HOSPITALSOLUTIONS
Innovative Practices
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Not Just In Front – AheadHospitalist programs have been touted as the future of healthcare. So it’s only fitting that a company focused on hospitalist practices would be forward-thinking. At Eagle, we create innovative solutions that do more than manage hospitalist programs. Our industry-leading technologies and processes enhance a hospital’s performance, expand its capabilities, and provide actionable information that translates into bottom-line results. All of this serves to foster the hospital’s reputation, promote patient care, and pave the way for growth. From our expert team of coding compliance specialists, to personally recruiting and training the ideal candidate to match a hospital’s unique culture and goals – everything we do is methodically designed around meeting our clients core objectives and exceeding industry standards. The following solutions offer a window into Eagle’s uncommon insight and innovation: Recruiting & TrainingA core strength of Eagle continues to be its recruiting and training team, which is fully staffed with industry experts. Our specialized focus on inpatient patient care enables us to more accurately identify well-qualified physicians, while our collaborative approach with hospitals ensures an ideal fit – from both a clinical and cultural perspective. Our objective is to identify and retain highly-educated physicians with excellent communication skills. Our in-house team screens, interviews and qualifies each and every one. In addition to our methodical vetting process, Eagle’s medical directors pre-qualify candidates for presentation to each hospital client. From there, an Eagle recruiter will escort/facilitate the interview and hiring process onsite at the hospital, making sure key hospital leadership and medical staff have an opportunity to ensure the candidate is the right fit. It’s our goal to foster long-term relationships with both our physicians and hospital partners, and we do whatever we need to do to ensure that happens. That is a key to physician retention. Physician training is also a critical part of Eagle’s success. Our high standards and unique methodologies create an expectation level of training – from understanding the coding and billing system to documentation and hand-off protocols. Eagle physicians come equipped to follow the agreed upon clinical guidelines and bylaws set within the hospitalist program on day one. From peers to Eagle’s corporate clinical experts and resources, new physicians, NP’s and PA’s can access effective clinical support whenever they need it. To enable a smooth transition, before an Eagle hospitalist is placed in a hospital, our in-house credentialing team works to manage and fast-track the licensing and credentialing processes, ensuring little time lost in getting the physician privileged at the hospital site. If preferred, we’ll even work with credentialing staff onsite at the hospital, tracking reference leads and obtaining verifications. In addition to identifying, training, credentialing, and placing permanent, qualified physicians, Eagle has developed an in-house locum tenens team, Hospitalist Connections, to provide for quick starts, unanticipated needs, and rapid expansion of services. Along with our permanently placed physicians, this group of hospitalists is trained to meet the high expectations of Eagle and its hospital clients. Quality ImprovementEagle is proud to lead the way in nationally recognized best practices and proven methodologies for hospitals and their patients. In fact, we’ve made it an organizational imperative that all our hospital practices execute quality improvement projects that are aligned with their unique goals. To do this, we leverage a dedicated team focused on introducing the latest quality improvement endeavors to hospitals across the nation. Improving transitions of care is a key focus of Eagle’s quality improvement. Implementing programs like BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older adults through Safe Transitions) is just one example of how we’re bringing best practices to our hospital clients and physicians. Developed by the Society of Hospital Medicine to improve the flow of information between the hospital and outpatient providers, identify high-risk patients, reduce readmission rates, and improve the overall discharge process, BOOST is a core competency of Eagle’s transitions-of-care model. Charge Capture & CodingAt Eagle, our ultimate goal in everything is to better serve the client. Even through our charge capture, coding and compliance processes, Eagle has devised a methodology using the latest technology and a dedicated team of specialists in order to elevate the accuracy and efficiency within almost any hospital. Eagle uses automated technology tools that enables inpatient physicians to capture charges, improve quality of care, and communicate digitally with peers and administrators. This system also helps the Eagle team capture critical analytics like ALOS, number of encounters, and types of services, all of which Eagle uses to produce customized monthly reports for hospital leadership. The Eagle staff reviews each claim to make sure there are no errors, implementing a stringent quality control process that helps to decrease denials and ensure accurate and timely reimbursement. In addition, our automated tools and proprietary process system, which helps the physician prioritize and pick the correct code, also aids to secure speed and accuracy on the front end, as well as ensure the physicians are coding at the level they are treating – not higher, not lower. To ensure comprehensive documentation and reduce coding errors, Eagle hosts educational coding seminars for all its physicians. In addition, our coding specialists work with the physicians on an ongoing basis to ensure coding compliance, answer questions, and bring new information to the practice. As an added value, Eagle’s dedicated team of specialists conducts regular coding and compliance audits, tailored coaching, and targets training to address high-risk areas that may have been revealed in audits. Billing & ReimbursementEagle utilizes a paperless process for billing and reimbursement, providing expert support to our physicians and ensuring timely accounts receivable for the hospital. Our specialists work very closely with coding experts, physicians, and the hospital to ensure compliance and accuracy in bill submissions. Should a claim be denied, it goes directly into an automated system for an Eagle expert to investigate and rectify. Eagle’s collaborative teamwork with its charge capture, coding, and billing partners results in optimized revenue for the hospital. With regard to patient statements and payments, once the billing balance and patient information has been reviewed for accuracy, the statements are mailed to patients allowing them to remit their payment via check, securely online, or over the phone. We also provide customized reporting to give administration monthly insight into progress on AR days, number of bills processed, as well as collections and adjustments by financial class. AnalyticsWe believe transparency is a critical part of any successful hospitalist program. That’s why Eagle strives to work collaboratively with hospital leadership to address opportunities and provide visibility into the quality outcomes, financial performance, and productivity of the program. Even at the onset of a new hospitalist program, our clients receive a comprehensive look at ongoing progress – a value equation they can actually hold in their hands. Eagle works with its hospital partners to collect and analyze certain outcome indicators, such as readmission rates, mortality rates, resource utilization, and core measure performance. In addition, we leverage scorecards and surveys with patients, hospital-affiliated primary care physicians, and other stakeholders, in order to ensure our hospitalists retain high satisfaction rates. Pairing these analytics against initial benchmarks, Eagle can accurately illustrate the productivity, quality, and financial metrics of the program, ultimately enabling us to make more informed, data-driven decisions to better the hospital overall.
Telemedicine/Remote Presence ServicesAs an industry innovator, Eagle is actively pursuing solutions that elevate care for patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance value and flexibility. Telemedicine is a prime example of that commitment. This revolutionary solution empowers physicians to be at the patient’s bedside without having to be on location – a monumental proposition for any hospital suffering from a shortage of physicians and/or increasing patient volume. More than solving a resource challenge, this remote-guided technology, which offers an audio-visual interaction with the physician at one location and the patient at another, extends a hospital’s quality of care. For instance, a patient who would otherwise be without access to a specialist, through telemedicine, may now acquire the prompt expert care they need. It’s especially critical in cases where stroke is suspected and timely diagnosis is necessary to ensure patients a better opportunity for recovery. Telemedicine technology may be used by hospitalists to provide night coverage for smaller practices, as well as expand the reach within Critical Care and TeleNeurology. Telehospitalists, teleneurologists and other inpatient telespecialists are key to the future of hospital medicine. That’s why Eagle is pioneering it today. Not only do we create exceptional communication tools like this mini-brochure to ensure our patients thoroughly understand and feel comfortable utilizing Telemedicine technology, we support our remote hospitalists and consultants with a proprietary clinical remote presence process that helps to provide an efficient and effective course of action. Our first remote consultant service (e-neurology) began in December 2008, and the return we’ve achieved for our hospital clients is significant. Case in point: South Fulton Medical Center, whose primary stroke center received Silver and Silver-Plus status, the American Stroke Association’s highest rating for a first-year program. Learn more about our telemedicine solution. |
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