20 Feb The Best KPIs to Measure for Pediatric Success

Just as pediatricians focus on the health of their patients, equal attention needs to be paid to the health of their practice. As the saying goes, “no margin, no mission”. 

Physicians and practice managers must continually look for ways to optimize their practice’s financial and organizational health. One of the best ways to do this is to use KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs are a collection of measurements and metrics that can be used as indicators of practice health or success in specific areas.

Getting started may feel a bit intimidating for practices that have never used KPIs. Talking to an expert can help. Recently, Dr. Herb Bravo, the CEO of Bravo Pediatrics and the founder of The Pediatric Lounge, visited our podcast and spoke about how he uses KPIs in his practice.

Why Measure KPIs?

KPIs help practices achieve their goals by establishing a concrete way to measure their progress. If you don’t track your progress, it’s hard to know which aspects of your practice require improvement. 

Just as a physician measures physical indicators like height, weight, temperature, and blood pressure to better understand the health of their patients, KPIs can help measure the ongoing health of your practice.

What are the Best KPIs to Measure?

There are many different KPIs that pediatricians can measure and track to help them understand more about their operations and where there could be room for improvement. Here are some of the top KPIs Dr. Bravo recommends for pediatric practices.

• First pass denial rate. When your billing department sends a claim to an insurance company, how many pass through without requiring further work? The current industry standard for this KPI is 95% to 96%. If your practice has a lower first pass denial rate, it means that your billing department is putting in a lot of extra work which may be an indication that additional training or a change in policy is required. 
• Number of claims sent out before the close of day. How many claims are logged in your EHR system and sent out before the close of business? This is an excellent indicator of your system’s speed and how quickly your practice can process claims. This KPI, along with first pass denial rate, is a leading indicator of your financial health. Tracking these two KPIs closely allows you to make immediate changes that boost your practice’s efficiency and bottom line and require minimal effort.
• Days in accounts receivable. This KPI tracks the total amount in collections, divided by the average billings per day. It’s a great indication of how much practice revenue is currently outstanding. Practices with great billing departments hover around 30 days. Practices with billing departments that are overworked or unsupported have closer to 120 days in accounts receivable.
• Number of newborns coming in per month. On average, pediatric practices must add 10 to 15 newborns per full-time provider per month to their practice population to stay ahead of the curve. If you have more patients aging out than new patients coming in, this is an indication that your practice may be headed for some financial difficulties in the future.

Tracking Your Practice’s KPIs

Your EHR is a valuable tool in tracking important KPIs, as it provides the raw metrics that practice leaders need to make decisions that will help them support and improve the overall health of their practice.

If you are not using a pediatric-specialty EHR, tracking anything from vaccine management to the average reimbursement per encounter can be exceptionally challenging. Your EHR helps to centralize all practice data into one convenient location, making analysis more accurate and straightforward. If you cannot track your metrics easily, you need to consider looking at an option that will.

Want to learn more about measuring the KPIs that are most critical to the health of your practice? Listen to the “Practice KPIs – What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You” podcast now.

EHRs are the key to streamlining operations, identifying efficiencies, and freeing up valuable staff time. OPs EHR and Revenue Cycle Management solutions offer features designed to help keep your practice’s financial and clinical operations running smoothly, so you can focus on what you do best – taking care of your patients. Contact us today to learn how Office Practicum can help your pediatric practice operate at its best.