This month, Hannah Corcoran at Orthopreneur covered a key issue in our industry, how can data make a difference in reimbursement for orthopaedic practices?
In the Comprehensive Joint Replacement (CJR) mandate, there is opportunity to leverage bundled payments. For once, surgeons could see an increase in reimbursement – but only if they leverage their data and collect it properly.
Ms. Corcoran interviewed Ortech vice president Michael Barr who is quoted in the article:
What was once a one-sided conversation has now become a negotiation, and it’s based on data.
We are finding this is becoming more and more true for our clients, as they are able to mine their data and extract patient-reported outcomes for bundled payment reporting, and provide insurers with evidence of improved quality of care.
Here is the full excerpt with Michael’s key points –
‘Access is limited when you consider Electronic Medical Records or EMRs,’ says Michael Barr, vice president of sales and marketing at Ortech. ‘EMRs do a poor job of giving clients the ability to query and mine information.’
‘Ortech created a web-based system to capture patient reported outcomes. Their patient surveys recommend what to ask patients at each specific time point along a treatment plan. To set up a bundled payment report, the system identifies the data points that need to be captured, such as quality of life, mental health, range of motion and return to activity,’ Barr says.
‘Two-thirds of those data points can be accessed through an EMR, such as readmissions and complication rates,’ he says. ‘But the big gap that our clients have to address is that patient-reported outcome piece. We take the data that patients complete and push it into our registry application. Once we grab the other 2/3 of the data from the EMR, we create an automated bundled payment report that our clients use to negotiate better reimbursement from payors, and to market themselves.”
Surgeons can also spot trends by leveraging data generated from patient-reported outcomes surveys, allowing them to improve their performance and thus, their reimbursement. It’s this information that can empower surgeons to advocate for themselves.
“Now, our clients can say, We expect more and here’s why; we’re starting to collect outcomes and what we have seen is an improvement in pain levels, activity levels and range of motion,” Barr says. “What was once a one-sided conversation has now become a negotiation, and it’s based on data.”
Read the full story here.
Learn more about our patient-reported outcomes platform, phiDB lite.
