As a health system or provider group, you rely on accurate healthcare provider data to ensure smooth operations, timely reimbursement, and high-quality care delivery. But did you know that medical spending increased in 2021 by 12%, totaling roughly $37.4 billion? The hidden costs add up from the increased intensive interventions from providers to ensure they keep up with newly implemented requirements, codes, and correct data sets - including provider directory data accuracy. And it doesn't stop there. Inaccurate data may lead to various problems, including scheduling delays, billing errors, referral delays, quality issues, and population health problems. That's why accurate provider data is essential for health systems.
The Cost of Inaccurate Provider Data
Inaccurate provider data can manifest in many ways, including outdated contact information, incorrect specialty or certification details, and missing or duplicated records. These errors may lead to a wide range of negative consequences, such as:
- Delay in patient care: When a provider directory is inaccurate, it leads to frustrated patients, wasted staff time, and compliance issues, which may result in fines and penalties. Inaccurate directories also result in lost revenue, as patients may bounce to another health system with more reliable information.
- Payment delays and denials: If provider data is incorrect or incomplete, it creates payment delays and denials from insurance companies. These delays may lead to cash flow issues and revenue cycle disruption.
- Quality of care issues: 42% of records in provider directories have inaccuracies, leading to a high likelihood of preventing access and delays to care. For example, if a provider's contact information needs to be corrected, it could delay a patient's access to care, leading to poorer health outcomes.
Benefits of Accurate Provider Data for Health Systems
- Improved patient experience: Accurate provider data will help health systems improve patient experience and satisfaction by making it easy for patients to find the providers they want or need for their care. In a 2021 study published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), patients rated providers with complete, accurate online profiles more favorably. Patients who could choose their doctor were more satisfied with their care.
- Reduced costs: Health systems can eliminate provider data errors across demographic fields such as names, addresses, specialties, and contact information. This results in improved workflows due to fewer delays in billing and more streamlined scheduling.
- Improved compliance: By maintaining accurate provider data, health systems better ensure providers are correctly registered and licensed. This helps comply with regulatory requirements, avoiding legal or financial penalties.
With benefits like these, health systems must prioritize accurate provider data to drive better operational efficiency and patient outcomes. By taking key steps such as automating the data collection process or using a central repository for provider data, health systems can reduce costs, improve data accuracy, and streamline their operations.
How Orderly Health Helps Health Systems
We understand the challenges of managing provider data in a complex healthcare ecosystem at Orderly Health. We've prioritized offering a robust suite of data management tools designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of your provider data.
Our provider data management platform allows you to:
- Validate and verify provider data: Our platform uses advanced algorithms and data analytics to detect and correct errors in your provider data, ensuring that your directories are current and in compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Monitor and maintain data integrity: Our platform provides ongoing monitoring and maintenance of your provider data, ensuring that any changes or updates are reflected in your systems as soon as possible.
- Manage multiple sources of truth: Many health systems and provider groups have several sources of provider data-whether that's an HRIS, contracting system, EHR, provider data repository, or manually maintained logs, Orderly Health integrates data from multiple sources into a single comprehensive profile for each practitioner.
- Access up-to-date provider data: Our platform aggregates data from a variety of sources, including government databases, licensing boards, and other authoritative sources, to provide the most accurate and comprehensive provider data.
Inaccurate provider data is a pervasive problem in the healthcare industry, leading to wasted resources, lost revenue, and poor patient outcomes. You can achieve improved patient outcomes, increased revenue, and better compliance using Orderly Health's provider data management platform.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help improve your provider data management processes.