6 Types of Reports to Help Hospitals Chart and Navigate the Post-Coronavirus Restart

According to a report by the American Hospital Association (AHA), since March hospitals across the U.S. have lost an estimated $50 billion by complying with guidance from policymakers to preserve resources for COVID-19 patients. Commented AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack: “America’s hospitals and health systems have stepped up in heroic and unprecedented ways to meet the challenges caused by COVID-19. However, the fight against this virus has created the greatest financial crisis in history for hospitals and health systems.”

To navigate the post-coronavirus restart, here are some examples of reports designed to help hospitals increase revenues, contain costs, reduce expenditures, improve quality of care, and ensure compliance:

Surgery Prerequisite Reports

These assist hospitals in the re-opening of elective and establish pre-op requirements, and prioritize the patient backlog based on factors such as patient condition, length of waiting time, risk to staff, and revenue opportunity.

Telehealth Strategy Reports

These help hospitals evaluate and determine if and how they should move forward with their telehealth strategy and program based on factors such as rates, patient satisfaction, and changes in patient conditions due to telehealth.

Financial Modeling Reports

These guide recovery strategies, given that revenues are now a fraction of what they were before COVID-19.

Scenario Modeling Reports

These support hospitals as they:

• Plan their reopening strategy for the mix of service lines with aligned resources.
• Monitor for patient reluctance to re-engage with non-critical services.
• Expand service lines such as behavioral health.
• Deliver on new consumer demands (e.g. immunity documentation, vaccine management, antibody test rates/results, etc.)
• Assess local and regional recovery to anticipate second surges and/or hot spots.

Communication Management Reports

These help hospitals close the information sharing gaps that have been exposed by the pandemic, and revealed the need for:

• More comprehensive visibility of test results performed outside the organization.
• More patient-centric information flows between settings (e.g. physician, hospital, skilled nursing facilities, etc.).
• Factoring into consideration social determinants of health given the staggering rise in unemployment rates and the loss of insurance benefits.

COVID-19 Testing

These reports ensure that COVID-19 testing protocols are followed, such as:

• Surgeons must always order a test for patients within a specified number of hours prior to surgery, and the result must be negative.
• Patients must self-quarantine after being tested and until surgery.
• Patients who test positive must be provided with additional pre-op requirements.

The Bottom Line

Charting and navigating the restart will be challenging, as the “new normal” will be abnormal for quite a while. Essentially, the entire healthcare value chain needs to be re-examined and re-calibrated. Reports built from reliable and actionable business intelligence empower hospitals to make smarter, faster and safer decisions — and look forward with confidence instead of dismay.

To learn more about implementing these and other custom reports to navigate the post-Conavirus restart in your organization, contact the Polaris team today and schedule your complimentary consultation and discovery session.