Aquina Blog

Consulting firm Accenture recently released survey results saying 21% of Americans have already tried some form of virtual care and a whopping 78% are willing to try it.

With the proliferation of smartphones and the rising popularity of in-home voice-activated devices, home care providers are beginning the experiment with using these technologies to provide remote monitoring services for their clients.

Libertana Home Health, a Beverly Hills, a California-based company with 3,000 clients in homes and senior living communities throughout the state, is testing Amazon's Alexa to monitor patient activity.

Using Libertana’s custom Alexa skill, seniors can verbally report medical data such as weight, blood pressure or blood sugar levels, listen to medication and exercise reminders, call for help from a caregiver, coordinate transportation and learn about their scheduled social and recreational activities.

Article by:

Chris Stenglein, Chairman & CEO

Chris Stenglein currently serves as Aquina Health's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors.  He has been involved with the company since September 2012 and is responsible for the overall vision and strategic direction of the company. During his tenure, Stenglein has led Aquina Health to sustained growth and profitability, establishing Aquina Health as an industry leader in healthcare FinTech.

HEALTHCARE NEWS UPDATE

The latest Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare, which is expected to hit the Senate floor for a vote this week, would keep much of the Obamacare tax structure in place, but it would give the money back to the states in the form of block grants and would allow states to design their own health care systems.

HIMSS released the results of its 2016 Connected Health Survey. The survey is reflective of 227 IT, informatics and clinical professionals in U.S. hospitals and health systems with regard to their organization’s current and future use of connected health technologies.

According to the results, more than half of the health systems surveyed say they're using at least three different types of mHealth technology, and more than half are looking at new platforms.

Providers Are Ready to Embrace Connected Health

Some interesting findings include:

• 52% of hospitals use three or more connected health technologies
• 69% are using a mobile-optimized patient portal
• 47% expect to expand their use of connected health technologies in the next few years

A recent article by McKinsey surveyed more than 11,000 people and uncovered some common misconceptions surrounding health care consumerism. The authors note there are several converging forces likely to make healthcare a more dynamic market.

One of the items explored was patient’s acceptance of using technology.  Due to higher deductibles and copayments, greater transparency into provider performance and costs, and the narrowing of available networks, consumers are embracing new technologies to better manage their healthcare.

Many patients are willing to use technology for health-related activities.

The article showed millennials (those between the ages of 18 and 34) were more likely to report using technology for health care purposes, but a considerable number of the older participants were doing so as well. In all age groups, the top two activities were communicating with doctors and scheduling appointments.

The role of a medical practice administrator goes beyond identifying best practices and finding ways to implement them.

Practice leaders also must identify where practice staff members can benefit from additional education and training so programs can be added and administered to help the organization run optimally.

The Medical Group Management Association polled 931 practice leaders and nearly half (47%) said that staff could use additional practice in customer service.

A survey conducted by NueMD in 2017 of more than 1,000 healthcare professionals measured how knowledgeable healthcare professionals are about The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and what outcomes they expect the new payment model to have on their practice.

The survey revealed both small and large practices don't know a lot about MACRA and many feel uncertain about its potential impact on healthcare.

Key findings include:

• 50% of those surveyed said they are not familiar with MACRA
• 56% are unsure if they are expected to participate in 2017
• 49% have not encountered information on MACRA

When practices were asked to consider MACRA’s effect on their financial well-being over the next three years, the responses were quite eye-opening:

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) conducted member research in July 2017 to better understand the cost and challenge of complying with federal government regulations and mandates.

The results of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) 2017 Regulatory Burden Survey reveal there are no shortage of opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens on physician practices.

The survey includes responses from 750 group practices, with the largest representation from independent medical practices with 6 to 20 physicians. You can view the full survey results here.

Below are some key findings.

Micro-hospitals are popping up around the country, but many providers still lack a solid understanding of what a micro-hospital is and how it can help satisfy emerging needs in their markets.

Micro-hospitals are 24/7, small-scale inpatient facilities—around 15,000 to 50,000 square feet—with between eight and ten inpatient beds for observation and short-stay use.

Like their name implies, these are small facilities with an average of 10 beds and a focus on emergency or middle to medium high acuity care, higher than urgent care, but lower acuity than a trauma center. They have everything needed to operate an emergency department: imaging equipment, lab services, everything except an ICU and MRIs.

Using a collection agency may seem like a good idea. If your practice is struggling to get debt paid, handing it off to the so-called professionals seems like a no-brainer. However, using collection agencies is often less successful and not as profitable.

According to The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals:

“On average a practice recovers just $13.80 for every $100 owed once a patient’s bad debt
is turned over to a third-party collection agency.”

Instead, by implementing simple procedural changes for collecting bad debt, making patients aware of them, and enforcing them, your practice can easily increase the chances of collecting.

Here are some actions you can take to help improve the financial process and make patients’ bills easier to pay and understand.