Key Takeaways:
- Concurrent can be a disruptive technology requiring some key shifts in thinking and processes to unlock its full potential
- Auto-assignment allows for complex cases to be distributed evenly across a team and for better coverage when there’s a gap in staffing
- When setting quiet periods, shoot for a time range that’s appropriate 80% of the time
- When artificial intelligence and machine learning are leveraged to provide a prioritized list of cases for review, priority review rate is a more important metric than number of initial reviews and re-reviews
- In healthcare’s ever changing landscape, it’s key to periodically reassess your configurations to ensure they’re still best fit
Iodine Intelligence tackles a new challenge in healthcare’s mid-revenue cycle every month, shedding light on problems and solutions and sharing valuable insights from industry experts. Listen to Episode 10: Unlocking the Power of Concurrent to learn more.
Concurrent is Iodine’s flagship software, and it leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to prioritizes cases for CDI teams to review concurrently before patients are discharged based on misalignment between the clinical evidence and existing documentation.
In this month’s episode we sat down with Iodine’s Client Services Operations Manager, Justin Gerardot, and Iodine’s Clinical Product Consultant Manager, Diana O’Connor, for some tips and tricks for our users to get the most out of Concurrent. Concurrent, and it’s prioritization, can be referred to as a “disruptive” technology, and there are some key shifts in thinking and processes required to unlocking the full potential and return of Concurrent.
1. Auto-Assignment
Concurrent distributes cases to CDS’s for review using auto-assignment, which can be a shift for CDI teams who are used to cases being distributed by location or service line.
Iodine advocates for a “generalist” rather than a “specialist” approach. Some service lines are, by their nature, more complex than others, and auto-assignment allows for those complex cases to be distributed evenly across a team. It also helps when a CDS is on vacation or there’s a gap in coverage: everyone is able to cover and review those cases.
2. Quiet Periods
A Quiet Period is the amount of time a case must “incubate” before it can be considered for auto-assignment. It can be a delicate balance walking the line between a quiet period that is too short, and CDS’s receive cases for review with very little information, and a quiet period that is too long, and the patient is discharged before the case gets a chance to be prioritized and reviewed.
When selecting a quiet period, Iodine recommends shooting for the 80/20 rule: 80% of the cases are prioritized at the appropriate time or within the appropriate window.
3. Metrics
Concurrent provides teams with an intuitive, prioritized work-list in order to get the right cases in front of CDS at the right time, and because of this, Iodine is not as concerned with how many initial reviews and re-reviews a CDS does on a given day or during a given week. Instead, Iodine focuses on priority review rate: how many high priority cases did you get to.
It can be difficult moving away from longstanding, traditional KPIs, especially when they’re used for projections and staffing needs. Iodine has a robust reporting platform to support these new metrics, allowing CDI teams to easily track their progress.
4. Reassess
Healthcare is an ever changing field, and as a result it can be very helpful for hospitals and healthcare providers to reassess their Iodine configurations on at least an annual basis. Changes to the size of a CDI team, adding additional service lines or payors, and software updates within Concurrent itself can all impact the way CDS interact with Concurrent. Reevaluating your configurations, especially once you have six month’s to a year’s worth data to help with your evaluation, can help ensure you’re staying at top functionality.
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Iodine Software’s mission has been to change healthcare by applying our deep experience in healthcare along with the latest technologies like machine learning to improve patient care. The Iodine Intelligence podcast is always looking for leaders in the healthcare technology space to further the conversation in how technology and clinicians can work together to empower intelligent care. if that sounds like you, we want to hear from you!