Healthcare organizations are following the lead of other industries by adopting customer relationship management technologies to track and improve relationships with their patients. However, those same CRM capabilities used to manage consumers can also be used for clinician engagement, in what is commonly referred to as provider relationship management (PRM).
PRM should be top of mind for healthcare organizations when considering value-based care initiatives, provider consolidation, and the formation of accountable care organizations and clinicallyintegrated networks. On average a clinician manages a panel of 1,500 to 2,500 patients, varying by specialty type. A good PRM strategy and solution can have significant impacts on economics and the health outcomes of the patients for which they care.
More than ever, clinicians are operating in new ways, as they transition from fee-for-service to value- based reimbursement models. The continued demand for new or changing business requirements make it challenging for clinicians to stay up-to-date on procedures, guidelines and provider performance initiatives to support their healthcare delivery system in achieving its goals. Some healthcare delivery systems have implemented roles, such as the physician relationship manager or physician liaison, to help with clinician engagement efforts. But, given some organizations have hundreds or even thousands of clinicians in their networks, how to effectively communicate and engage across the provider community in a scalable, effective manner, remains a challenge.
PRM can help support engagement efforts by automating communication processes and providing insights into how best to engage with clinicians. Three areas of clinician engagement that PRM is well positioned to support — when coupled with other technologies a health system may already be using — include referral management, performance improvement and clinician recruitment.
Optimize referral management
Healthcare systems with more than 100 affiliated clinicians can experience anywhere from $78 million to $97 million annually in referral leakage.1 Using PRM technologies, an automated digital campaign can be created to target clinicians who are continually referring out-of-network. The campaign could include educational content on the value of referring to in-network specialists and facilities, including information on new or enhanced services the health system may be offering that would benefit their patients. A PRM system can also serve as a means for clinicians to connect and interact among their peers via an online community, helping to build trust, collaboration and loyalty across the network.
Drive performance improvement
A PRM system can help with efforts to improve clinician performance measures critical to value-based reimbursement models that tie compensation to clinical quality, cost of care, affordability and patient experience. A good PRM system can enable a trained team to manage communications from clinicians across channels, including inbound and outbound calls, emails and text messages and for common inquiries, such as patient attribution, performance scorecard results and new program delivery. A PRM system can also automate outreach campaigns and send targeted and personalized messaging to all providers in a network. PRM can also be used to offer support and resources when a clinician is not meeting performance goals. The technology can serve to share evidence required by VBC initiatives as it offers the infrastructure to consolidate, visualize and distribute the information.
Recruit clinicians to the network
PRM technologies can also help recruit clinicians to be part of the provider network. With the right data, organizations can identify clinicians who are meeting or exceeding performance measures. Using those insights, a campaign can be created within the PRM system to perform automated outreach campaigns and keep clinicians informed throughout the recruiting process.
Cerner and Salesforce collaborate to transform healthcare
Cerner and Salesforce are developing an integrated offering to support enhanced consumer and clinician engagement. The collaboration is creating a clinically-informed CRM technology system that can be used across a healthcare delivery system’s enterprise. To learn more, visit cerner.com/CRM or contact us at populationhealth@cerner.com
About Cerner
We’re continuously building on our foundation of intelligent solutions for the healthcare industry. Our technologies connect people and systems, and our wide range of services support the clinical, financial and operational needs of organizations of every size.
About Salesforce
Rapid advancements in healthcare and an uncertain landscape compel organizations to rethink how they use technology in every aspect of their business and seek new ways to take information from data to insight. Salesforce helps healthcare organizations make insights actionable with an agile, intelligent, and scalable platform that brings people and systems together.
Reference:
1https://getreferralmd.com/2016/08/30-healthcare-statistics-keep-hospital-executives-night/