Chart Links Automates Physician Authorization of Therapy Plans of Care at Carle Foundation Hospital
Chart Links, a provider of rehabilitation workflow management software, announces the implementation of its physician authorization solution at Carle Foundation Hospital’s outpatient rehabilitation program which handles about 140,000 visits per year at 11 locations in east central Illinois. The solution eliminates the phone calls and faxing associated with authorizations by automating the process by which physicians approve therapist-generated plans of care for rehabilitative care.
Among other benefits, the solution
- speeds continuity of care by automating responses to requests for authorization and eliminating the manual paper chase (printing, mailing, faxing, scanning, phone calls)
- reduces billing delays by eliminating backlogs of unauthorized plans of care due to misplaced or overlooked paperwork that was mailed or faxed
- offers referring physicians real-time access to therapy plan of care updates by consolidating past and present plans of care to the physician electronic medical record
Even though therapists and referring physicians at Carle both documented care electronically, the referral authorization process between the two systems required manual intervention with printing, sorting, bundling, sending, scanning and data input. The real-time interface creates efficiencies by eliminating the last bit of paper in Carle’s work flow and reducing phone calls to and from referring physicians. The solution also provides the physician with historical data related to the progress of a patient’s therapy.
“Plans of care can now be approved by physicians in minutes versus days,” says Stephanie Dotson, Supervisor of Therapy Services at Carle. “That expedites insurance authorizations and enables our office specialists to focus on revenue-generating activities for the one to two hours per day that were previously spent on the busy-work associated with plan of care certifications.”
Carle Therapy Services offers unique, specialty care across all settings- from acute care to outpatient therapy in multiple locations across east central Illinois. The staff is highly trained and has advanced certifications, focusing on developing an individualized treatment plans. Carle Therapy Services is owned and operated by The Carle Foundation, a not for-profit tertiary care facility, which is the regional Level I Trauma Center. It also works closely Carle Clinic Association, one of the largest physician group practices in the United States. Carle Clinic Association physicians practice in more than 50 medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties.
For 15 years, Chart Links has developed rehabilitation software that automates workflow for referrals, insurance authorizations, cross-discipline scheduling, documentation, charges, and more. Chart Links allows medical rehabilitation facilities to be more efficient and to provide a higher quality of care by delivering results in the areas of compliance, outcomes, analytics and revenue.
Article: Chart Links online at Executive Healthcare Management
Ron Miller, M.D., our President and Chief Medical Officer, and Betty Esposito, our Vice President, were asked to contribute an online editorial to Executive Healthcare Management magazine. The article is entitled “Rehabilitation Clinics Can Level the Playing Field: Leveraging Electronic Charting Solutions to Improve Documentation, Coding Accuracy, and Billing Processes.”
The article covers the ways in which rehabilitation clinics can use software to track and bill for care in order to compete effectively and earn a profit in today’s market. The article delves into how electronic charting solutions help therapists to comprehensively and accurately document patient care, reducing human error and complying with regulatory requirements.
It covers four areas where electronic charting can help level the playing field with technology-enabled resources:
- Correct Coding Initiative Edits (CCI Edits)
- Time Tracking
- Account Tracking
- Authorizations