Building a Best-In-Class Quality Review Program
In Vyne Medical’s recent webinar, more than 400 participants gained insight as Lynn Ansley and Rebecca Ashe from Moffitt Cancer Center shared key details of their best-in-class quality review program for the revenue cycle. Moffitt implemented the Trace® platform in 2015 for process improvement in its financial clearance unit and patient appointment center.
Key metrics
Moffitt continues to leverage Trace in a number of ways, including the development of its quality review program which is driving key outcomes across the organization.
Functions assessed
Moffitt developed a quality review program for its revenue cycle department, made up of more than 700 members. Quality assurance reviews are conducted on a routine basis for team members in patient access, financial clearance, health information management, and more.
More than 500 revenue cycle team members receive regular quality assurance reviews using one of 47 scorecards. “With so many unique positions, a one size fits all quality review approach is not a feasible option,” said Lynn Ansley in explanation of why different scorecards are needed for different roles.
Initiating a quality review program
When initiating a new quality review program, a collaborative process is needed to ensure buy-in and reinforce best practices as requests and concerns are addressed. At Moffitt, a joint taskforce of managers and supervisors from different teams followed five key steps as they initiated their quality program.
Implementing a quality review program
The implementation or ramp-up period involves 90 days of team member education. During this period, team members acclimate themselves to being reviewed while supervisors become comfortable performing reviews and providing education and feedback.
Moffitt performs two levels of quality reviews. The initial review is performed by team supervisors and a secondary review is performed by quality team auditors to check for errors.
The Trace solution
Moffitt uses Trace to collect communication and workflow data for its review process. The Trace Quality Assurance™ feature facilitates the scoring of recorded communication to hardwire predictable best practices, thereby improving communication quality and facility compliance. Custom scorecards and reporting tools give hospitals the ability to track and trend quality scores by team, agent and question.
In addition to recording voice communication, Moffitt also leverages Screen Recording™ to monitor on-screen activity during face-to-face interactions and patient calls. This provides touchpoints upon which to complete quality reviews. “Screen recording allows us to monitor our team members’ navigation while on the phone with the patient,” says Rebecca Ashe. “It has helped us not only enhance our quality program, but also expanded the feedback we’re able to provide our new hires in their 90-day introductory period.”
Reporting
When Moffitt decided to implement a quality review program, one of the primary goals was gaining the ability to report quality scores across the different areas of the revenue cycle in one platform. Reports are compiled monthly, integrated into a dashboard, shared with leadership and can be assessed at both team and individual levels.
The importance of quality reviews
It’s been said that what gets measured, gets managed. This is certainly true for the quality of activities and interactions in the revenue cycle. All too often quality is viewed subjectively as a feeling or a “nice-to-have” on the performance improvement scale. Moffit clearly showed that with the right tools and a commitment to setting a standard, quality reviews are a critical tool for measuring, quantifying, trending, and ultimately improving key performance indicators across the organization.