Physician Liaison Activity & Healthcare Analytics

A poll completed by Marketware reports that over 68% of liaisons are leveraging healthcare data analytics as part of their physician liaison activity without the help of an analyst expert. Whether physician liaisons have the help of an analyst or not, the role on its own can be time consuming and difficult enough before adding on the duty of data analysis. 

Why Healthcare Data Analytics Matter

Ultimately, healthcare data analytics should be utilized to drive actions and support decisions that address the goals and issues of an organization. Without data, health organizations lack the insight needed to advance their organization beyond competitors. Members of the organization are left to make hunches about their current status as well as their competitor’s current advantages and disadvantages. This leaves members and leaders in the dark when creating strategies.

Claims data puts information in the hands of physician liaisons, so they can answer questions about key competitors. It gives you a 360° view of your organization’s performance and what is happening in your market, lets you in on referral leakage data and splitter behavior, and lets you see the full picture of connections, opportunities, and threats. For example, it can inform an organization of their top performing providers, empower you to analyze referral leakage within your system, and give you insight into potential markets and the size of ROI of services and partnerships.

How to Innovate Early Wins with Key Stakeholders

Healthcare data analytics are an investment. Key stakeholders may take a moment to fully realize the impact strategies backed by data can have on their hospital organization. When initializing a conversation to bring on a practice management program, find someone in your leadership team that has a black and white thought process. This person should enjoy data, reports, and tools to make choices and identify crisis. Create a conversation with this leader to turn them into your advocate.

When you do get the practice management program, turn around and show them that their investment is positively impacting their hospital organization. Data should be used to inform or validate activities, identify potential sources of an issue — especially if they are metric, and to find directional patterns of referrals. Data should be seen as an investment to show new opportunities to stakeholders, validate activities, identify potential sources of issues, and to point out receptive providers. However, data is no substitute for interactions with people.

People are the ones who make the referral decision and people look for those who they like and respect. Data should be used in tandem with relational building to enhance relationships a liaison has formed or wishes to form.

Create a Field Map Using Data

When implementing a field strategy plan, you should be goal focused and data driven. Healthcare data analytics will help you define what interactions will prove most valuable to create an efficient field map.

The benefits of utilizing a practice management program coupled with claims data includes:

1. Planning time appropriately
2. Prioritizing by which physicians provide the biggest opportunities
3. Mapping out routes within the field to prevent backtracking
4. Recording activity to help share with physician liaison managers
5. Combining tracked activity with internal data to demonstrate liaison ROI
6. Focusing on the bottom line to make it clear to stakeholders that your work is essential

Keep Reports Simple

Liaisons can spend weeks on end generating reports only to realize the data they are using is out of date or stakeholders simply aren’t interested. When creating a tracking report, know your audience and discover what your stakeholders really need or want to know to provide key metrics. Utilize a practice management program to create detailed reports on all of your strategic efforts.

Marketware partners with claims data vendors who intercept data to take patient health information out and provide it to hospital organizations in a readable format to better create reports for leaders. Reports should be used to generate enthusiasm toward your past and future efforts. Create a simple yet strategic story backed by data to better communicate your efforts to leaders. Innovating a thoughtful analysis creates small wins.

Closing Thoughts

Whether under a small or large hospital organization, physician liaisons wear many hats — including that of a data analyst. Claims data is a powerful compliment to the work physician liaisons are doing in the field. Without data, liaisons are left to make uninformed hunches about their organization and surrounding organizations. Healthcare analytics data, coupled with a practice management program, can enhance a physician liaison’s efficiency and innovate strategic decisions.

Webinar — Healthcare Analytics

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