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Regardless of the way you get your news, one thing is certain; the economy is slumping into a deeper recession. As certain healthcare providers contend with oxygen capping, competitive bidding revisited (rebid), a reduction in allowables for major products to name a few challenges, it feels like some sectors are in a slump as big if not bigger than the US economy’s downturn. However, now is not the time to focus on how we measure up to other industries. Rather it is time to take control over our businesses and make sure we are properly positioned to take full advantage of the opportunities (and barriers to entry) we enjoy as established healthcare providers serving the largest demographic surge in history.

DIVERSIFICATION

The first step is to ensure that you don’t rely on one single payer source for your revenue. The best bet is to examine your revenue percentages by product and payer. Make sure that no one payer and/or product represents the majority of your sales and reimbursement. At the same time, look for items both reimbursable and non-reimbursable that might accompany your main products. The more revenue you generate per patient, the better. After all, if you are going to bill for 1 or 2 items, why not bill for 3 or 4 for the same patient? Additionally, to diversify your book of business, generate new business from other payers by working with different referral sources, payers and patients. That does not mean you should be everything to everybody and carry every product requested.

CONSOLIDATION

The next step is to consolidate processes, including operational flow and vendors. Ensure that you have the best access to product and that you don’t take so many steps in the operational flow that you exhaust all your profit. Rather, work to audit productivity and accuracy on the back end by regularly assessing your process after the fact. That is not to say that you shouldn’t have a QA process and a confirmation protocol. However, you should not have to check a file five times before releasing it to billing. This is simply too costly in the current environment. If you find that you have staff issues as a result of your regular audits, train the employee(s) and measure for improvement. Once you’ve provided ample opportunity to learn with training and retraining provisions, if an employee is still not successful, do not keep them in that position or let them find a place where they can be more successful.

AUTOMATION

The final step in cutting expenses is to automate as many functions as possible. This includes but is not limited to document imaging, GPS tracking for deliveries, bar coding, fax servers for CMNs and more. By visiting with each department, observing their manual processes, think outside the box about what you might do to automate a manual function. Your primary objective should be to create increased efficiency. For many providers, creating a paperless environment is the single most productive automation initiative to impact their bottom line for the money. Measure your outcomes of each these measures. By diversifying, consolidating, and automating your business, you should realize improved efficiencies. Altogether, you should be able to realize cost savings, reduced expenses and increased profit. This should ensure your survival in the slumping economy.