Success of Reducing Pending Physician Referrals
A Vee Technologies referral team was tasked with processing a large backlog of physician referrals for a large physician group in the U.S. Our client was experiencing long delays in processing physician referrals which led to a loss of patients, low patient satisfaction scores, and ultimately, cash delays. The client was looking for a quick turnaround on the backlog and the ability to stabilize the process quickly to improve the overall quality of care for their patients. Prior to Vee Technologies, the average time for processing a referral was 5.6 days, but the client set a goal of processing the request in less than 48 hours.
Barriers to Overcome
The project was initiated at the start of February 2018 with a backlog of 1,500 referrals. The referral team faced multiple obstacles in implementing the project quickly and maintaining quality processing, including:
- Change in leadership with limited process training
- Minimal web portal access which led to an increase in phone time
- Large volume of referral requests lacking necessary information required to process
- Demand and pressure from executives and physicians to process in short time frame
Solving the Problem
The Vee Technologies management team organized daily calls with the client’s management team to develop a workflow, implementing a custom process within two weeks. The steps that were taken to improve the quality of information and decrease the backlog included:
- Increase staffing to supply more bandwidth to the client
- Develop workflow and SOP for production team to ensure quality processing
- Identify all insurances and payors capable of processing online referrals
- Conduct onsite visit to the U.S. to work with client’s operation and clinical staff, highlighting common errors and training on appropriate documentation needed
- Document and provide daily, weekly, and monthly reporting to executives and physicians
After thorough analysis, they were also able to increase staffing and training quickly with the production team, setting a goal of clearing complete backlogs of accounts within 30 days. The success of this project rested on the leadership team making extreme efforts to implement a successful process. The onsite experience with the client solidified the trust and relationship to ensure an impactful and successful transition that has resulted in a long-term business relationship.
