Re: Productivity in acute care

[Guest guest]

• What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

Currently our expectation is 75% billable, but that is based off of an

internally set system. Each unit billed has an associated time allotment that

we established. For example a 15 minute unit of exercise is allotted 23 minutes

of time for our internal productivity counter. This is to account for the

therapists chart reivew and documentation etc. That being said we are moving

in the immediate future to the data /time allotments allowed by Action OI which

provides much less time per unit. If you are unfamiliar with Action OI this is

taken from their site:

" The ACTION O-I Operational Performance

Improvement Solution from the Healthcare business

of Thomson Reuters delivers the tools you need to

evaluate your operational and financial data in a

realistic context: head to head with best-in-class

organizations and facilities of similar size, payer mix,

complexity, and patient population "

• Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

We do have different levels or tiers of evaluation. We determined them to be

15-30, 31-60, 61-90, and 91-120. The large evals are for our IRF and wheelchair

clinic areas primarily. The code is the same for all, 97001. The time allowed

in our productivity offers about 20 minutes more than the billing code, but

again as we move to action OI data comparisons for productivity calculations,

that too will change.

• What factors if any change the individual productivity

expectations of staff? (case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of

evals vs treatments, patient population)

No factors vary the expectation. This is often a point of contention because

staff on the ortho floor and IRF, with set times, have an easier time of

obtaining the expectation. Having students will inevitably affect

productivity; however no difference is established based on this or any other

unique situations.

Hope this helps.

Feel free to e-mail me at work and I can connect you with my manager and acute

program coordinator as well.

Dawn

lucasey.dawn@...

>

> Looking for input from acute care sites on the productivity requirements for

your PT/OT/SLP staff and department.

>

> • What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

> • Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for

time than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

> • What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of

staff? (case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs

treatments, patient population)

>

> Thanks for your input!

> Kari V. Voll, OTR/L, Rehab Manager

> Sentara Healthcare

> Norfolk, VA

>

[Guest guest]

We have an RVU based productivity standard with an expectation of 5.0

RVU's per work day (8 hrs) in acute care and 6.0 RVU's in IRF/SNF and

Outpatient. Timed codes have a .25 RVU designation and Evals have a .50

designation. This method applies to OT and PT. Speech is a little

different as a majority of their codes are Untimed and have varying RVU

assignments based on the reason for the treatment i.e.: MBS. One caveat

is that the 5.0 RVU expectation for acute care is for our " Main Campus "

hospital which is quite large geographically and the patient acuity is

very high. Our regional hospital acute care expectation is 5.5 RVU's.

Green, PT

Director, Hospital Therapy Services

Cleveland Clinic Health System

Cleveland, Ohio

Greenk@...

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[Guest guest]

We have an RVU based productivity standard with an expectation of 5.0

RVU's per work day (8 hrs) in acute care and 6.0 RVU's in IRF/SNF and

Outpatient. Timed codes have a .25 RVU designation and Evals have a .50

designation. This method applies to OT and PT. Speech is a little

different as a majority of their codes are Untimed and have varying RVU

assignments based on the reason for the treatment i.e.: MBS. One caveat

is that the 5.0 RVU expectation for acute care is for our " Main Campus "

hospital which is quite large geographically and the patient acuity is

very high. Our regional hospital acute care expectation is 5.5 RVU's.

Green, PT

Director, Hospital Therapy Services

Cleveland Clinic Health System

Cleveland, Ohio

Greenk@...

===================================

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

Cleveland Clinic is ranked one of the top hospitals

in America by U.S.News & World Report (2010).

Visit us online at http://www.clevelandclinic.org for

a complete listing of our services, staff and

locations.

Confidentiality Note: This message is intended for use

only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed

and may contain information that is privileged,

confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable

law. If the reader of this message is not the intended

recipient or the employee or agent responsible for

delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are

hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or

copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If

you have received this communication in error, please

contact the sender immediately and destroy the material in

its entirety, whether electronic or hard copy. Thank you.

[Guest guest]

All areas (PT, OT, and ST) other than orthopedics have an 18-20 unit

expectation, ortho PT is 24 due to having a 1:1 tech assigned. Evals are

charged on the therapists' sheets based on time for productivity calculations,

but when entered into the system, it defaults to only one charge. We look at

therapist productivity as a monthly average, so daily fluctuations in

productivity are not as concerning as a consistently low average.

From: PTManager [mailto:PTManager ] On Behalf Of

kvvot70

Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 7:53 PM

To: PTManager

Subject: Productivity in acute care

Looking for input from acute care sites on the productivity requirements for

your PT/OT/SLP staff and department.

* What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

* Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

* What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of staff?

(case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs treatments,

patient population)

Thanks for your input!

Kari V. Voll, OTR/L, Rehab Manager

Sentara Healthcare

Norfolk, VA

[Guest guest]

All areas (PT, OT, and ST) other than orthopedics have an 18-20 unit

expectation, ortho PT is 24 due to having a 1:1 tech assigned. Evals are

charged on the therapists' sheets based on time for productivity calculations,

but when entered into the system, it defaults to only one charge. We look at

therapist productivity as a monthly average, so daily fluctuations in

productivity are not as concerning as a consistently low average.

From: PTManager [mailto:PTManager ] On Behalf Of

kvvot70

Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 7:53 PM

To: PTManager

Subject: Productivity in acute care

Looking for input from acute care sites on the productivity requirements for

your PT/OT/SLP staff and department.

* What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

* Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

* What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of staff?

(case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs treatments,

patient population)

Thanks for your input!

Kari V. Voll, OTR/L, Rehab Manager

Sentara Healthcare

Norfolk, VA

[Guest guest]

* What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

Productivity requirements are 75% based on total number of units. Billable and

non-billable count.

* Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

Our non-billable charges even out eval charges. For instance, if your eval is

15 minutes long, you would not need an extra no charge. If your eval was one

hour long, you would charge eval, then 3 no charge units to count for your time

spent with the patient.

* What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of staff?

(case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs treatments,

patient population)

Our no charges help us with extra time spent that is not billable (calling

physician, conferencing with the team, etc.). If our staff spends an hour with

their student for education, their productive hours go down to 7, not 8.

Therefore, they only need 21 units that day, not 24, to meet their productivity.

Robyn Holland, PT, GCS

Therapy Manager, Acute Care Therapy-South

Health

Robyn.Holland@...

Phone:

__________

Health - a Top 100 Integrated Health Care Network

COXHEALTH

[Guest guest]

* What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

Productivity requirements are 75% based on total number of units. Billable and

non-billable count.

* Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

Our non-billable charges even out eval charges. For instance, if your eval is

15 minutes long, you would not need an extra no charge. If your eval was one

hour long, you would charge eval, then 3 no charge units to count for your time

spent with the patient.

* What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of staff?

(case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs treatments,

patient population)

Our no charges help us with extra time spent that is not billable (calling

physician, conferencing with the team, etc.). If our staff spends an hour with

their student for education, their productive hours go down to 7, not 8.

Therefore, they only need 21 units that day, not 24, to meet their productivity.

Robyn Holland, PT, GCS

Therapy Manager, Acute Care Therapy-South

Health

Robyn.Holland@...

Phone:

__________

Health - a Top 100 Integrated Health Care Network

COXHEALTH

[Guest guest]

* What is the individual productivity requirement per therapist and how is it

measured (minutes, units of service, patients per hour/day)?

Productivity requirements are 75% based on total number of units. Billable and

non-billable count.

* Do evaluations (service-based) carry a different productivity weight for time

than treatments (time-based)? If so, how and for what duration of time?

Our non-billable charges even out eval charges. For instance, if your eval is

15 minutes long, you would not need an extra no charge. If your eval was one

hour long, you would charge eval, then 3 no charge units to count for your time

spent with the patient.

* What factors if any change the individual productivity expectations of staff?

(case mix - ortho vs neuro vs trauma, students, mix of evals vs treatments,

patient population)

Our no charges help us with extra time spent that is not billable (calling

physician, conferencing with the team, etc.). If our staff spends an hour with

their student for education, their productive hours go down to 7, not 8.

Therefore, they only need 21 units that day, not 24, to meet their productivity.

Robyn Holland, PT, GCS

Therapy Manager, Acute Care Therapy-South

Health

Robyn.Holland@...

Phone:

__________

Health - a Top 100 Integrated Health Care Network

COXHEALTH