Clinical Activity

Clinical activity is generally broken down into two categories – ambulatory outpatient care and inpatient care.

Outpatient activity is based on the number of patients a clinical practice can see in a day during its operating hours. For clinics without waitlists, new patient recruitment is the main factor for maximizing patients seen. Since most of the Department of Medicine clinics have waiting lists, the main factors for maximizing patients seen is physician availability and the amount of exam space available. To increase efficiency, many clinics have scheduling templates that are applied to each clinic session. For example, the template may recommend each physician to see two new patients and four follow-up patients per four-hour clinic. Additionally, accurate medical record documentation is important for patient care and for billing. The vast majority of DOM ambulatory providers self-code their visits.  Providers should get regular feedback about their note taking through coding audits, coding reports, as well as service chief and peer feedback.

Inpatient activity is largely driven by the hospital census and by being contacted through other specialties via the consult services. Making oneself available to colleagues for consultation and accurately documenting medical notes are the best approaches to providing outstanding clinical care and maximizing clinical revenue.

ApEX super users/ coaches may be available in the divisions to aid physicians with the online medical records system, give user short cuts, and to develop note templates to save provider time with each visit. Please reach out to your Division Manager and/or Practice Manager for more information.