COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of healthcare, including rehab programs. Revenues are down though chronic conditions, illnesses and injuries have not disappeared.
While there is a general consensus that hospitals and health systems will eventually enter a post-COVID climate, there is no consensus regarding when that will happen. How can hospital and health system rehab programs best respond to the needs of patients while still dealing with the effects of the pandemic?
Evidence-based decision-making
To assist rehab departments with making evidence-based decisions, PSI Rehab has drafted a white paper: Business Analytics in Rehab Amidst the Impacts of COVID-19.
In the white paper, PSI Rehab subject matter experts recommend leveraging business intelligence tools as a first step to:
- Identify problems and opportunities
- Seek information about decisions and their likely effects
- Evaluate information to choose a suitable path forward
Collecting and evaluating the right data empowers rehab leaders to adjust strategies in order to move forward and plan accordingly in the COVID era. PSI Rehab’s SignylSM - along with rehab department and hospital-specific spreadsheets and financial applications - are foundational tools that can be utilized. Surveys and other available data collection tools also are helpful in collecting and analyzing data.
Areas to scrutinize
PSI Rehab recommends taking a hard look at the following areas to determine the financial impact of COVID, evaluate trends, identify where resources can be reallocated and make adjustments based on data:
- Teletherapy
- Cancel/no-show rates and patients on hold
- Resources that can be diverted to an area with greater need
- Scheduling and staffing needs
- Referral sources and patterns
- Marketing opportunities
- Financials
Data-driven decision-making is not only systematic, but provides benefits over basing decisions on how things have always functioned in the department or relying on intuition for adapting to the changing environment.
PSI Rehab can help with a data-driven approach to rehab management that is nimble in the face of the current healthcare environment, serves patients effectively and optimizes revenues.
