Heath Directions speaks from experience.
In 1985, Health Directions created the first MSO in the nation.

Since then, we've served hundreds of physician practices, hospitals, health systems, ambulatory care centers and MSOs helping executives master the business strategies that provide a solid springboard for organizational success.

With Health Directions' help, these executives discovered solutions to the toughest problems health care organizations face.

From techniques for developing productivity-based physician compensation formulas, to strategies for turning around billing and collections and complete interim management, Health Directions delivered the answer that made a difference.

Health Directions has built its success by offering the healthcare industry products in demand during given market and economic conditions.

Several years ago the firm built great success in the MSO turnaround arena and developed expertise and skills that are transferable to today's new markets.

Our HealthCare Consulting expertise includes:

1. Financial Turnaround
2. Revenue Cycle Management
3. Operation
4. Culture Transformation
5. Interim Management
6. Strategic Planning
7. Compensation
8. IT Implementation
9. Practice Transition

Financial Turnaround

Health Directions has the skills and knowledge to assess physician organizations financial performance and implement changes with guaranteed results.

• Zero in on organizational infrastructure. Assess management structure. Pinpoint leadership strengths, weaknesses. Evaluate staff ratios. Identify core staff skill sets. Analyze financial/operational data. Focus on under-performing/problem areas. Examine profit and loss. Compare revenue and expenses. Locate collection bottlenecks. Pinpoint operating costs. Evaluate profitability of ancillary business lines. Re-align physician compensation with performance. Attach dollar values to specific enhancements. Execute financial turnaround and transformation plan.
• Monitor, manage, and follow-up.

Benefits

• Increase revenue per physician. Align costs and revenues Increase funds available for physician compensation.
• Boost profit margins.

Revenue Cycle Mgmt

• Review IT system functionality. Identify gross collections percentages. Pinpoint net collections percentages. Quantify days in AR. Analyze claim error rates. Evaluate staffing ratios. Develop a perspective on patient flow. Diagnose scheduling snafus. Analyze AR Management. Document financial verification. Review checkout. Confirm accurate charge entry.
• Revamp follow-up process.

Benefits

• Optimize staffing ratios. Integrate operations and revenue cycle. Improve patient flow. Decrease waiting time. Boost patient access. Cut error rates. Decrease days in receivable. Increase net collections. Reduce denials.
• Push up revenues through improved charge capture.

Operations

Health Directions can assist you in creating detail flow diagrams of your operations that will lead to operational improvement and financial return.

Work with Health Directions and you'll receive answers to these questions:

• How does the group environment support patient care? Are there adequate providers-physicians, nurses, assistants, technicians? How well can the organization cope with physician emergencies? How workable are staffing ratios? How well does each group process work? Patient flow Billing Coding Physician access Scheduling Registration and check-in Co-pay collection Check-out
• Payment

Benefits

• Lower staff turnover. Decrease disruptions in operations. Reduce error potential. Improve patient satisfaction. Sustain healthy revenue streams.
• Generate higher income per physician.

Culture transformation

Culture transformation is the movement from one culture set of norms or values to a new set of norms or values that are more aligned with the practice's mission, goals, and objectives. It involves a range of activities such as leadership modeling of the desired behaviors, revised incentive systems, new policies and procedures, new communications vehicles, and new management structure.

With all cultural transformation efforts, success is evidenced by demonstrated change in behaviors and work climate that improve customer and employee satisfaction.

Interim management

Interim management is used to solve critical problems, to put into place infrastructure, policies and procedures, and to fill anticipated absences. Health Directions places temporary staff in key management positions for a limited duration.

Members of Health Directions’ management team have the energy, commitment, health care knowledge, and skill to coach your organization through the most intricate financial or operations turnaround plan. Even more important, we can lift the heavy burden of daily practice management off your shoulders with the right blend of executive talent and skill.

Strategic Planning

In today's healthcare environment, planning is more critical than ever.
Health Directions has successfully lead groups through strategic planning assuring broad organizational support, commitment and implementations to achieve the stated objectives.

• Conduct environmental assessment: regulatory, financial, social, medical. Develop market assessment. Calculate specialty and service demand. Pinpoint new and emerging technologies. Analyze competitive pressures and strategies. Determine profit potential of new services, products. Design strategies to attract and retain patients. Identify capital requirements and strategies. Craft timetables and assign responsibilities. Create measures of success and strategies for evaluation.
• Examine every critical element of a successful organization:
  • Organizational infrastructure
  • Operations
  • Revenue cycle
  • Financial performance
  • Service line growth and development
  • Managed care
  • Clinical and information technologies

Benefits

• Boost patient volume. Reduce patient attrition. Increase revenue per physician. Realize new sources of revenue. Grow medical groups. Develop ancillary revenues.
• Increase market share.

Compensation

Health Directions designs innovative compensation plans which reward performance aligned with practice culture, profitability, mission goals and vision goals (i.e., such as research, teaching, and community outreach).

• Define group and individual physician objectives and priorities. Analyze current and ideal group culture. Identify appropriate physician contributions to goals. Build alternative productivity, performance, and group culture models. Generate consensus around goals, expectations, strategies, and action steps. Implement the compensation plan.
• Evaluate the plan's impact on group and physician goals, financial performance, and group culture.

Benefits

• Enhance physician satisfaction. Build a group culture of cooperation, collaboration. Reduce generational conflict between physicians. Boost physician income. Increase group recruitment potential.
• Stay on par with competitors.

IT Implementation

Health Directions works with all IT systems and has significant expertise working with IDX. Learn how to maximize your IT investment by linking core business process to your system.

• Evaluate group and individual IT needs. Pinpoint previous IT problems. Zero in on existing IT successes and progress. Forecast changes in business functions under new IT systems. Orchestrate business process redesign. Integrate new IT system into business processes. Create criteria for vendor selection. Locate short list of vendors. Develop criteria for vendor evaluation. Launch an RFP/presentation process. Evaluate issues such as cost and service guarantees. Build group/vendor negotiation strategies. Create plan for staff education, training, and assessment. Monitor IT system installation, service, and management. Conduct periodic evaluations of the IT system. Integrate new and emerging technologies into the group.
• Investigate the potential of new and emerging technologies:
  • Telemedicine
  • Online consultation
  • Physician/patient secure messaging
  • Web site development
  • Computerized physician order entry
  • Wireless Electronic medical records
  • prescribing
  • Online research

Benefits

• Reduce medical errors, ensure patient safety. Compensate for workforce shortages. Ensure quality of care. Achieve compliance with HIPAA. Enhance and speed patient care. Improve business office operations. Boost reimbursement and revenue recovery. Retain competitive edge over other practices.
• Improve physician/staff satisfaction.

Practice Transition

Health Directions practice transition experts assess needs and provide operational planning, monitoring and implementation during all phases of a practice’s life.

Health Directions Practice Transition services include assessing needs and providing operational planning, monitoring and implementation during all phases of a practice's life.

Transitional support may include new practice start-up, departmental or practice affiliation, "spin-off", and closure or succession planning.

Other support activities may include staffing mix analysis, compensation and governance.