Berkshire Healthcare Systems Dramatically Improves Skilled Nursing Facility Census Performance with the Referral Management System

Atlanta, GA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 01, 2011

Patient Placement Systems (PPS) announced today that Berkshire Healthcare Systems has documented dramatic improvements in referral response times, admissions efficiency, performance reporting and census by automating and accelerating marketing and admissions with the Web-based Referral Management System.

In the spring of 2009, Berkshire Healthcare Systems implemented the Referral Management System for 16 of its skilled nursing facilities. Since the initial system rollout, Berkshire Healthcare has documented performance improvements in several areas, including referral tracking and reporting, approval workflows and response time analysis, fax management, insurance verification, and post-admissions workflow. By combining these process improvements with more strategic marketing, Berkshire Healthcare has recognized outstanding returns in conversion rates, admissions and census:

   •      Patient admissions up 25%
   •     Conversion rate up from 35% to 40.6%
   •     Additional 70 admissions per month on average
   •     Referral volumes up 7.4%

“The Referral Management System has enabled us to work smarter and faster at every level—from the liaisons to administrators to corporate management,” said Lisa Gaudet, vice president of business development and marketing for Berkshire Healthcare Systems. “We’ve seen significant increases in conversion rates and census as a result.”

Berkshire also has been able to assess reasons for declined and lost referrals, and make adjustments to prevent those opportunities from getting away. For example, by looking at which competitors are winning referrals, and which case managers are sending those referrals, Berkshire facilities can identify referral source relationships they want to strengthen. Also, steered by trends uncovered in declined referral reports, Berkshire has expanded clinical services at some facilities that were declining catheter patients and increased patient acceptance rates. And Berkshire liaisons rely on referral source conversion, payer and trend analysis reports to focus their efforts on high-volume referral sources with high conversion rates and preferred payer mixes.

“Berkshire Healthcare Systems wanted to know more. More about liaison performance. More about referral response times. More about where referrals—and ultimately admitted patients—were coming from,” said Doug Walker, vice president and general manager of Patient Placement Systems. “By capturing and tracking every referral from every source, Berkshire has taken advantage of the Referral Management System’s vigorous reporting to market and build census more effectively.”

About Patient Placement Systems: Patient Placement Systems increases occupancy and revenue for skilled nursing facilities with simple Web-based tools to manage marketing activities and process and track patient referrals better and faster. Long-term care providers embrace the Referral Management System to build and manage quality census, improve payer mix, respond faster, outmaneuver competitors, work smarter, and significantly increase revenue by admitting more patients. Clients improving their admissions and referral management with our solutions include Extendicare, Greystone Healthcare Management, Kindred, Berkshire Healthcare Systems, and Golden Living. For more information, visit PatientPlacement.com or call 877-748-6656.

About Berkshire Healthcare Systems: Berkshire Health Systems is the region's leading provider of comprehensive healthcare services. With award-winning programs, nationally-recognized physicians, world-class technology and a sincere commitment to the community, BHS is delivering the kind of advanced healthcare most commonly found in large metropolitan centers. Berkshire Healthcare Systems is the largest nonprofit long-term care company in Massachusetts, operating 16 rehabilitation and nursing facilities in three Northeastern states. http://www.berkshirehealthsystems.org

###

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/3/prweb8167920.htm