An MDS coordinator at a skilled nursing facility has no shortage of MDS-related action items. Tasks pile up, and prioritizing them becomes a challenge.
And with significant changes to MDS coming this fall, operators may want to reassess their MDS management to ensure they are coding accurately and maximizing reimbursement potential.
“Trying to look at everything from the outside and trying to catch everything was just not possible,” says Cindy Lemasters, corporate MDS consultant for AHF Ohio, a non-profit organization delivering rehabilitation and assisted living services across six facilities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
For any operator with multiple buildings in multiple states, strong corporate oversight is a high priority, especially when turnover hits. The corporate reimbursement team at AHF, for instance, found themselves picking up the day-to-day tasks across multiple buildings with limited success.
AHF Ohio knew they were missing out on reimbursement opportunities and turned to an automated tool created by MedaSync to help them maximize their revenue and support their bottom line. This saved them time by triggering action, and served as a powerful asset for the MDS coordinators at AHF.
It did so in four steps.
- It builds better workflows
MedaSync is an innovative MDS management solution that brings the power of artificial intelligence to reimbursement software, bringing proactive solutions to SNFs in support of their teams and bottom line. Integrating with the EHR to monitor live patient data, the software provides automated daily monitoring and alerts reimbursement teams proactively to catch opportunities before they disappear.
The solution reduces the time that manual monitoring requires and eliminates the chance of human error, resulting in greater revenue potential and a better workflow for teams — particularly those whose efforts are spread across multiple facilities. Modeled after the painstaking effort of manual chart reviews, MedaSync offers MDS coordinators critical, proactive support for Medicaid CMI, Managed Care and Medicare by pulling pertinent patient changes to the forefront.
While Lemasters and the AHF Ohio team initially feared that the tool might increase their workload, it turned out to be incredibly user-friendly. All six of their buildings have now fully integrated the program because it delivered immediate improvements in managing priorities and saving time.
“As an MDS nurse, everything we do takes time,” Lemasters says. “The work is never done. There’s always something to do, something to look at. MedaSync helps us handle these tasks in a way no one thought possible.”
- It leverages advanced automation
For Lemasters, the advantages of having this tool are substantial. Instead of the daily chore of combing page after page in reports while juggling other tasks, she can rely on MedaSync to automatically send her critical data, neatly summarized to review essential changes.
MedaSync not only lightens the load for her and her team but also enhances their workflow, making it more efficient and time-saving. Even in the event of staff turnover, new staff members can quickly assume an oversight role across the buildings, while potentially over-burdened veteran staff can use the MedaSync system to bring new MDS staff up to speed within minutes.
- It delivers critical oversight
MedaSync allows providers to monitor multiple facilities with a tool that constantly analyzes clinical documentation and swiftly alerts them of relevant changes. To Lemasters and AHF, the benefits of that oversight have been massive.
The automation and smart alert system helps her quickly evaluate top priorities and address them in the moment without wasting time with manual tasks. In short, that oversight boosted AHF’s bottom line and advanced their reimbursement potential.
- It tailors to the provider’s needs
MedaSync provides a customizable rules engine that can be tailored to a SNF’s unique insurance ecosystem and can accommodate the complexities across multiple regions and multi-payer systems.
Beyond the value of MedaSync’s technology, Lemasters says that the team behind the software has provided key support from the start. MedaSync seeks to be a problem-solver for its customers and is committed to continuous innovation to expand the ways they can serve the AHF Ohio team and other clients. Their tools enable providers to do more with less and achieve greater reimbursement potential, quality of care and time savings.
In addition to time management and better oversight, Lemasters values MedaSync’s ability to catch reimbursement opportunities. “Looking at the quarterly case mix, every quarter over the last year has increased across all buildings,” she says.
AHF’s quarter-after-quarter growth is made possible by the tool’s ability to discover key opportunities before they can be missed. This consistent improvement, maximized revenue, and strong impact on AHF Ohio’s bottom line have solidified MedaSync as a vital asset to support its growth for years to come.
This article is sponsored by MedaSync. To read the full case study and learn more about what MedaSync can bring to your MDS process visit info.medasync.com/ahf-case-study-0.
