Hometown Health Is Excited to Work with You for the 2016 FLEX Grant. We Are Focusing On
HomeTown Health is excited to work with you for the 2016 FLEX grant. We are focusing on Operational and Financial performance, as well as data gathering in Year 1.
We encourage you to review and answer the assessment questions below, so that we can review it with you on our arrival. The first visit will be a time for us to meet with you and gather financial and operational data to help you determine an action plan to improve the operational and financial status of your hospital.
AdministrationAnswer
How long has your current CEO been with the hospital?How long has your current CFO been with the hospital?
How long has your current COO been with the hospital?
How long has your current CNO been with the hospital?
Are you currently part of an ACO?
If yes, which health system or ACO?
Days Cash on HandAnswer
What was the average day’s cash on hand for the last fiscal year?When does your hospital’s fiscal year begin and end?
Are you using a contract management system?
Are you monitoring clean claim rates?
Who monitors contract compliance?
Who is responsible for working claim edits?
How are they held accountable?
Are you utilizing any tools to maximize collections?
Is so, what tools have been successful?
Does your hospital currently have bond covenants?
If you have bond covenants, are you meeting the required day’s cash on hand?
In the past, have you been penalized for not meeting those requirements?
If so, what types of penalties were imposed?
Days in ARAnswer
Do you have a Patient Access policy for upfront collections?Do you operate a reward/bonus system for upfront collections?
Are financial arrangements made for elective services prior to the date of service?
Do you have a financial assistance policy in place?
Is Medicaid eligibility screening completed on all uninsured patients?
Are patients seen prior to discharge to make financial payment arrangements?
Who qualifies your patients for charity care?
Who resolves the billing edits? Billers, Departments other?
What is average discharge to bill submission time?
Who is responsible for collections? Internal or external?
Are you currently reviewing accounts for missing charges?
Does business office staff currently prepare reports for Administration?
If so, what type and how often?
Salaries to Net Patient RevenueAnswer
Do you currently have a method for determining and modifying staffing?Are variances from core staffing guidelines reported with justification?
Are validation of staffing monitors reported monthly to Quality Committee?
Are you currently using individual departmental staffing matrix to determine needs?
Are you monitoring staffing matrix compliance based on patient volume and census?
How often?
Are staffing adjustments made in order to maximize staffing thresholds?
How many FTEs does your hospital currently have?
Physician IntegrationAnswer
Does the Medical Director participate in policy and procedure development, implementation and reviewing?Is the Medical Director actively involved in the financial side of hospital operations?
Who is your Medical Director?
Where is the biggest opportunity for improvement in medical staff relationships?
How many hospital-employed physicians do you currently have?
Community HealthAnswer
Do you have a Community Health Needs Assessment?If yes, has it been updated within the last 3 years?
If yes, what is the date of the last review?
If yes, is it readily available on your hospital website?
Do you partner with any community organizations to coordinate post-acute care?
Are there more opportunities for community partnerships?
If yes, please list suggestions:
Where do you see the biggest opportunity for increased community involvement?
Swing BedsAnswer
Do you have a marketing strategy in place for increasing Swing Bed census?Do you utilize swing beds to decrease acute care readmissions?
Are your therapists providing 2.5 hours of therapy per week/per patient?
What are your average per day lab costs?
What tools do you use to train your staff? MDS?
What hospitals/SNF do you partner with to receive swing bed patients?
Where is the biggest opportunity for improvement in the Swing Bed unit?
Hospital CensusAnswer
What is your average daily census for acute care?What are your monthly ER visits?
Do you have an ICU?
If yes, what is the average daily census?
Do you partner with an external agency for ICU services?
If so, with whom do you partner?
Do you have a swing bed unit?
If yes, what is the swing bed average daily census?
Do you have a Labor & Delivery unit?
If yes, what is the L&D average daily census?
Do you have transfer agreements with other hospitals?
If so, with whom do you have agreements with?
Revenue CycleAnswer
What percentage of scheduled patients are preregistered?What is your average registration time?
Do you track charts discharged not final billed?
How many physician queries are being issued?
What percentage of queries are being completed?
Do you have a daily meeting to discuss patient care and discharge?
Are denial logs maintained?
Do you track denials by physician? Insurance? By reason code?
Does your staff currently have collection goals set?
Do you have someone on site to assist with applying for Medicaid?
Do you currently have a financial counseling program in place?
What area of the Revenue Cycle has the most opportunity for improvement?
Health Information ManagementAnswer
Do you use certified coders?What is your Case Mix Index?
Have your denials increased since ICD-10 implementation?
What tracking are you doing to monitor coding and denials?
Do your coders monitor charge master generated CPT codes prior to billing?
Is your hospital currently participating in Meaningful Use?
What EHR does your hospital currently use?
How long have you used the current EHR?
What year did you begin participation in Medicaid EHR Incentive Program?
What year did you begin participation in Medicare EHR Incentive Program?
Do you have a patient portal?
Is your hospital connected to an HIE?
What are some health information technology topics of interest? Please list below.
Do you have encoder software to help improve coder productivity?
Clinic EfficiencyAnswer
Do you have hospital owned clinics?On average, how many patients does each of those doctors see per day?
Please list below.
Dr. #1:
Dr. #2:
Dr. #3:
Dr. #4:
Are these physicians actively admitting to your hospital?
If not, which physicians are not admitting and why?
Is your clinic classified as a Rural Health Clinic (RHC)?
How many primary care physicians currently staff the clinic?
Is your clinic classified as a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (FQHC)?
Do you currently use a certified Electronic Health Record (EHR)?
If so, which EHR do you currently use?
Does the current EHR communicate with the hospital EHR?
How many mid-levels do you currently have on staff in the clinic?
Do the clinics/practices operate at break-even or cash positive?
Additional Information
Please comment on any areas you feel your staff would benefit from education.
Please comment specifically on any improvements you feel are needed.
Describe any Best Practices you have successfully implemented.