News & Events

• News

• Media Coverage

• Events

• Client Summit

MedeAnalytics delivers healthcare performance management solutions that improve
financial, operational and clinical outcomes, with compelling return on investment and rapid time-to-value.

May 25, 2009 | Modern Healthcare

Does it compute?

“…data is king among advocates for more technology in healthcare practice. With data that can be turned into actionable information, providers can begin to build meaningful pictures of how patients move through care settings, what resources are used and whether quality metrics are improving outcomes, according to Terry Fouts, a physician who is chief medical officer for MedeAnalytics. ‘Until we can actually look at that, we really aren’t going to have a profound view of the patient experience.’

“The Emeryville, Calif.-based company develops Web-based applications that allow providers to monitor business metrics and analyze performance down to the individual provider level. For example, individual doctors can see how and why they are expending resources in hospitals, or managed-care companies can see how many cases are being carried by nurse managers.

“MedeAnalytics takes pains to ensure that the tool is not meant to create cost profiles on individual doctors, but rather aims to help identify variability in care delivery among medical staff. The tool has become a catalyst for talks between doctors and hospital administrators, Fouts said. ‘Doctors are starting to realize they have a financial role in the hospitals they are referring their patients to.’

“St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, Md., had started off using MedeAnalytics’ product for revenue-cycle management. Seeing how well those metrics worked led the hospital to look for ways to use the tool to study other metrics, such as length-of-stay, case-mix adjusted and comparative data, said Richard Boehler, a physician who is vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at the 332-bed hospital. He attributes improvements in productivity—such as length-of-stay and resource utilization—to the Web-based tool.

“Doctors are able to view how they individually use resources like the operating room, patient beds for readmissions, supplies and facility time. As a result, St. Joseph’s has seen a reduction in the number of specialists that doctors bring into patient cases, insurers have denied fewer hospital claims, documentation and coding have improved and revenue has increased, Boehler said.

“The hospital uses the product to engage doctors, Boehler said. Administrators can sit down with medical staff and show them how they use resources compared to their peers. ‘Right now, this is the power of the tool,’ he said. ‘People change their behavior significantly’ just by being shown their data.”

Source: Jean DerGurahian, “Does it compute?” Modern Healthcare, May 25, 2009, pgs. 6, 7 and 16.

View the entire article >>

“Doctors are starting to realize they have a financial role in the hospitals they are referring their patients to.”

Terry Fouts, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

MedeAnalytics