March 2009 | www.healthmgttech.com | Issue 3

Physician Relationship Management Valued as Critical Pursuit for Bottom-line Success By Pranam Ben and Diana Croft The healthcare industry is feeling the effects of the current economy and hospitals are struggling to achieve the competing objectives of providing exceptional patient care while protecting their bottom line. Hospital administrators and executives recognize the challenges, but only those who take proactive measures to ensure the stability of their revenue streams and improve continuity of care will remain viable in the long-term.

In searching for ways to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace, hospitals are embracing physician relationship management as a practical and affordable solution. Physicians unquestionably play a key role in a driving the financial health of a hospital through patient referrals for diagnostic tests, consultations and treatment. Thus, it is critical for a hospital’s bottom line to ensure that theirs is the facility of choice for physicians in the community.

Through the development, maintenance and expansion of physician relationships, a hospital can increase its patient flow and revenue stream while also reinforcing its reputation in the community as a leading healthcare provider. In order to effectively strengthen these connections and garner the sought-after referrals, however, hospitals must regard community physicians as important “customers,” developing programs that make it easy for the physicians to do business with the hospital and ultimately are beneficial to both parties.

To date, this has been a difficult objective to achieve. Despite the continual innovation and deployment of electronic healthcare technology, the physician relationship management continues to be antiquated and paper-based. In some cases, hospitals have only one staff member charged with overseeing and developing these programs. And, if that individual leaves the hospital for another position or personal reasons, the connection and relationship between physician and hospital is jeopardized.

A better approach is to bring the referral process into the 21st century with an interactive, intelligent business system. Hospitals today can avail themselves of Web-based e-referral solutions like Preferr, for instance, that allow them to better process information exchanged with community physicians, exchange real time messages in a secure manner as well as track patterns and trends within their referral base. This enables them not only to strengthen bidirectional communications with community physicians, but provides actionable insight that can be used to optimize relationships while identifying and maximizing new opportunities. This also has a direct impact on improving the patient experience. The abundance of data, hosted in a safe and secure environment, offers countless advantages by helping hospitals:

1) Establish ongoing, two-way dialog with referring physicians. All too often, orders, charts and other paperwork are misplaced between physician’s office and hospitals, which delays tests and procedures and frustrates hospitals, physicians and patients alike. Likewise, referring physicians are often concerned about “losing” patients to hospital providers. They may not routinely be notified about tests, treatments and results that take place in the hospital and so are left in the dark about their patients’ conditions.

2) Extract and analyze data about referral patterns (which physicians send the most patients and for what procedures; which days of the week have the peak volumes and demographic profile of patients being referred, for instance). This allows the hospital to analyze its revenue stream and identify opportunities for growth. It also reveals information about the community physician, which can be used to develop CME and other programs of interest.

While only a small percent of hospitals and physician practices have adopted an e-referral solution, the trend is growing as a result of the near-term and long-term financial benefits:

• The burden on community physicians is eased through the simple automated referral process, which provides physicians access to critical referral information on-demand, and which strengthens their loyalty to the hospital and increases frequency with which they send referrals.
• Patient and physician satisfaction increases as a result of the streamlined process and tracking ability, thus enhancing the hospital’s ability to maintain its relationships and reputation.
• Hospitals can use their referral records to project future revenue, capitalize on existing relationships, and broaden their outreach to physicians and the community.
• Multiple hospitals often compete for the same business; those who embrace modern solutions such as e-referrals will become the preferred provider and ensure an on-going revenue stream.

Currently, there are only a few comprehensive e-referral products on the market and many of the existing systems are “homegrown” solutions that were developed by a specific organization for its own use. Vendors that offer e-referral solutions differ in their fees and contract requirements. Some are subscription-based and prices may vary based upon the length of the commitment; others charge installation and set-up fees, and some also require a maintenance contract.

In an era during which innovation and excellence will determine survival, it is more important than ever for hospitals to cultivate physician relationships with all of the tools and strategies available to them. Implementing an e-referral solution is a simple step that results in a valuable resource for advancing those essential relations and establishing the organization as a forward thinking leader in healthcare.

Pranam Ben is CEO and Diana Croft is President of Services for Visions@Work, a provider of physician relationship management and electronic referral services. For more information, please visit visionsatwork.org or www.preferr.net.

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Revolutionary advancements in healthcare IT applications, networks and mobile devices are continuing nearly a decade of rapid innovation in wireless technology. But the exponential returns in productivity, efficiency and revenues that “going wireless” can yield can’t be realized without the expertise of the right vendor to bring it all together. Understanding the impact mobility can have on a hospital or physician practice and implementing a solution that takes full advantage of its capabilities is a complex process with a dynamic set of challenges, but also one with limitless potential for improving patient care and producing bottom-line business results.

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