Fix Your Referral to Admission Process - Grow Your Census
When The Fannon Group evaluates why a home health agency, skilled nursing facility, hospice or other post-acute care provider is struggling with census one of the factors that we look at closely is a client's Referral to Admissions Process. We assess the referral to admission turn-around-time, decline or rejection rate and obtain feedback from referral sources on the client’s process and their communication with them during its implementation.
Nearly every client we work with believed that their process was efficient and effective - until we shared our analysis with them.
Here are a couple of specific examples of clients with process challenges:
Skilled Nursing Facility: One client’s referral to admissions process was so difficult for the referral source and prospective patient that case managers actively discouraged families from considering them as an option (this was the direct feedback received from numerous referral sources). One case manager said in their feedback to us that they couldn’t stand working with them.
The Problem: Long-term care and short-term sub-acute care patients had to complete a 7-page financial application to be even considered for admission. This created a lengthy turn-around-time on accept/decline answers to hospital case managers and other referral sources.
The Impact: Despite being a 5-star rated facility and having a FANTASTIC reputation their census languished around 81%.
The Solution: The Fannon Group encouraged this client eliminate the application process for sub-acute admissions and helped them pare down the application to a manageable (for prospective residents and families) 2 pages. These changes were communicated to all referral sources as part of our strategic sales and marketing plan.
Impact of Solution: Census improved to 95%+, while doubling skilled census.
Home Health Agency: Our initial assessment of one home health agency client’s process revealed an average referral to admission time frame of 5.6 days, with only 9.6% of their referrals admitting in 4 days or less. Case managers reported very poor communication from the agency during the process.
The Problem: A poor delineation between sales and intake on follow-up with referral sources and operational challenges with scheduling were the primary causes for this client’s challenges.
The Solution: Set new expectations for the sales and intake teams on communication with referral sources, provided training on communication with referral sources during the intake process and scheduled a daily intake meeting to identify problems with referrals.
Impact of Solution: Average Referral to Admission Turn-Around-Time was reduced from 5.6 Days to 2.8 Days. Referrals Increased 19%, Admissions Increased 53.5% and Conversion Rate Increased 29.6%.
Improving the referral to admissions process is a great opportunity to grow census because small improvements usually result in significant growth in admissions. Our home care client is a very good example of the impact on results that can be created by focusing on the referral to admissions process. Our plan has improved relationships with referral sources resulting in a 19% increase in referrals. However, the real growth in admissions (53.5%) it is a result of increasing the conversion rate of the referrals they were already getting.
Improvements to the referral to admissions process impacts positively your relationship with referral sources and on patient/family satisfaction. In short it enhances your reputation with all your customers.
5 Things You Should Do to Improve the Process
1. Calculate Performance Metrics: It is important to understand how you are performing by calculating important metrics. Skilled home healthcare should evaluate Referral to Admission Turn-Around-Time (as demonstrated by the example provided), along with rejection and non-admit percentages. SNFs should evaluate how long it takes to provide an acceptance/decline answer to referral sources – your electronic referral system that your hospital referral sources use can provide you with that data, along with rejection, lost-lead and no answer percentages.
2. Schedule a Daily Admission/Intake Meeting: A short 15–20-minute meeting with ALL the individuals involved with the Referral to Admissions process will help your team stay focused on completing referrals and getting answers to referral sources quickly.
3. Get Feedback from Your Referral Sources: Meet with referral sources and ask them to give you their honest feedback on how your referral to admissions process compares to your competitors. Ask how you compare with turn-around-time, willingness to be flexible with criteria for admission and with communication. Ask if they have any suggestions that would improve your process. Act on the feedback and recommendations you receive and then follow-up with your referral source on the changes you made.
4. Streamline the Process: Find ways to make your process as easy and rapid as possible. Incorporate the recommendations from your referral sources, especially anything that reduces information requested, adjusts criteria for admission and reduces turn-around-time.
5. Pro-Actively Communicate with Referral Sources During the Process: If a referral source is calling you to find out whether you’ve accepted a patient or not is a sign that your process may be an issue. Pro-active communication simple means that you are initiating vs. reacting to communication from your referral source. Here’s a simple memory tool for the referral to admissions process communication model we recommend to our clients: C.U.R.A.
a. Confirm Receipt of Referral
b. Update them on status of the referral
c. Request information that is missing to complete the referral
d. Answer (accept or decline patient)
Good luck with growing your census and in streamlining your referral-to-admissions process. If low census is keeping you up at night or you do not feel that you’re getting the most out of your career in post-acute sales The Fannon Group is here to help! Check out our website at www.thefannongroup.com or call directly at 484-429-5846.