Operations

As your existing technology system ages or your business needs change, your technology may no longer provide the capabilities required to support your objectives. Our knowledgeable healthcare technology professionals can help you select, implement, and optimize new or current clinical information systems to support your business strategy and help you achieve your goals.

Contracts are important documents that define a relationship between the employee and employer, payer and hospital, physician practice and vendor. These relationships can produce painful consequences for a healthcare organization if not drafted, reviewed, and implemented carefully.

Cybercrime, while impacting other industries over the past 20 years, has now attacked healthcare in a big way. Daily, we read about security breaches in small-, medium-, and large-scale healthcare organizations that often affect hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people and their private information.

Many health systems that have spent years building a critical mass of providers now find themselves in a reactive position to physician’s needs. The result may be that the physicians are not adequately integrated into the organization, lacking a unified voice.

An essential element of every healthcare organization’s compliance work plan is the performance of ongoing provider coding and documentation audits. Coding and documentation audits are appropriate for all providers, especially highly productive providers who may find themselves under scrutiny for their billings by area-Medicare administrative contractors and other payers.

Healthcare organizations, senior executives, and governing body members are under increasing scrutiny to ensure they have an effective compliance program. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations recommends that all organizations have a comprehensive compliance program in place.

Hospitals, health systems, and physician groups are challenged to keep up with the complicated and ever-changing healthcare regulatory environment. At Coker, we have the compliance solution best suited for your organization to respond to the challenge.

Healthcare systems contend fiercely with their competitors for qualified professionals to fill their executive positions. Because senior leadership vacancies can be crippling, health systems must employ the right people to meld with the organization’s leadership team and to fit in culturally.

With the variety of legal cases that provider organizations can face, it is essential to prepare for appropriate defense if an event arises. Expert witnesses are a primary source of a sound testimony in healthcare lawsuits.

HIPAA compliance is ever-evolving and, although it may seem complicated, your organization is responsible for the protection and security of Patient Health Information (PHI) and Electronic Patient Health Information (ePHI)—even when it’s in the hands of others.

Gone are the days when the only way for physicians to “partner” with their local hospital meant to become an employee. The concept of strategic alignment has broadened and now affords a host of options for both physicians and hospitals.

When gaps in executive management occur in your healthcare organization, how can you ensure continuity during everyday challenges? In times of crisis, rapid growth, change, or transition, can you afford to have a vacant position in your leadership team? Perhaps engaging an interim manager is worth considering.

At Coker, we provide consultative assistance related to MACRA/MIPS Implementation to achieve five primary objectives: organizational development, program management, data management, clinician engagement, and auditing and validation.

Patient access is a complex issue that plagues provider groups of all types, many of which acknowledge opportunities for improvement but are not sure how best to address it. Patients want to access the care they need promptly, but managing patient access is more complex than provider availability alone.

With the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projecting that the United States could face a deficit of 120,000 physicians by 2030, it has become increasingly important for hospitals and health systems to plan appropriately to meet the changing needs of their communities for the future.

As health systems and physicians strive to provide better quality and more cost-effective care, it is imperative that they scrutinize all aspects of their operations and care delivery processes. Organizations must continually evaluate their infrastructure, operational procedures, and clinical outcomes that ultimately impact financial performance to succeed in an environment of changing reimbursement.

Transactions among healthcare organizations are nothing new. The healthcare industry is currently undergoing an era of major consolidation as the healthcare delivery paradigm continues to evolve daily. Whether it is hospitals merging or hospitals and physicians pursuing joint ventures and other alignment structures, leaders in most organizations know that doing deals is a normal part of conducting business in the current market environment.

Revenue is the lifeblood of every business, and every hospital, health system, or physician group has some manner of fracture. Healthcare margins are tighter than many other service-oriented businesses and, arguably, hampered by stringent regulation. Given the narrow margins in healthcare, the importance of the revenue cycle is no less valid in the operation of hospitals, physician groups, or health systems that employ physicians.

Whether you’re a large healthcare system wondering whether you should enter into an at-risk population health management contract, a hospital considering how you will operate successfully under a bundled payment model, or a physician practice questioning how you will fare under MACRA/MIPS, these issues are critical decisions that must occur.