In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Annu Navani, MD, founder and CEO of Comprehensive Spine and Sports Center in Campbell, Calif.
Dr. Navani will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "Diversifying the Medical Practice Portfolio: The Next Healthcare Frontier," at 9:55 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: Can you share your best advice for motivating your teams?
Dr. Annu Navani: Team motivation is one of the main keys to success. We have teams in the U.S., as well as overseas, and have learned that although their motivational triggers have some differences, these strategies work across the board:
- Create a positive work environment where everyone feels welcome and appreciated.
- Instill the concept that physicians cannot succeed without mid-levels and staff — it’s all about teamwork.
- Encourage employees to take pride in what they do and feel driven to make progress. This is a win-win situation for any company.
- Define your goals with an incentive tied to achieving the goals. Appreciation, awards and profit sharing go a long way.
- Recognize people’s strengths and weakness and use them to your advantage
Q: In the past 12 months, how have you adapted to new patient experience expectations in the age of consumerism?
AN: The average consumer wants excellent quality care on their own convenient time and place. This is how a majority of healthcare will be delivered in future. As we bridge the gap between the old and new healthcare delivery system, these are the strategies we have found useful:
- Minimize clinic wait times
- Offer better access to and availability of providers
- Encourage providers to be compassionate and knowledgeable
- Establish the appropriate ambience and etiquette
- Offer comprehensive and integrated care
- Be transparent in pricing and the cost to the consumer
And just to make sure that we are trending in the right direction, we make it a point to get feedback from patients, [which we] then [use to] further fine tune our strategy.
Q: How has your organization improved the revenue cycle process in the past year?
AN: Diversifying the portfolio of practice, and [expanding our] service lines and geographic areas have helped us do better on our top line. We incorporate technology not only in healthcare delivery in our clinic but also in analyzing and predicting outcomes. Using spreadsheets, pivot tables and conditional formatting give us an insight into operational practices, business growth, and billing and collections. From a revenue standpoint, the statistical analysis gives us accurate information of claims paid, charges unpaid and more. Also, it helps us analyze what each insurance is paying for a particular CPT code and how they rank against each other. The predictive model thereafter helps us foresee future revenue and identify any changes we may need to incorporate into our operations to steer revenue one way or the other.