of how your contracts are (or are not) supporting your practice goals.
Save time. Focus and align your team. Make the dollars you’ve earned. Give your patients the attention and care they deserve. The right data platform makes all this possible.
You’d never begin treating a patient without having all the right information required to provide them the best possible care, and we at DataDx believe that your practice deserves that same level of insight. Learn how our software solution can give you the leading edge in contract negotiations, operational strategies, and more!