Questions you should ask
Has the group improved patient throughput?
JJ&R has developed programs to improve the patient’s turnaround time, beginning in triage, and continuing through the entire treatment process. This includes the development of Fast Track Programs for low acuity patients.
The group routinely monitors key indicators with regards to transaction times such as, “door to doctor” and “doctor to discharge” times.
The group routinely monitors key indicators with regards to transaction times such as, “door to doctor” and “doctor to discharge” times.
Has the group effectively reduced the number of patients who leave without being seen?
JJ&R has systems and protocols that can be implemented immediately to reduce the number of patients leaving without being seen. For example, when JJ&R acquired the contract at California Hospital Medical Center, the left without being seen rate was over 20%. In six months, the rate had fallen to 6%, while utilization increased by more than 400 patients per month.
Does your ER group assist in improving the hospital’s bottom line?
Let JJ&R show you how to maximize your revenue and enhance your bottom line. As a result of JJR’s long involvement in emergency department billing, we have developed substantial expertise in the management of “high volume, low dollar balance” patient accounts. We now share this information with our hospital clients to improve their own collection performance on the hospital’s portion of the patient account.
We offer a range of services from chart review and coding to comprehensive billing and collections. Our progress and success to date has been rewarding, and our collection performance in excess of our original predictions. Most satisfying has been our ability to exceed the hospital’s collection performance for every financial class, including both Medicare and Medicaid.
As an example of the success of our program, one facility has elected to reduce its unit fees on several high frequency charges, while at the same time we conservatively estimate that our efforts may add $1,000,000 of collections to this hospital’s bottom line.
We offer a range of services from chart review and coding to comprehensive billing and collections. Our progress and success to date has been rewarding, and our collection performance in excess of our original predictions. Most satisfying has been our ability to exceed the hospital’s collection performance for every financial class, including both Medicare and Medicaid.
As an example of the success of our program, one facility has elected to reduce its unit fees on several high frequency charges, while at the same time we conservatively estimate that our efforts may add $1,000,000 of collections to this hospital’s bottom line.
JJ&R listens and responds to the needs of our client hospitals. In today’s highly competitive healthcare market, responding to and meeting the needs of client hospitals is essential. Many emergency medical groups, however, are not listening to the needs and desires of their hospitals. Many groups appear interested and concerned, but in practice, their performance and follow through do not reflect a “responsive” attitude. Some groups turn a “deaf ear,” others just “drag their heels.” Our goal is to listen to your needs, find solutions, and implement strategies in a timely manner. Whether it’s the development of a Fast Track system to improve patient flow, or to assist the hospital in gaining market share, we’ll listen.
What is your ER group’s ratio of patients treated to MD hours worked?
Overcrowding of emergency departments, poor throughput times, and burnout among ER physicians are all results of inadequate staffing patterns. We traditionally double staff our departments when the monthly patient census exceeds 2.0 patients per physician coverage hour (significantly lower than the national average of 2.7 patients). We find this ratio effective in our ability to process patients through in a timely manner, improve and enhance overall patient satisfaction, and to reduce the potential of “burnout” among our physicians.
JJ& has turnkey programs designed exclusively for improving department efficiency, patient satisfaction and gaining market share. We have developed the capability to provide our clients with value-added services not routinely found among other emergency medical groups. We offer marketing expertise through the development of new programs that are designed to capture new and attractive patient groups for referral to the hospital’s medical staff. These programs include Fast Track, Chest Pain Center, Occupational – Industrial Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, and an After-Hours Urgent Care for Managed Care patients.
We offer programs designed exclusively for improving patient turnaround times. We implement an evaluation and assessment tool to monitor the flow of patients through the department at all hours of the day. This information helps us assess where “bottlenecks” occur and allows us to develop systems to improve the flow. We work actively with clerical and clinical staff at all levels within the department from receptionist to triage nurse to emergency technician to staff nurse to lab and x-ray technicians.
We offer programs designed exclusively for improving patient turnaround times. We implement an evaluation and assessment tool to monitor the flow of patients through the department at all hours of the day. This information helps us assess where “bottlenecks” occur and allows us to develop systems to improve the flow. We work actively with clerical and clinical staff at all levels within the department from receptionist to triage nurse to emergency technician to staff nurse to lab and x-ray technicians.
Does your ER group follow through on the promises it makes?
JJ&R does not make promises, we keep them. Hospital administrators are constantly saddled with the worry about whether or not their group will follow through on the promises they’ve made. Will the group perform as expected? Or will they have to meet again and again to finally achieve resolution. At JJ&R, promises are kept. It’s part of our commitment. Once a directive has been issued, it is our responsibility to see that it gets completed in a timely manner.
Does your ER group participate actively in the hospital’s medical staff affairs?
JJ&R physicians are active participatory members of their respective medical staffs. JJ&R requires that all its physician members become active members of the medical staff at their respective hospitals. It is expected that each JJ&R physician will participate in medical staff affairs and committees. Our group strives to overturn the generally held opinion that emergency department physicians don’t become involved with the medical staff.
At six of our hospitals, the JJ&R medical director rose to the position of Chief of Staff. At another, the director serves as Vice Chief and will assume the position of Chief of Staff shortly, and at yet another facility, our medical director has been elected Secretary of the Medical Staff, scheduled to become Chief of Staff in three years. Other JJ&R medical directors have held leadership roles such as Chief of the Department of Medicine; Chairman of the hospital’s IPA; and two directors have been elected the hospital’s governing board.
At six of our hospitals, the JJ&R medical director rose to the position of Chief of Staff. At another, the director serves as Vice Chief and will assume the position of Chief of Staff shortly, and at yet another facility, our medical director has been elected Secretary of the Medical Staff, scheduled to become Chief of Staff in three years. Other JJ&R medical directors have held leadership roles such as Chief of the Department of Medicine; Chairman of the hospital’s IPA; and two directors have been elected the hospital’s governing board.
Does your ER group enhance the hospital’s overall image?
Understanding that the emergency department is the “front door” to many hospitals, JJ&R offers guest relations programs to improve the patient’s treatment and experience while in the department. JJ&R recognizes that the emergency department is not only the hospital’s “window on the community,” but also the door through which the community enters the hospital and the practices of its medical staff. To that end, JJ&R actively pursues an ongoing process of modification of its departments to meet the needs and expectations of the hospital’s surrounding community. By providing an attractive environment within which patients, family and friends can secure high quality and expeditiously rendered care, JJ&R assists its hospitals to maintain an image, attracting patients who might have chosen to seek care at a competitor.
Finally, we staff our departments with only board certified / qualified emergency medicine physicians who have a long-term interest in the practice. These physicians are dedicated to their hospitals, to their medical staffs, and to the community they serve.
Finally, we staff our departments with only board certified / qualified emergency medicine physicians who have a long-term interest in the practice. These physicians are dedicated to their hospitals, to their medical staffs, and to the community they serve.
Does your ER group offer programs to monitor and enhance patient satisfaction?
Understanding the needs of your patients in the emergency department is vital to its successful operation. Many patient satisfaction surveys being used today are not specifically designed just for the emergency department. Usually, these survey instruments are designed from an “inpatient” perspective. Since the trend in healthcare today is moving more and more to outpatient services, we believe that a specific instrument for monitoring the satisfaction of emergency department patients is vital. We offer our client facilities instruments to measure the level of satisfaction from patients; we routinely monitor the transaction times of emergency department encounters to improve efficiency; and we meet with the staff to develop strategies to deliver care to our patients in a more compassionate, understanding way. We recognize that for many hospitals, 40% to 50% of the hospital’s total inpatient admissions may come from the emergency department. Therefore, we make patient satisfaction, as well as medical staff relations, a high priority in our overall business strategy.
Is your ER group knowledgeable and sensitive to compliance issues?
Today’s number one “hot button” in medicine is compliance. Learn more about JJ&R’s approach. JJ&R is sensitive to the compliance issues raised by HCFA in the agency’s process to eliminate fraud and abuse by both healthcare providers and institutions. To that end, we have developed educational handbooks and documentation guidelines to assist our physicians and coding reviewers in ensuring that the services for which we bill are coded accurately and properly. Two JJ&R physicians provide education to our physicians and certified coders with respect to compliance requirements. Additionally, they monitor the coders to assure consistency within both industry norms and our own requirements for accuracy and reliability.
