Homeruns and HIMSS 2015: 6 Stats We’ll Be Tweeting Next Week

HealthWare Systems Blog

Homeruns and HIMSS 2015: 6 Stats We’ll Be Tweeting Next Week

Posted on Thu, Apr 09, 2015

Hands down, HIMSS is our favorite healthcare conference event of the year. The speakers are inspiring. The attendees are engaged. Opportunities to network abound!

Coincidentally, major league baseball has just returned to Chicago. And that’s pretty satisfying, too. This season especially, we’ve got big hopes for a new manager, lots of new talent, and a newly remodeled ballpark.

So what’s the connection between homeruns and HIMSS?

Both sets of fans are seriously hooked on numbers—including our own team at HealthWare Systems.

If you’re a fan too, follow us on Twitter! Here are some stats we’ll be tracking (and touting) over the next few days:

ON REVENUE

$575 Million

That what it’s costing to renovate Wrigley Field. Five hundred and seventy-five million sounds like a lot until you consider the fact that the Chicago Cubs net about $300 million in revenue each year. So the future of the franchise is safe. We don’t need to worry about Joe Maddon’s ability to deliver sporting entertainment to the people of Illinois. On the other hand…

$500 Million

That’s the 2012 figure for uncompensated hospital care (bad debt plus charity care) in the state of Colorado alone. Reportsindicate that things are getting better in some states, via the expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But the current deficiencies still greatly impact hospitals’ abilities to provide quality care to their communities.

Meanwhile, some contributors to bad debt are avoidable: administration errors and insufficient denial management, for example. Research shows 30 to 40% of claims denials are caused by registration errors, representing as much as 0.5% in lost revenue. The average hospital also pays thousands to correct patient addresses, tackling return mail rates between 10 to 15%.

These aren’t tough fixes. The right RCM tools—like our ActiveDEFENDER software for patient encounter accuracy—help health systems make simple, yet game-changing process improvements.

ON WAITING

115,000

That’s the number of Cubs fans currently registered on the Season Tickets Waiting List. Wow, right? The organization doesn’t publish stats on how fast this line is moving along. But ballpark capacity is only 41,000. How long do you think it’ll take for season ticket holders to turn over three times?

60

That’s how many minutes some Cubs fans had to wait in restroom lines last week. You can imagine how frustrated they must have been. Luckily for the Cubs, there’s only one major competitor in the area when it comes to baseball. And there’s no real danger of losing North Sider business to these South Sider rivals. In healthcare, it’s a different story…

40

That’s the percentage of patients who would be willing to see another healthcare provider if it meant shorter wait times. This isn’t MLB. If your patients are waiting, you’re losing money. Get the full story on patient wait times here.

ON SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION

0

That’s Jon Lester’s career batting average, which remained unchanged after a single plate appearance on opening day. In case you’re not from town, Lester is the Cubs’ newly acquired pitching ace. No one is expecting Lester (a long-time American League player for the Red Sox) to knock the cover off the ball. But, with an average nine strikeouts per game, there’s good reason to be excited about his integration into the Cub’s pitching rotation.

1,000

Speaking of exciting integrations… How about the number 1,000? That’s our batting average when it comes to EHR system integration.  Our suite of revenue cycle management solutions has been used to interface with all major healthcare IT systems, including the top 5 EHR’s.  And unlike many “bolt-on” RCM solutions, our tools have achieved bi-directional communication with host systems—to inform and improve workflows across clients’ facilities.

Find us at HIMSS to learn more about our proven revenue cycle solutions and the numbers they deliver. Oh, and one more quick number to keep an eye on:

3

That’s the number of Cubs jerseys we’re raffling off, starting on Monday. DM us your favorite HIMSS or homeruns stat, and we’ll enter you in the drawing. Hope to see you around McCormick Place!