In This Issue:                                                                                                                   February 2007 

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Report of the Month

Each month Rock-Solid Intelligence features a report from Home Infusion Reports that give you critical business information from the data you already have.  

   

Daily Financial and Operational Flash Reports

 

Daily reporting of key financial measurements will keep you focused and proactive.  The Daily Financial Report is a great tool to track financial performance throughout the month and put it in perspective of the last 12 months.  It reports the billed, collected, adjusted, unbilled revenue, change in A/R, aged cash and recievables and totals for the trailing 12 months on a daily basis.  With this information financial managers are able to keep their hand on the pulse of the business and be proactive, rather than reactive. 

Sample Financial Flash Report

The Operational Flash report shows daily census and referral counts and trends as well as detail list of all of the referrals received today.

Sample Operations Flash Report

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NHIA Listserv Lessons
The NHIA Listserv is a members-only resource for home infusion providers to get quick answers to any question or concern they have from their peers across the country. Each month Rock-Pond Solutions selects a listserv thread and summarizes it here for you.

 

Insurance Company Defining AWP

We have an insurance company who redefined AWP as CMS plus a percent rather than using Redbook or other source for AWP pricing and is now recouping for the difference of AWP and their redefined amount.  Has anyone else had this occur?  If so, how was it addressed?  Appeals have been denied. Any suggestions?

Learn from the NHIA member responses.

 

These and other questions are posed, discussed and answered every day on the NHIA listserv. The listserv is a member benefit you should take advantage of.  If you are not a NHIA member, Rock-Pond Solutions recommends you join today.

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Partner Connections

We are pleased to offer some great experience and advice directly from our Rock-Solid partners. 

Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate and C-Reactive Protein Assay: By William M. Mitchell. M.D., HHLA

In summary, the ability to screen for infection has been evolving over time with a marked improvement in sensitivity although, as to be expected, these screening tests remain less specific. Newer screening test such as CRP have proven quite useful in differentiation bacterial from viral infections.   Read more.

 

Home Infusion Drug Focus - Infliximab (Remicade): By Willis Triplett

Home Infusion Therapy has long been centered on certain core therapies. Antibiotic and analgesic therapies and parenteral and enteral nutrition have long been mainstays of the industry, but not many drugs have been added to the armamentarium lately. One drug that does lend itself to home infusion therapy is infliximab.  Read more.

 

Disaster Planning: Could the Internet Be the Future of Data Backup? By Tim Rowan

Are you prepared for a disaster where the servers that store your company information are unavailable or destroyed?  Events like Hurricane Katrina remind us of how critical it is to have a backup plan and test it often.  This article provids an internet based solution for backup.  Read more.

 

Is NHIC getting the job done for Medicare Region A?: By Caleb Dixon, RemitDATA

Effective July 1, 2006, NHIC took over processing claims for Region A. Much in the media has been said about this change but no one has had empirical proof of what it has meant to your cash flow.  Read more. to learn how NHIC is performing.

 

Revenue Recognition: Are you collecting 95% of Booked Revenue: By Charlie Lager

The life blood of any business is Positive Cash Flow, that is, bringing in more cash than you spend.  This article defines collectability in the context of booked revenue and teaches you how to manage collectability to improve the health of your business.    Read more.

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TechnologyTip of the Month

Each month Rock-Solid Intelligence shares a technology tip or software program that has made our work a little easier.

 

Using MS Query to analyze external data within Microsoft Excel

 

Microsoft Excel has become a universal language for people in business.  The problem is most people don't take the time to use more than 2 percent of it's powerful features.  If you are rekeying information into Excel for analysis, exporting reports to Excel and then working with the data or copying data from the web or other programs into Excel, take some time to learn about MS Query.  This is a feature built into Excel that allows you to dynamically transfer the data you need into the tool you know.

 

From within Microsoft Excel, select the Import External Data option from the DATA menu at the top.  Take some time to explore how you can import data from web pages and other data sources.  If your home infusion software uses a SQL Server to store your data, consider establishing a backup copy of your data where you can query information for analysis and reporting.  This may help you understand your data and system better and eliminate the need to learn a separate report writer.  Microsoft Office is full of unused features you should learn. 

 

One of the best places to start is the Microsoft website - www.office.microsoft.com/excel.  To go direct to a discussion of MS Query, click here. 

 

 

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