“With our paper-based systems, we were stuck in the 1990s.” For Anthony Myers, Director of Admitting and Registration at West Tennessee Healthcare (WTH), outdated registration processes were at odds with the non-profit health system’s mission to provide exceptional and compassionate care to its patients. He says, “We knew our patients expected a more modern experience. We wanted to meet them where they are, rather than forcing them to come to the registration desk. Our goal was to make preservice registration easier and smoother for patients and staff.” With staffing shortages and revenue pressures contributing to the push for change, WTH turned to Registration Accelerator to modernize patient intake and replace clipboards with clicks.
Here’s a run-down of their results.
Registration Accelerator: A single tool for easy, efficient, error-free patient intake
WTH is a multi-specialty health system serving 19 counties in West Tennessee and Southeast Missouri. With over 700 employees working across 90 hospitals, workflows must be tight. Myers and his team wanted to update the patient intake experience and increase reimbursements – but without placing an undue burden on staff. It was clear that a digital registration tool would be the only way to check the boxes.
Having has successful outcomes using Experian Health’s products in the past, WTH selected Registration Accelerator. This digital intake solution allows staff to send a text to patients to register online, without having to come into the office, download an app or create a profile. Patients simply access the link to answer questions, sign forms, upload documents and scan their insurance cards. The data goes straight to Experian’s eCare NEXT® platform to be validated against information already held. The process is intuitive and convenient for WTH patients, while significantly reducing the workload for busy staff, who now have fewer calls to deal with. Below are some of the specific results.
Digital registration’s impact on patients: “Everything was quick and easy”
The response from WTH patients in all age groups was overwhelmingly positive. In survey feedback, patients noted that the new online registration process had led to much shorter waiting times, which improved their overall experience of accessing care: “the wait was short, which made the appointment so much easier.”
Registration completion rates corroborate the reported impact on wait times. Between July 2022 and June 2023, WTH saw an average registration completion rate of 38%, with 50% registration completion rate in June 2023 alone. Other clients using Registration Accelerator achieve similar results for this key performance indicator.
“I love the new process. All you have to do is register online and all info is ready for your appointment. There’s less hassle and faster in-and-out times.” – Patient, West Tennessee Health
Registration Accelerator’s impact on staff: “Staff have more time for patients”
By simplifying patient intake, Registration Accelerator has given staff their time back. They no longer need to spend so much time filling out forms and calling up patients to check (and re-check) their information. Reducing the admin burden means staff can spend more time focusing patients instead of paperwork. This is not only much less stressful for staff, but contributes to a frictionless experience for patients.
Implementing new processes and tools can often be a daunting prospect for large health systems. But because Registration Accelerator was designed to be intuitive and integrate seamlessly with the existing eCare NEXT platform that staff already used, WTH staff were able master the new approach quickly with very minimal training. Myers says, “Training was very simple – it was clear that for staff, this solution was just another chevron in the workflow.”
Watch the video: Anthony Myers discusses how Registration Accelerator helped WTH create a faster, more efficient approach to patient registration.
The impact on claims rates: “Automation means registration is more accurate”
Registration Accelerator automatically uploads patients’ documents and extracts data from insurance cards instead of relying on staff to transcribe information. The risk of incorrect data making its way into the system and derailing the claims process further down the line is significantly reduced. More accurate data means more claims are clean first time, giving WTH fewer denials to rework.
And because staff no longer need to spend so much time on upfront data entry, they have more time to focus on other aspects of patient access that can have negative downstream effects in the revenue cycle, such as authorizations. According to Myers, “with automated data intake, self-services registrations are also more accurate, so staff can take more time on authorizations. This has a positive effect on our clean claims rate.”
Registration Accelerator’s compounding positive effect on claims management is helping WTH achieve their goal to increase reimbursements.
Find out more about Registration Accelerator or contact us to see how this solution can help your healthcare organization improve the patient experience and increase payments.