Uncover The Cost Savings In Your Non-Clinical Services

This article was written by Lisa Miller.

Working with a healthcare consulting provider can help to uncover the cost savings in your hospital’s non-clinical services.

Quality clinical care is central to every hospital’s success. It makes sense that hospitals focus primarily on clinical services to deliver exceptional patient outcomes. But non-clinical services are essential, too—and they’re all too frequently overlooked.

Non-clinical activities can have a significant impact on your hospital’s operating margins.

For example:

• Physicians spend roughly a fifth of their time on non-clinical paperwork[1]. This impacts the time available to spend with patients.
• It is also estimated that for every 10 physicians providing care, almost seven additional staff are engaged in billing-related activities.
• 25% of hospital costs are administrative. In 2017, one AHA study suggested the cost equated to $1200 per patient. The cost saving potential is significant.

At VIE Healthcare Consulting, we know that when non-clinical services are not closely monitored, our clients can incur unnecessary additional costs. We work with hospitals to identify cost saving opportunities by carrying out a comprehensive audit in the following areas of spend:

• Telecom services.
• Bank services and fees.
• Accounts payable services.
• Water and sewer services.
• Utilities and insurance.

This analysis includes potential areas of overspend and billing errors.

Even if your hospital is aware of the potential cost savings, finding the resources to analyze spend is a challenge in today’s pressured healthcare environments. Our innovative approach carefully evaluates your non-clinical services spend to determine areas of overpayment and identify critical cost saving opportunities.

Case Study in Telecom Services

One area of potentially huge cost savings is in telecom services. In our experience, 80% of all telecommunication invoices have errors. These are incurred through:

• Non-compliant contract pricing.
• Unused products.
• Billing services for incorrect or closed locations.
• Products and services not covered under an agreement.
• Incorrect application of taxes and surcharges.

Our specialist non-clinical services offer immediate identification of errors to ensure that invoices are accurate prior to approval for payment and that all overcharges are properly credited back to the account.
In one example, working with a health system covering multiple hospitals and facilities, we stabilized monthly telecom costs, which resulted in cost reductions in excess of $750,000 for our client.

VIE Healthcare achieves average and sustainable savings of between 25% – 40% in telecom services alone.

The Role of Non-Clinical Teams and The Impact of Burnout

Your hospital’s non-clinical staff provide a vital role in ensuring clinicians have the tools they need, when they need them. But the increasing pressure is having a broader impact. In our experience, non-clinical burnout is a growing issue for hospital leaders. Coaching and mentoring programs can help to alleviate the pressure in this key area.

Maximizing your potential cost saving opportunities in your non-clinical spend requires time and resources and we understand those resources aren’t always available.

Working with a healthcare consulting provider like VIE Healthcare identifies the non-clinical cost reductions available to your hospital while enabling you to focus on delivering quality patient care.

[1] Physicians Foundation 2016 Survey of America’s Physicians