Streamlining Compliance and Maximising Revenue: A Case Study from North East London
Introduction
At Primary Care IT, we worked closely with First4Health PCN (four practices in North East London) to help them solve some specific challenges. In this case study, we explore the benefits we have been able to demonstrate; improving patient care and enhancing claimable income for the practices within the PCN.
Discover how Primary Care IT revolutionised a Primary Care Network (PCN) comprising of four practices in North East London. They faced a number of challenges:
- Operationally managing cancer referrals
- CQC compliance
Background/Challenge
The PCN faced a number of challenges, they had:
- a critical gap left by a decommissioned tool previously used for managing cancer referrals.
- difficulties with their CQC compliance process, which was overwhelming their clinical staff.
- previously unrecognised issues with Local Enhanced Service (LES) reporting. This would have left substantial revenues unclaimed.
Solution
The network needed effective, user-friendly tools to manage cancer referrals, optimise CQC compliance, along with identifying unclaimed revenue streams.
Primary Care IT worked closely with the practices to implement solutions that addressed their unique needs:
- CQC Navigator: A comprehensive toolset that streamlined the CQC management process, enabling administrative staff to handle the majority of tasks, thus freeing up clinicians to focus on critical patient care.
- Cancer Referral Management System: Replacement for the decommissioned tool, featuring custom templates, alerts, and searches that seamlessly integrated into existing workflows, ensuring that cancer care pathways were maintained efficiently.
- Localisation Product: A crucial component that analysed and corrected underreported LES income, directly leading to the identification of an additional £76,000 in revenue.
Training and extensive support materials ensured the staff were proficient with the new systems from day one.
Outcome
The solutions led to significant improvements:
- An additional £76,000 in revenue was identified in just the last six weeks of the contract year.
- The burden of CQC compliance was substantially reduced for clinicians.
- The new cancer referral tools were praised for their intuitiveness and effectiveness.
Conclusion
This case study underscores Primary Care IT’s ability to deliver customised, powerful solutions that address specific healthcare management challenges, leading to enhanced operational efficiency and compliance readiness. In this case PCIT delivered a 3.5:1 return on investment.