Demonstrate the value of your Diagnostic Management Team through quantifiable results
Everyone wants to achieve more while spending less, and in the ever-shifting healthcare landscape, the C-suite’s eyes are never far from the bottom line. Smart financial management of a hospital — or any other business or non-profit, for that matter — includes finding ways to lower costs AND maximize value.
Today’s modern healthcare organizations are facing a multitude of financial challenges and issues — declining unit-specific revenue, changes in reimbursement, and the possible repeal and/or revision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), to name just a few.
Over-utilization and under-utilization of hospital tests are also a significant problems for many organizations. Patients often receive too many, not enough or incorrect tests, wasting valuable time and money, and upping the very real possibility of diagnostic errors.
In 2015, the National Academy of Medicine endorsed Diagnostic Management Team (DMT) consultative services as a way to reduce medical errors within the U.S. healthcare industry. DMTs work by assembling subject-specific groups of experts on a regular basis to evaluate patient histories, interpret clinical data and make recommendations that become part of the patients’ files. These multidisciplinary expert-driven narratives then inform treatment decisions with the ultimate goals of improving patient care and achieving more efficient use of hospital resources.
While the DMT concept does offer the potential to generate revenue through reimbursements, Dr. Michael Laposata, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and a leading proponent of DMT use, says the greatest value lies in realizing cost-saving opportunities for a small investment.
“It’s clear that better management of clinical cases resulting in accurate, rapid diagnoses provides major savings,” he said. “The question at hand is whether it’s better to earn $30 in revenue, or save $3,000 from a more efficient diagnostic evaluation for a single case. Major savings contribute to the financial bottom line of a healthcare institution as powerfully as revenue generation.”