Financial challenges in long-term care have existed for years, but lately, they have become hard to overcome for many providers. In the wake of a pandemic, the long-term care industry is in crisis. As skilled nursing operators continue to deal with tight reimbursements and high labor costs, they now understand the need to place greater importance on having clear metrics in place for future success.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCL) conducted an analysis that estimated the long-term care industry is expected to lose $94 billion over two years. In 2020 alone, these facilities spent roughly $30 billion on PPE and additional staffing due to COVID-19. These costs added to a long list of challenges for long-term care.
Juli Pascoe, Director of Accounting at BKD, a national CPA, and advisory firm, cited, "It doesn't matter how much revenue you generate, or how much census goes up if you don't collect it and put it in your bank account. By not having a streamlined process to accurately track finances and metrics to make better decisions, small mistakes will have a large impact on providers' bottom lines.
The need for financial assistance, staffing, and proper tracking and reporting is urgent. These five steps will help transform the way you use data and provide accountability to drive financial success.
(1) It sounds simple, but it's true: use your data. Eliminate the guesswork by pulling your data into a dashboard that will provide you with real-time key metrics. Make informed decisions and gain insight into labor costs and trends, collection attainment and performance, revenue projections and trends, aging analytics, and procurement and expense analytics.
(2) Get leaders on the same page by automating and streamlining how and where data is accessed. Use a system with the same set of information and reporting with clear standards and measures.
(3) Track, measure, and proactively manage using per-patient-day (PPD) data. Understand what costs are driven by the level of occupancy versus fixed expenses.
(4) Set clear expectations for facility and regional leadership and reward success. Give teams targets that are measurable for census, labor, overtime, procurement, revenue, and collections. Set granular targets for things like staffing PPD, overtime, procurement PPD, and days sales outstanding (DSO). Monitor these targets regularly and give teams the tools to do the same. Doing this will allow teams to stay on top of their performance to ensure targets are met.
(5) Listen to what your data is telling you. Your data tells a story. You have a wealth of information available through electronic health records, customer relationship management tools, financial software, time and attendance software, and others. Give the information the ability to come together to present you with the complete picture to make informed, strategic decisions daily.
CareWork makes it easy to catch problems before they occur and gives teams the tools to hit their targets.
CareWork simplifies operations giving executive, regional, and facility leadership teams easy access to census, labor, clinical, procurement, and financial performance analytics compared to company targets.
Because gaps and successes in attainment are clearly outlined, teams know exactly what they need to focus on to hit budgeted targets. Work desk highlights give teams positive feedback on a job well done when they hit their targets and nudges them when they are almost there.
By integrating the systems, you already use, CareWork ties your data together, recognizes achievement, and simplifies internal processes to promote a healthy and prosperous work environment.
Are you ready to take a deep dive into your data? If so, contact us today.
CareWork
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