South Shore Health: Reduced Outlier Length of Stay Cases by 17% with More ‘Actionable’ Data

South Shore Health showcases how a comprehensive technology and services strategy can swiftly turn revenue challenges and operational inefficiencies into tangible results – for example, they were able to reduce their outlier Length of Stay (LOS) cases by 17% . The largest independent health system in Southeastern Massachusetts, they have been an Xsolis customer using the Dragonfly platform, formerly known as CORTEX, since July 2021 .

We interviewed three leaders who shared rave reviews about the benefits their teams have experienced just over one year into using Xsolis and its AI-driven solutions. They’ve gone from a “data desert” organization, in their words, to one that is “data rich,” leveraging that information to drastically improve several departments. And they’ve gone from working cases from the top down, “like an Easter egg hunt” to determine observation versus inpatient appropriateness, to a prioritized, focused approach that “heavily relies on the clinical mind of the nurse, which is invaluable.”

Gina Mood, Inpatient Case Manager; Nicole Farrag, Manager of Utilization Review; and Elizabeth Fraser, Manager of Case Management,  explain more.

 

It’s all about the data … and EMR data is now more actionable 

While acknowledging that electronic medical records (EMRs) were designed with a very specific purpose in mind (billing) and that they have since grown to do many things, its jack-of-all-trades approach wasn’t offering the specialization needed to do their jobs most efficiently. “No longer are we just getting reports out of our EMR , and then there’s nothing actionable to it,” said Nicole. “(The EMR) wasn’t helping us clinically drive down length of stay, make sure level of care was appropriate, or see a denial before it hits. Xsolis has helped us greatly to develop goals and metrics that we want to reach, in addition to providing actionable tasks to help us get there.”

Dragonfly’s integration with their EMR allows South Shore teams to easily view both systems, said Nicole “… but more importantly when you’re in Dragonfly … it gives a bird’s eye view of ‘where is this patient’?” without having to click back and forth. 

Data insights have driven cross-departmental collaboration and reduced length of stay

But the benefits of more data insights than ever before don’t stop there. Dragonfly has also enabled their team to improve documentation and conversations with physicians while improving outlier cases. Their work with Xsolis’ Dragonfly platform grew recently to include Physician Advisory and Denials Management Services, which have both already proven to show exciting results in just a couple of months’ time.   

“Our collaboration with Xsolis has really highlighted our work throughout the whole hospital, identifying patients with long length of stay sooner and determining level of care appropriately,” said Elizabeth.

When their engagement with Xsolis began, they had over 80 patients (27% of their 300-patient capacity) with a length of stay greater than 10 days, some of whom were in the hundreds of days. Since working with Xsolis, they’ve been able to reduce that to 30 patients.  Of their 300-patient capacity, they were charged with getting that number down to just 10% of the patient population (30, which was a 17% decrease) and were successfully able to accomplish this with Xsolis’ more actionable data insights. 

But it’s more than that – the level of service is ‘unheard of’ and ensures success 

Xsolis’ unparalleled customer service has also been a competitive advantage, according to the South Shore team. 

“To others considering Xsolis, first I would say stop considering and just do it, because they do so much more for you than just give you a product that can help you ‘level of care’ your patient,” said Nicole. “It’s the direct one-on-one service that you get from the advisors and the client support, onsite training, and learning management system with tutorials. It’s the innovative way of approaching patient care, learning how to have conversations with your contracted payers and where your opportunities are. The fact that their clinical leaders take time out of their busy schedules to meet with my team once a month … that’s unheard of. I have not heard of any other product out there that would give that level of service and support to make sure that your hospital, your system of care, is successful.” 

The trio agrees: the increased productivity, getting things right up front, and the accelerated, data-driven and improved communication across their multiple teams has been a winning combination. 

“We’re looking at a very sunny outlook for the coming year,” said Nicole.

Are reducing length of stay and improving operational efficiencies on your list of goals?  Request a consultation.