CardioSource WorldNews | Page 70

› Test Reads — A noninvasive cardiologist provided a minimum of 20 hours per week, conducting reads for tests completed in the on-site clinic’s NIL. › Hospital Rounding — All cardiologists rounded on their own inpatients, which typically required 10 to 12 hours each week to complete › Call Coverage — The group maintained a general cardiology call panel. All cardiologists participated in the general cardiology call. Practice Assessment Findings and Solutions It became clear throughout this assessment that several performance and provider deployment issues inhibited the practice’s overall operational effectiveness. The table below outlines the primary performance issues the assessment identified and the solutions we proposed to the group. The Result With opportunities for improvement identified, the group took action. By implementing some of our recommendations, the group was able to alleviate unnecessary demand on cardiology time  alancing the competing clinical demands on B cardiologists’ time can be challenging and, without a thoughtful approach, may result in suboptimal performance and unmet patient needs. for activities outside of the clinic, align nonprovider staffing, and utilize available clinic and NIL capacities. In turn, the group increased its productivity and realized almost $1,000,000 in incremental net medical revenue with the same staff and expense structure. The changes not only improved financial performance but enhanced patient care. The providers are now more available to service patient needs and utilize a care team model that ensures greater access to and continuity of services. Balancing the competing clinical demands on cardiologists’ time can be challenging and, without a thoughtful approach, may result in suboptimal performance and unmet patient needs. By utilizing a limited amount of data, setting performance targets, and taking a critical review of typical models of care, the ambulatory environment can become a much more effective component of a cardiology group’s clinical practice while simultaneously improving the patient experience. For more information, contact Michael Duffy at [email protected]. ■ IT’S YOUR DATA … © 2015 American College of Cardiology Foundation B15178 USE IT! The ACC’s CathPCI Physician Dashboard offers ACC members free, confidential access to their CathPCI Registry data. Use your trusted, validated data to: • Easily compare performance in over 40 metrics to colleagues • Complete MOC self-directed PIMS • Inform quality improvement activities Visit ACC.org/PhysicianDashboard