Many laboratories across the country are still unsure how they are going to survive PAMA and the new CLFS payments that are scheduled to start on January 1, 2018. Two large lab systems, Sonora Quest Labs, and North Memorial Healthcare have invested in a healthcare CRM system and have already started to navigate the PAMA landscape successfully. Let's look at how each healthcare facility implemented and benefited from a healthcare CRM platform.
Sonora Quest Labs: Utilizing Enhanced Real-Time Reports
Sonora Quest Labs in Flagstaff, Arizona is already a step ahead of PAMA due to their reporting abilities. By using a healthcare CRM platform, Sonora Quest Labs has enabled most of their staff to access key performance metrics with just a click of a button which allows them to act on the real-time results immediately.
The Challenge:
Sonora Quests’ data was siloed, had to be manually entered, retrieved, analyzed and distributed, and users were not able to access every system. Because of this, only snapshots of data could be retrieved with no valuable insight. Additionally, the IT department was experiencing competing priorities, an unwieldy reporting process, and extended lead times for projects due to organizational growing pains.
The Solution:
In the short term, Sonora Quest can now identify trends which lead to customer attrition, integrate new data streams, and drive decisions and actions based on data. Sonora Quest plans to innovate processes using clean data, to deliver a world-class experience and continue to pursue new business opportunities.
North Memorial Healthcare: Improved Internal Workflow
North Memorial Healthcare in Minnesota knew they had to improve their internal processes if they wanted to retain clients. By leveraging a healthcare CRM platform, North Memorial was better able to track client issues, critical turnaround times, and test utilization metrics.
The Challenge:
North Memorial Healthcare was bleeding clients because their siloed processes and lack of real-time information created situations where multiple people were working on the same issue without coordination. North Memorial faced little insight into the types of problems occurring across the lab as well as issues with providing the sales team with up-to-the-minute intelligence for client meetings.
The Solution:
With healthcare CRM software, real-time alerts, notifications, and messages enable users to stay in the loop on all communications. All stakeholders can now instantly view client issues and manage the lifecycle and details of each case – including activity category, root cause, corrective action, and resolution time – from start to finish.
To tackle PAMA head on, labs need to take steps today that focus on increasing revenue and improving efficiencies. While the task may feel daunting, two laboratories have already invested in leading technology solutions that have automated their performance reporting, integrated real-time data, and facilitated proactive workflows.
