July 9, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode of the MGMA Business Solutions Podcast, host Daniel Williams sits down with Kate Warnock and Maja Vojnovic from Forcura to explore the challenges medical practices face in post-acute care documentation and coordination. The conversation reveals insights from a recent survey that highlights the administrative burdens practices experience and offers innovative solutions to streamline workflows. Forcura is also sponsoring an upcoming MGMA webinar titled, "Reducing Physician Practice Administrative Burden."
Timestamps:
- [0:50] - Introduction
- [06:52] - Time Drain of Documentation
- [11:11] - System Fragmentation
- [12:19] - Satisfaction Crisis and Opportunity for Improvement
- [13:48] - Hidden Billing Opportunities
- [16:38] - Practical Solution for Simplifying Documentation Management
- [17:58] - Practice Efficiency with New Technology
Resources:
- Visit the Forcura website
- Learn more about Forcura Circle
- MGMA Webinar: "Reducing Physician Practice Administrative Burden," July 31 at 1:00 PM ET - Register Here
- Forcura + Fierce Survey: Post-Acute Care Coordination: 12 Key Findings and Recommended Actions
Additional Resources:
Email us at dwilliams@mgma.com if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Williams (00:02):
Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams,
senior editor at MGMA and hostof the MGMA Podcast Network. We
are back with another businesssolutions podcast, and we are
gonna present to you someinformation that also ties into
an upcoming MGMA webinar. Iwanna give a plug for that. That
(00:24):
webinar is reducing physicianpractice Real World Results from
Implementing e Signature forHome Health Orders.
So to put that on your calendar,that is July 31, and that event
is sponsored by Forcura. And wehave some people from Forcura
(00:45):
today joining us today. KateWarnock, senior director of
communications, and MayaWojnovich, a product expert also
at Forcura. I just want towelcome you both to the show.
Kate Warnock (00:59):
Thanks so much. Great to be here.
Daniel Williams (01:02):
Alright. So let's get started. As we do with
all of our podcasts, we wannaget to know a little bit about
our guests. So, Kate, I'll startwith you. I'd love to just get a
little quick intro to understandwho you are and what your
background is just to share thatwith that MGMA audience.
Kate Warnock (01:18):
Oh, thanks so much, Daniel. So as you said,
I'm senior director ofcommunications and also brand
strategy here at Forcura, whichis a health care technology
company based here inJacksonville, Florida. Before
joining Forcura in 2019, I'vereally spent my entire industry
or my entire career in thehealthcare industry. So that's
now twenty three years, because,you know, I started when I was
(01:41):
16. And so, yeah.
So I was on the payer side, forthe majority of my career and
kinda came up through, all sortsof change. You know, everything
from HMOs when they kinda firstlaunched all the way through the
Affordable Care Act and, thencame to Forcura. Like I said in
2019, I'm now on the technologyside and, just find this sector
(02:04):
endlessly fascinating.
Daniel Williams (02:06):
Well, fantastic. Maya, same with you.
We'd love to hear about yourbackground.
Maja Vojnovic (02:10):
Absolutely. So I started off on the more clinical
side, and I studied health Istudied health sciences in
college. And I spent timeworking in clinics throughout my
college career. And thenafterwards, I transitioned over
to public health during the peakof COVID, actually, where I
served as a liaison between oneof the Florida Bureau of Public
Health Laboratories and art ofthe software company. So now at
(02:32):
Forcura, I am the product ownerfor Circle, which is our e
signature platform forproviders.
And I absolutely love what I dobecause I can hear what
providers and our staff need todeliver better patient care, I
get to help enhance circle anddeliver solutions to those
needs.
Daniel Williams (02:47):
Alright. Great. Thank you so much for that.
Nikhate, you mentioned a littlebit about who Forcura is, but if
you don't mind, elaborate just alittle bit on that and how the
company fits in with what ourlisteners, our medical practice
administrators, what they'reabout and how Forcura can help
them in their jobs.
Kate Warnock (03:06):
That's great. Well, so Forcura launched as a
healthcare technology companyback in 2012, And our sole
focus, from from, the early dayshas been on the post acute
sector. And so we're atechnology platform with b to b
that serves really primarily thehome based care providers. So
think home health and hospiceand personal care, that sort of
(03:28):
thing. And really, we are thatintelligent healthcare workflow
solution that helps reallybetter manage that patient
journey once they're dischargedfrom, you know, an acute setting
or if they're referred in from acommunity physician.
We manage all of thatdocumentation. We build in some
intelligence there so that ourour clients can really use
(03:50):
better intelligence to makebusiness decisions that are best
for for them and for theirpatients. And then on the back
end too, Daniel, we also help tomanage that flow of
documentation out to physiciangroups. So that's why we're here
today is talk a little bit moreabout that. One and one thing
too, I would be remiss if Ididn't say we were just recently
(04:11):
acquired this year and aremerging with MetaLogics, which
you'll see in our virtualbackground here.
And MetaLogics is really thatleading clinical decision
support technology also for homehealth and hospice groups. So
really exciting merger. We'rejust at the start of integrating
our solutions. And, But we'rehere today really to talk about
(04:34):
Forcura Circle, which is Maya'sexpertise.
Daniel Williams (04:37):
Wonderful. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah.
And one of the main things wewill be talking about is a
partnership that the company hadwith Fierce Healthcare.
This was on a survey ofphysician practice leaders.
Share with us what were youlooking to find out from this
survey and maybe some of thenuggets that you did find out.
Kate Warnock (04:58):
So, I'll kick off here. It was my project and it
was such a, a real, delight toreally kind of dive into getting
firsthand feedback from peoplelike your audience that are
listening today. We reallywanted to quantify something
that we think might be flyingunder the radar for a lot of
(05:19):
practice managers. And that iswhat challenge is it for them,
their staff, their physicians tocoordinate care for post acute
patients. So as thatdocumentation is coming into
their offices by faxes, byemails, through portals, all the
things, there's a lot of workthat goes into that.
But a lot of people may not beaware just how much time and
(05:43):
cost goes into managing whattends to be a very manual
process. So that's really whatthis, Fierce Healthcare report
helped us do. We surveyed andgot a 111 people to reply and
produce all sorts of insightsfor us.
Daniel Williams (05:58):
Right. Maya, anything else you wanna share
about it?
Maja Vojnovic (06:01):
Yeah. Just wanna add that we also hope to capture
some open text responses toquestions like what EHR
functionality is most needed tohelp you better manage
coordinating care with your postacute network. And this is like
the ability to send electronicreferrals for home health health
care agencies. And our productsare purpose designed around our
end users. So we take directfeedback from those end users.
(06:23):
And so this audience wasinstrumental in helping us guide
our product development.
Daniel Williams (06:27):
Okay. Well, Maya, let's stay with you for
this next question. So accordingto the information, one third of
practices are spending ten ormore hours a week on
documentation tied to post acutecare. That's a lot of time. That
is a lot of time being put intothat.
So what does that mean inpractice and how does it impact
(06:49):
patient care or even teamworkflows? Yes,
Maja Vojnovic (06:53):
definitely a lot of time. It means that time is
taken away from patient care,and that can result in delays
for patient care coordinationand provider payment. So being
such a regulatory drivenindustry, there's a lot of
paperwork involved in the postacute care world, and there's a
lot of manual effort. Sophysically signing each order,
the time consuming process ofsending documentation and
(07:14):
waiting on confirmations andmanually tracking documents on
an Excel spreadsheet, it's allvery time consuming. Actually,
over one third of practicemanagers report that their
practices have between five andover seven or more staff members
managing referrals, and that'salso phone calls and faxes all
for the care coordinationprocess.
So the time and resources neededto manage this document workflow
(07:35):
poses a financial burden becausenot it's not only is it,
resource expensive, quoteunquote, but also because of the
delays they create in returningsigned orders. Delays means that
the provider is not getting paidfor the patient care that they
provide.
Daniel Williams (07:50):
Okay. You you mentioned phones and faxes
there, Maya. Kate, I wanna turnit to you. What we're learning
is phones and faxes are stillwidely used. They are still in
great demand.
Let's talk about the strain thatcan put on practices and how
these more, I guess, more moderntechnological tools can be used
(08:13):
to help relieve some of thatpressure.
Kate Warnock (08:16):
You know, Daniel, as as Maya was kind of ticking
through those things that wefound through this survey, I
really bet that a lot of thepeople listening today were
shaking their heads like, that'smy practice. Yeah. And they can
speak to the pain a lot moreeloquently than I'm sure I can.
But, you know, again, what wediscovered is that this does
tend to be a very it it can bevery overwhelming to get
(08:37):
bombarded with phone calls thatare followed up with emails and
another ream of faxes that ifyou are doing this all manually,
if you're tracking these thingsin a spreadsheet, you might have
to be physically tracking downwho has what copy of what
version of this patient's order,which again, it's just it's
frustrating and and does notmake people feel like they're
(09:01):
adding value to what they reallywant to be doing most. So, you
know, again, as we talk aboutwhere we see this industry
evolving and why we're heretoday a little bit, is that when
you can start to introducetechnology that helps to
consolidate the process, it'sone place for everyone to go
into as a source of truth.
You really can't start toeliminate that that volume of
(09:23):
phone calls and and faxes andsuch. And one thing that Maya
mentioned too, I'm not sure thatthis audience is as aware of is
that especially if you're a homehealth care provider because of
the regulation, even if they'vealready delivered that those
services to to your patient,they're not able to bill for
those services until they getthis physician's signature back
(09:46):
on their record. That thentriggers their billing. So if
you think about the expense ofpaying for your staff, your
clinicians to go out to the to,to the patient, to make multiple
visits, to pay for supplies, allof the back and forth. That's a
lot of financial outlay on our,you know, our client side.
(10:06):
What we're seeing on the otherend of this transaction is all
of those same inefficiencies,but not necessarily a lot of,
incentive for the physicianpractice to be managing that
documentation in a timelymanner. So Maya, think is gonna
speak to that a little bitlater. But that's again the the
incentive for why your practicemanagers that we're talking
(10:28):
today are getting all of thesephone calls. It's because they
need to get that signature sothat they can then do that
proper step of billing with thatphysician's signature on record.
So that's that's a little bit ofeducation that that I'm not sure
everyone was maybe aware of.
Daniel Williams (10:43):
Okay. Thank you for that. So Maya, I want to
turn to you for the nextquestion. One of the things that
really stood out was systemfragmentation. That is something
that was really out there, andone of the numbers that really
stood out was some practicesreported, I want to get this
right, managing 15 or moreportals just for post acute
(11:04):
care.
So much fragmentation there.Talk about that and the risks
that are involved in that.
Maja Vojnovic (11:11):
So when providers have to access the different
ordering for each post acuteagency, each of which has
different requirements,different login credentials,
different links you have tobookmark on your browser. The
systems are certainlyfragmented, and I can imagine
how much frustration thatcreates in a clinical setting.
So as a result, patientinformation can also be
fragmented because it resides inmultiple systems and that
(11:32):
continuity of care can sometimesbe elapsed. The time consuming
process of managing thisadministrative side of countless
portals is yet again taking timeaway from patient care. And it's
not just the providers whoexperience this, it's also the
home based care agencies witheverything being aggregated on
their end
Kate Warnock (11:49):
too.
Maja Vojnovic (11:50):
And so there's not a central place to manage
all the documentation. It's kindof dispersed all over, and it's
definitely a pain point allacross the board.
Daniel Williams (11:58):
Okay. Kate, another number that stood out to
me from the survey, only 7% ofpractices said they're very
satisfied with their currentcoordination process. So 93% are
not very satisfied. What isgetting in the way of
improvement? What what'shappening there?
Kate Warnock (12:19):
You know, isn't it shocking to hear that there are
7% who are very satisfied givenall the challenges that we've
just ticked off? So, kudos tothem. You know? And I I'm I'm
glad to hear that that there aresome folks who are finding this
not really just a burden andoverwhelming. But, you know,
your question was, what'sgetting in the way of
improvement?
(12:40):
I think that there's probably somuch that's going on in the back
office of of of a providerpractice. And this may not be an
issue. Again, a challenge that'srecognized for creating the
burden that it truly is. So Ithink what's getting in in the
way of improvement is just ageneral awareness issue. There's
(13:01):
a gap between this is the waythings are and understanding the
way things could be.
And so what's that's what wewent in with Fierce Healthcare
was again to really capture whatare the challenges and then to
really start to quantify it sothat we could help to educate
this sector, our our practicemanagers and say, does this
(13:23):
sound like you? This is a reallyhorrible process. And, let's
start to have a conversationabout how things could be
better.
Daniel Williams (13:31):
Yeah. Maya, another thing to bring up here,
nearly half of the respondentsdidn't know that they could bill
for oversight of post acutecare. So what are the billing
opportunities that our listenerscould should be aware of?
Maja Vojnovic (13:48):
Sure. So the Healthcare Common Procedure
Coding System, or HC PCS codesfor short, they're used to bill
for germline oversight of postacute patient care. For Cura,
the Circle platform hasstreamlined and centralized
reporting for these codes, plussome additional data points like
the primary diagnosis, timespent for care, and date of
(14:08):
service. And so with thisreporting feature in Circle,
it's built into the platform andgives the provider billing
opportunities for that postacute patient care. It can
offset also the administrativecosts for practices if they do
start billing for a virtualclean oversight.
Daniel Williams (14:24):
Okay. Kate, let's talk about one more,
opportunity that we found in thestudy here. The survey
highlighted demand forelectronic referrals and real
time tracking. So let's talkabout those opportunities and
how those could be integratedfor, medical practices.
Kate Warnock (14:43):
So for sure. So I think that there's just a
general demand for less paper inan office environment. Something
that's more centralized. So ifwhat we're seeing is kind of
we're talking about and we'vequantified what's happening at
the end of this one transactionwhere we have a post acute
provider sending documentationthat needs to be reviewed and
(15:03):
signed and returned. That's thepatient care plan.
But what could what better couldhappen, you know, in the future
as more of these communicationsbecome both digital and real
time. But what you're going toget, again, less paperwork in
the office and a lot moreopportunity to focus on what
counts most, which is thatpatient care. So this is really
(15:26):
the direction that ForcuraCircle is going in. And, you
know, part of our excitementabout merging with Metalogics,
we know down the line, we reallywant to serve up patient
insights. So be able to share inreal time, not just an order
about this is the care that weare planning to deliver or our
clients are are planning todeliver, but for physician
(15:48):
practices to know my patient isgetting this sort of service or
there has been maybe a change inin that patient's care outcome.
Maybe they've had a degradationof of their clinical condition.
This is something a physicianpractice wants to know as much
as a home health care providerdoes too. Right? So this is one
(16:11):
patient that's being managed by,you know, a a many different,
care care stakeholders. But wereally see that primary care
physician practice as thequarterback.
And so being able to puttechnology in the hands of both
of these stakeholders, all ofthese clinicians, and again,
have one place where patientinformation can flow seamlessly.
(16:33):
That's really what the futureshould be, and that's where
Forcura is is working towards.
Daniel Williams (16:38):
Okay. I have last question I wanna ask, and I
wanna direct it to both of you.We'll start with Maya and end
with Kate. But we've beentalking a lot about post acute
care coordination, but what's arealistic first step that a
practice can take if they wannaimprove the way that they handle
those processes? Again, Maya,let's start with you.
Maja Vojnovic (17:00):
No. I would say consider licensing for Keurig
Snuggle. It's a one stop shopfor your entire practice. Our
new admin and connectivityfeatures we brought out allow
practice managers to centralizeall the work they need for the
entire practice. One of myfavorite things about it is that
practice centers can access haveaccess to multiple, if not all,
(17:21):
agencies in their post acutenetwork in one portal.
And I think that's a really bigdeal. Then how Kate alluded
earlier, using Circle canimprove the relationship with
this post acute number becausewe see our e signature platform
reduce order turnaround time byover half. Plus, in addition to
the new enhancements we havemade, practice managers now have
visibility for documentsbelonging to all the providers
(17:43):
in your practice. And so we'vecreated this this dashboard with
the holistic view of all theoutstanding orders and have
really broken it down byprovider, post secure agency,
and many more, data points. So Ithink that'd be a really good
step.
Daniel Williams (17:58):
Yeah. Kate, let's hear from you. Have the
last word here.
Kate Warnock (18:01):
Yeah. So, just kind of building again on what
Maya said. Part of what thatsurvey did, it really helped to
key us into what is it does thephysician practice manager need
for her to better manage theclinicians, her staff, that sort
of thing, within her workenvironment. So as much as this
is meant to help benefit thepatient and making sure that
(18:22):
that documentation is seenquickly. We also want to remove
some of those burdens from thatphysician practice.
So specifically, being able tominimize the administrative
burden that's on the physicianand put it on the staff that's
really designed to manage thosethings. So, you know, whether
it's the portal logincredentials or managing sort of
(18:43):
adding or deleting their staff,that's something that one person
is able to do across the entirepractice. So we thought that was
really important. And thenobviously, maximizing the
control that you have over youradministration of your entire
provider group and yourreporting. Again, to have this
all instead of disaggregated andand in so many different places,
(19:06):
one place to get thisinformation so that you can
really administer your practicewith that much better clarity
and efficiency.
So really starting with For CureCircle is our number one piece
of advice.
Daniel Williams (19:17):
That is great. Well, I wanna thank Kate
Warnock, Maya Wojnovich forjoining us today. Thank you both
so much. This has been great.
Kate Warnock (19:25):
Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel Williams (19:27):
Alright. Now everybody, a quick reminder for
CURA is sponsoring an upcomingMGMA webinar. Going to be on
July 31. I do want to remind youit is called Reducing Physician
Practice Administrative Burden,Real World Results from
Implementing e Signature fromHome Health Orders. We're really
(19:48):
excited about this offering.
It's a free webinar. You do getcontinuing ed credits for that.
What I'm gonna do in the episodeshow notes is put direct links
in there. All you have to do isclick that link and go right to
it, or you can go tomgma.com/webinars, and you'll
find it there as well. So,everybody, I just wanna thank
(20:10):
you again for for being MGMApodcast listeners.
We'll see you next time. Thanksso much.
Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams,
senior editor at MGMA and hostof the MGMA Podcast Network. We
are back with another businesssolutions podcast, and we are
gonna present to you someinformation that also ties into
an upcoming MGMA webinar. Iwanna give a plug for that. That
(00:24):
webinar is reducing physicianpractice Real World Results from
Implementing e Signature forHome Health Orders.
So to put that on your calendar,that is July 31, and that event
is sponsored by Forcura. And wehave some people from Forcura
(00:45):
today joining us today. KateWarnock, senior director of
communications, and MayaWojnovich, a product expert also
at Forcura. I just want towelcome you both to the show.
Kate Warnock (00:59):
Thanks so much. Great to be here.
Daniel Williams (01:02):
Alright. So let's get started. As we do with
all of our podcasts, we wannaget to know a little bit about
our guests. So, Kate, I'll startwith you. I'd love to just get a
little quick intro to understandwho you are and what your
background is just to share thatwith that MGMA audience.
Kate Warnock (01:18):
Oh, thanks so much, Daniel. So as you said,
I'm senior director ofcommunications and also brand
strategy here at Forcura, whichis a health care technology
company based here inJacksonville, Florida. Before
joining Forcura in 2019, I'vereally spent my entire industry
or my entire career in thehealthcare industry. So that's
now twenty three years, because,you know, I started when I was
(01:41):
16. And so, yeah.
So I was on the payer side, forthe majority of my career and
kinda came up through, all sortsof change. You know, everything
from HMOs when they kinda firstlaunched all the way through the
Affordable Care Act and, thencame to Forcura. Like I said in
2019, I'm now on the technologyside and, just find this sector
(02:04):
endlessly fascinating.
Daniel Williams (02:06):
Well, fantastic. Maya, same with you.
We'd love to hear about yourbackground.
Maja Vojnovic (02:10):
Absolutely. So I started off on the more clinical
side, and I studied health Istudied health sciences in
college. And I spent timeworking in clinics throughout my
college career. And thenafterwards, I transitioned over
to public health during the peakof COVID, actually, where I
served as a liaison between oneof the Florida Bureau of Public
Health Laboratories and art ofthe software company. So now at
(02:32):
Forcura, I am the product ownerfor Circle, which is our e
signature platform forproviders.
And I absolutely love what I dobecause I can hear what
providers and our staff need todeliver better patient care, I
get to help enhance circle anddeliver solutions to those
needs.
Daniel Williams (02:47):
Alright. Great. Thank you so much for that.
Nikhate, you mentioned a littlebit about who Forcura is, but if
you don't mind, elaborate just alittle bit on that and how the
company fits in with what ourlisteners, our medical practice
administrators, what they'reabout and how Forcura can help
them in their jobs.
Kate Warnock (03:06):
That's great. Well, so Forcura launched as a
healthcare technology companyback in 2012, And our sole
focus, from from, the early dayshas been on the post acute
sector. And so we're atechnology platform with b to b
that serves really primarily thehome based care providers. So
think home health and hospiceand personal care, that sort of
(03:28):
thing. And really, we are thatintelligent healthcare workflow
solution that helps reallybetter manage that patient
journey once they're dischargedfrom, you know, an acute setting
or if they're referred in from acommunity physician.
We manage all of thatdocumentation. We build in some
intelligence there so that ourour clients can really use
(03:50):
better intelligence to makebusiness decisions that are best
for for them and for theirpatients. And then on the back
end too, Daniel, we also help tomanage that flow of
documentation out to physiciangroups. So that's why we're here
today is talk a little bit moreabout that. One and one thing
too, I would be remiss if Ididn't say we were just recently
(04:11):
acquired this year and aremerging with MetaLogics, which
you'll see in our virtualbackground here.
And MetaLogics is really thatleading clinical decision
support technology also for homehealth and hospice groups. So
really exciting merger. We'rejust at the start of integrating
our solutions. And, But we'rehere today really to talk about
(04:34):
Forcura Circle, which is Maya'sexpertise.
Daniel Williams (04:37):
Wonderful. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah.
And one of the main things wewill be talking about is a
partnership that the company hadwith Fierce Healthcare.
This was on a survey ofphysician practice leaders.
Share with us what were youlooking to find out from this
survey and maybe some of thenuggets that you did find out.
Kate Warnock (04:58):
So, I'll kick off here. It was my project and it
was such a, a real, delight toreally kind of dive into getting
firsthand feedback from peoplelike your audience that are
listening today. We reallywanted to quantify something
that we think might be flyingunder the radar for a lot of
(05:19):
practice managers. And that iswhat challenge is it for them,
their staff, their physicians tocoordinate care for post acute
patients. So as thatdocumentation is coming into
their offices by faxes, byemails, through portals, all the
things, there's a lot of workthat goes into that.
But a lot of people may not beaware just how much time and
(05:43):
cost goes into managing whattends to be a very manual
process. So that's really whatthis, Fierce Healthcare report
helped us do. We surveyed andgot a 111 people to reply and
produce all sorts of insightsfor us.
Daniel Williams (05:58):
Right. Maya, anything else you wanna share
about it?
Maja Vojnovic (06:01):
Yeah. Just wanna add that we also hope to capture
some open text responses toquestions like what EHR
functionality is most needed tohelp you better manage
coordinating care with your postacute network. And this is like
the ability to send electronicreferrals for home health health
care agencies. And our productsare purpose designed around our
end users. So we take directfeedback from those end users.
(06:23):
And so this audience wasinstrumental in helping us guide
our product development.
Daniel Williams (06:27):
Okay. Well, Maya, let's stay with you for
this next question. So accordingto the information, one third of
practices are spending ten ormore hours a week on
documentation tied to post acutecare. That's a lot of time. That
is a lot of time being put intothat.
So what does that mean inpractice and how does it impact
(06:49):
patient care or even teamworkflows? Yes,
Maja Vojnovic (06:53):
definitely a lot of time. It means that time is
taken away from patient care,and that can result in delays
for patient care coordinationand provider payment. So being
such a regulatory drivenindustry, there's a lot of
paperwork involved in the postacute care world, and there's a
lot of manual effort. Sophysically signing each order,
the time consuming process ofsending documentation and
(07:14):
waiting on confirmations andmanually tracking documents on
an Excel spreadsheet, it's allvery time consuming. Actually,
over one third of practicemanagers report that their
practices have between five andover seven or more staff members
managing referrals, and that'salso phone calls and faxes all
for the care coordinationprocess.
So the time and resources neededto manage this document workflow
(07:35):
poses a financial burden becausenot it's not only is it,
resource expensive, quoteunquote, but also because of the
delays they create in returningsigned orders. Delays means that
the provider is not getting paidfor the patient care that they
provide.
Daniel Williams (07:50):
Okay. You you mentioned phones and faxes
there, Maya. Kate, I wanna turnit to you. What we're learning
is phones and faxes are stillwidely used. They are still in
great demand.
Let's talk about the strain thatcan put on practices and how
these more, I guess, more moderntechnological tools can be used
(08:13):
to help relieve some of thatpressure.
Kate Warnock (08:16):
You know, Daniel, as as Maya was kind of ticking
through those things that wefound through this survey, I
really bet that a lot of thepeople listening today were
shaking their heads like, that'smy practice. Yeah. And they can
speak to the pain a lot moreeloquently than I'm sure I can.
But, you know, again, what wediscovered is that this does
tend to be a very it it can bevery overwhelming to get
(08:37):
bombarded with phone calls thatare followed up with emails and
another ream of faxes that ifyou are doing this all manually,
if you're tracking these thingsin a spreadsheet, you might have
to be physically tracking downwho has what copy of what
version of this patient's order,which again, it's just it's
frustrating and and does notmake people feel like they're
(09:01):
adding value to what they reallywant to be doing most. So, you
know, again, as we talk aboutwhere we see this industry
evolving and why we're heretoday a little bit, is that when
you can start to introducetechnology that helps to
consolidate the process, it'sone place for everyone to go
into as a source of truth.
You really can't start toeliminate that that volume of
(09:23):
phone calls and and faxes andsuch. And one thing that Maya
mentioned too, I'm not sure thatthis audience is as aware of is
that especially if you're a homehealth care provider because of
the regulation, even if they'vealready delivered that those
services to to your patient,they're not able to bill for
those services until they getthis physician's signature back
(09:46):
on their record. That thentriggers their billing. So if
you think about the expense ofpaying for your staff, your
clinicians to go out to the to,to the patient, to make multiple
visits, to pay for supplies, allof the back and forth. That's a
lot of financial outlay on our,you know, our client side.
(10:06):
What we're seeing on the otherend of this transaction is all
of those same inefficiencies,but not necessarily a lot of,
incentive for the physicianpractice to be managing that
documentation in a timelymanner. So Maya, think is gonna
speak to that a little bitlater. But that's again the the
incentive for why your practicemanagers that we're talking
(10:28):
today are getting all of thesephone calls. It's because they
need to get that signature sothat they can then do that
proper step of billing with thatphysician's signature on record.
So that's that's a little bit ofeducation that that I'm not sure
everyone was maybe aware of.
Daniel Williams (10:43):
Okay. Thank you for that. So Maya, I want to
turn to you for the nextquestion. One of the things that
really stood out was systemfragmentation. That is something
that was really out there, andone of the numbers that really
stood out was some practicesreported, I want to get this
right, managing 15 or moreportals just for post acute
(11:04):
care.
So much fragmentation there.Talk about that and the risks
that are involved in that.
Maja Vojnovic (11:11):
So when providers have to access the different
ordering for each post acuteagency, each of which has
different requirements,different login credentials,
different links you have tobookmark on your browser. The
systems are certainlyfragmented, and I can imagine
how much frustration thatcreates in a clinical setting.
So as a result, patientinformation can also be
fragmented because it resides inmultiple systems and that
(11:32):
continuity of care can sometimesbe elapsed. The time consuming
process of managing thisadministrative side of countless
portals is yet again taking timeaway from patient care. And it's
not just the providers whoexperience this, it's also the
home based care agencies witheverything being aggregated on
their end
Kate Warnock (11:49):
too.
Maja Vojnovic (11:50):
And so there's not a central place to manage
all the documentation. It's kindof dispersed all over, and it's
definitely a pain point allacross the board.
Daniel Williams (11:58):
Okay. Kate, another number that stood out to
me from the survey, only 7% ofpractices said they're very
satisfied with their currentcoordination process. So 93% are
not very satisfied. What isgetting in the way of
improvement? What what'shappening there?
Kate Warnock (12:19):
You know, isn't it shocking to hear that there are
7% who are very satisfied givenall the challenges that we've
just ticked off? So, kudos tothem. You know? And I I'm I'm
glad to hear that that there aresome folks who are finding this
not really just a burden andoverwhelming. But, you know,
your question was, what'sgetting in the way of
improvement?
(12:40):
I think that there's probably somuch that's going on in the back
office of of of a providerpractice. And this may not be an
issue. Again, a challenge that'srecognized for creating the
burden that it truly is. So Ithink what's getting in in the
way of improvement is just ageneral awareness issue. There's
(13:01):
a gap between this is the waythings are and understanding the
way things could be.
And so what's that's what wewent in with Fierce Healthcare
was again to really capture whatare the challenges and then to
really start to quantify it sothat we could help to educate
this sector, our our practicemanagers and say, does this
(13:23):
sound like you? This is a reallyhorrible process. And, let's
start to have a conversationabout how things could be
better.
Daniel Williams (13:31):
Yeah. Maya, another thing to bring up here,
nearly half of the respondentsdidn't know that they could bill
for oversight of post acutecare. So what are the billing
opportunities that our listenerscould should be aware of?
Maja Vojnovic (13:48):
Sure. So the Healthcare Common Procedure
Coding System, or HC PCS codesfor short, they're used to bill
for germline oversight of postacute patient care. For Cura,
the Circle platform hasstreamlined and centralized
reporting for these codes, plussome additional data points like
the primary diagnosis, timespent for care, and date of
(14:08):
service. And so with thisreporting feature in Circle,
it's built into the platform andgives the provider billing
opportunities for that postacute patient care. It can
offset also the administrativecosts for practices if they do
start billing for a virtualclean oversight.
Daniel Williams (14:24):
Okay. Kate, let's talk about one more,
opportunity that we found in thestudy here. The survey
highlighted demand forelectronic referrals and real
time tracking. So let's talkabout those opportunities and
how those could be integratedfor, medical practices.
Kate Warnock (14:43):
So for sure. So I think that there's just a
general demand for less paper inan office environment. Something
that's more centralized. So ifwhat we're seeing is kind of
we're talking about and we'vequantified what's happening at
the end of this one transactionwhere we have a post acute
provider sending documentationthat needs to be reviewed and
(15:03):
signed and returned. That's thepatient care plan.
But what could what better couldhappen, you know, in the future
as more of these communicationsbecome both digital and real
time. But what you're going toget, again, less paperwork in
the office and a lot moreopportunity to focus on what
counts most, which is thatpatient care. So this is really
(15:26):
the direction that ForcuraCircle is going in. And, you
know, part of our excitementabout merging with Metalogics,
we know down the line, we reallywant to serve up patient
insights. So be able to share inreal time, not just an order
about this is the care that weare planning to deliver or our
clients are are planning todeliver, but for physician
(15:48):
practices to know my patient isgetting this sort of service or
there has been maybe a change inin that patient's care outcome.
Maybe they've had a degradationof of their clinical condition.
This is something a physicianpractice wants to know as much
as a home health care providerdoes too. Right? So this is one
(16:11):
patient that's being managed by,you know, a a many different,
care care stakeholders. But wereally see that primary care
physician practice as thequarterback.
And so being able to puttechnology in the hands of both
of these stakeholders, all ofthese clinicians, and again,
have one place where patientinformation can flow seamlessly.
(16:33):
That's really what the futureshould be, and that's where
Forcura is is working towards.
Daniel Williams (16:38):
Okay. I have last question I wanna ask, and I
wanna direct it to both of you.We'll start with Maya and end
with Kate. But we've beentalking a lot about post acute
care coordination, but what's arealistic first step that a
practice can take if they wannaimprove the way that they handle
those processes? Again, Maya,let's start with you.
Maja Vojnovic (17:00):
No. I would say consider licensing for Keurig
Snuggle. It's a one stop shopfor your entire practice. Our
new admin and connectivityfeatures we brought out allow
practice managers to centralizeall the work they need for the
entire practice. One of myfavorite things about it is that
practice centers can access haveaccess to multiple, if not all,
(17:21):
agencies in their post acutenetwork in one portal.
And I think that's a really bigdeal. Then how Kate alluded
earlier, using Circle canimprove the relationship with
this post acute number becausewe see our e signature platform
reduce order turnaround time byover half. Plus, in addition to
the new enhancements we havemade, practice managers now have
visibility for documentsbelonging to all the providers
(17:43):
in your practice. And so we'vecreated this this dashboard with
the holistic view of all theoutstanding orders and have
really broken it down byprovider, post secure agency,
and many more, data points. So Ithink that'd be a really good
step.
Daniel Williams (17:58):
Yeah. Kate, let's hear from you. Have the
last word here.
Kate Warnock (18:01):
Yeah. So, just kind of building again on what
Maya said. Part of what thatsurvey did, it really helped to
key us into what is it does thephysician practice manager need
for her to better manage theclinicians, her staff, that sort
of thing, within her workenvironment. So as much as this
is meant to help benefit thepatient and making sure that
(18:22):
that documentation is seenquickly. We also want to remove
some of those burdens from thatphysician practice.
So specifically, being able tominimize the administrative
burden that's on the physicianand put it on the staff that's
really designed to manage thosethings. So, you know, whether
it's the portal logincredentials or managing sort of
(18:43):
adding or deleting their staff,that's something that one person
is able to do across the entirepractice. So we thought that was
really important. And thenobviously, maximizing the
control that you have over youradministration of your entire
provider group and yourreporting. Again, to have this
all instead of disaggregated andand in so many different places,
(19:06):
one place to get thisinformation so that you can
really administer your practicewith that much better clarity
and efficiency.
So really starting with For CureCircle is our number one piece
of advice.
Daniel Williams (19:17):
That is great. Well, I wanna thank Kate
Warnock, Maya Wojnovich forjoining us today. Thank you both
so much. This has been great.
Kate Warnock (19:25):
Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel Williams (19:27):
Alright. Now everybody, a quick reminder for
CURA is sponsoring an upcomingMGMA webinar. Going to be on
July 31. I do want to remind youit is called Reducing Physician
Practice Administrative Burden,Real World Results from
Implementing e Signature fromHome Health Orders. We're really
(19:48):
excited about this offering.
It's a free webinar. You do getcontinuing ed credits for that.
What I'm gonna do in the episodeshow notes is put direct links
in there. All you have to do isclick that link and go right to
it, or you can go tomgma.com/webinars, and you'll
find it there as well. So,everybody, I just wanna thank
(20:10):
you again for for being MGMApodcast listeners.
We'll see you next time. Thanksso much.
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