How to Improve your HEDIS score

As a healthcare provider, you are likely familiar with the HEDIS score and its importance. HEDIS, which stands for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, is a tool used by healthcare organizations to measure the quality of care provided to patients. In this article, we will explore what HEDIS is, why you should care about it, and how SCHILLER´s devices can help you improve your overall HEDIS score.

HEDIS is a group of 92 performance measures developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) that evaluates the quality of healthcare delivered by health plans and providers, across six domains of care:

1. Effectiveness of Care 
2. Access or Availability of Care
3. Experience of care
4. Utilization and Risk Adjusted Utilization
5. Health Plan Descriptive Information
6. Measure Collected Using Electronic Clinical Data Systems
   
   

The measures cover a range of clinical areas, including preventive care, chronic disease management, and behavioral health. HEDIS is used by:

• Health plans to evaluate their performance.
• Purchasers of healthcare to assess the quality of care delivered by providers.

As a healthcare provider, you should care about your HEDIS score because it reflects the quality of care you provide to your patients. A high HEDIS score indicates that you are delivering high-quality care that meets or exceeds the standards set by the NCQA. A low HEDIS score, on the other hand, suggests that there may be areas where you can improve the care you provide to your patients.

But don´t worry. We are here to provide you with the most innovative cardiopulmonary medical devices to help you offer accurate and reliable diagnostics. We also offer you a centralized platform of communication that enables seamless and automatic connectivity between SCHILLER medical devices and EMR or HIS systems. Keep on reading to discover why those features are so valuable to rise your HEDIS ranking.

The good news is that improving your overall HEDIS score is completely in your hands and your staff´s. This requires a concerted effort from your practice. Here are some strategies you can use to improve your score:

1. Pay attention to your medical records.

One of the most important factors in improving your HEDIS score is accurate and complete medical reporting. This means ensuring that the CPT codes you use accurately reflect the services you provide to your patients. It also means ensuring that all relevant information is documented in your patients' medical records. To improve your medical reporting, you should review your patients' medical records regularly and ensure that their completeness and accuracy. Also, make sure your staff is properly trained in using CPT codes and writing accurate medical reports.

2. Boost your patients' engagement. 
Engaged patients are more likely to receive the appropriate preventive care and disease management services, which can improve your HEDIS score. Here are three ways to keep them involved:

• Scheduling as a major factor: One of the most important factors in patient engagement is scheduling. You should ensure that your practice has an efficient scheduling system that makes it easy for patients to schedule appointments and receive care when they need it.
• Provide preventive medicine: Preventive medicine is an important component of patient engagement. Provide your patients with preventive care services including immunizations, pulmonary function tests, and EKG tests.
• Schedule tests: Another way to boost patient engagement is to schedule tests and follow-up appointments at the time of the initial visit. This can help assure that patients receive the appropriate care and follow-up, which can improve your HEDIS score.
  

3. Improve Scheduling in Your Outpatient Practice.
Scheduling improvements in outpatient practices can help boost your HEDIS score by ensuring appropriate care and follow-up for your patients. Here are some strategies to do so:

• Reduce wait times: Long wait times can be a barrier to care and can lead to patient dissatisfaction. Make sure your practice has an efficient scheduling system that minimizes wait times and ensures patients receive care on time. Consider keeping available slots for urgent visits.
• Streamline check-in and check-out: Streamlining the check-in and check-out process can help ensure that patients receive care in a timely manner. It is important that your staff is trained in proper check-in and check-out procedures, and that your practice has an efficient patient flow system. Our DS-20 Diagnostic Station is a valuable tool because it allows to check the most demanded functions in one single device, which saves time.
  

Incorporating the latest technology solutions can improve your practice workflow. Using online scheduling systems and seamless connectivity to labs and medical devices will have a significant impact on your staff burnout, scheduling process, and patient engagement.

Take advantage of our SCHILLER Server solution. It is a centralized management database and communication platform that allows the exchange of reports (in PDF and XML format) of tests you perform on patients, between SCHILLER devices and HIS or EMR systems.

If your HEDIS score is not improving, there may be a few obstacles that you need to overcome. Here are some common handicaps you should solve to improving your HEDIS score:

• Poor data quality. Poor data quality can lead to inaccurate reporting and can negatively impact your HEDIS score. It is essential that your data is accurate and complete, as well as that you are using appropriate CPT codes.
• No patient engagement. Lack of patient engagement can be a major barrier to improving your HEDIS score. You should ensure that your patients are engaged and actively participating in their care.
• Lack of resources. Lack of resources, such as a short staff and old technology, can make it difficult to improve your HEDIS score.If you have been considering investing in a new medical device, this is the best moment to do it. SCHILLER offers Swiss-quality devices with the most innovative technology in the market. Our devices offer the resources you need to provide high-quality care and accurately report your services.

Improving your HEDIS score requires a concerted effort from your practice. By focusing on accurate and complete medical reporting, boosting patient engagement, improving scheduling in your outpatient practice, and overcoming common obstacles, you can improve the quality of care you provide to your patients, which is the main objective. And as your HEDIS rank goes up, so will your income.

To learn more about how SCHILLER´s devices can help you rise your HEDIS score, contact us today.

Disclaimer: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a promise by SCHILLER or its subsidiaries.