I love talking to people about so many aspects of this profession – discussing therapists and their skills, finding out about interesting specialty programs and ways in which clinics work their communities, hearing incredible stories from patients about how PT changed their lives. One thing I tend not to think about much is the paperwork stuff – charting, billing, outcomes, scheduling, just to name a few. Every therapist has to do it and even though it may be among a pracitioner’s least favorite things to do, it is an essential part of the job. I started to look into how our therapists tackle all of this and found our CareConnections system to be really fascinating.
CareConnections is a Web-based suite of rehabilitation medical management services that TAI developed many years ago to assist providers and payers alike. All of our 60+ clinics use the suite and hundreds of other PT companies around the country use it too. Primary features include:
Outcomes System (formerly known as TAOS): A functionally based patient data collection system that compares clinical outcomes to similar groups of clinics and provider submitted episodes of care. The database is significant - averages between 18,000 and 19,000 records per quarter and has been collecting data from providers across the country since 1996. Through analysis of benchmarks in areas like functional improvement, perceived improvement, decreased pain, and return to work status, the Outcomes feature allows therapists and health plans to determine how and when therapy services are effective.
Patient Satisfaction Monitoring: A standardized survey for patients that allows them to provide valuable feedback about their overall experience (from the front office through the treatment itself). This is a great tool for the people who you likely consider to be your biggest customers.
Treatment Guidelines: These are written by a therapist (now in their third edition), with researched parameters of care grouped by anatomical body region and cross referenced by ICD-9 code. Over 86 diagnosis-related treatment patterns give clinicians guidance on how to proceed with treatment and give payers assurance upon which medically-appropriate care can be measured.
Prior Authorization/Advice System (PAS): This tool provides real-time, web-based authorization of services to a clinician. With efficiency as its driving force, PAS gives payers the ability to set into motion a provider’s referral and care plan without a phone call or fax – just a simple and quick mouse click!
Currently, over 450 facilities (outpatient facilities and hospitals alike) in 30 states across the country use CareConnections. It’s one of the more sophisticated systems on the market, but also quite user-friendly. If you have questions about the suite itself or want to test some of its features, contact Josh Benson at joshb@taiweb.com.
