OVERVIEW

Conifer Health Solutions (Conifer) coding workforce management practices were inefficient and imprecise.

Coders manually self-reported productivity in a spreadsheet in a time-consuming and often inaccurate process.

Beyond the cumbersome process, Conifer leadership also had limited mechanisms for monitoring and analyzing

their workforce productivity.

Understand Your Workforce: Increase Productivity & Gain Insight with Fluency TimeCapture

OVERVIEW (CONT)

M*Modal and Conifer partnered to craft a solution.

M*Modal had previously developed an internal workforce

management tool that addressed the productivity challenges

of managing a dynamic coding workforce. By embedding the

productivity tool within M*Modal’s industry-leading coding

workflow platform, Fluency for Coding, they could offer both

productivity tracking and reporting as part of a streamlined

coding workflow.

M*Modal named this new workforce management tool,

Fluency TimeCapture.

Fluency TimeCapture and Fluency for Coding empowered

Conifer’s coding staff and leadership to:

• Automatically track and monitor productivity with system

level detail.

• Analyze and compare productivity at the individual

coder, market or company level with customizable

reporting options.

• Capture all necessary patient information using an

Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) system data

feed to minimize additional data entry.

• Utilize a web-based platform for ease of implementation

and minimal maintenance.

PARTNER PROFILE: Conifer Health Solutions

Conifer Health Solutions is a managed services company

that provides revenue cycle services to health systems, their

health plans and managed populations. They have worked to improve

quality, cost and access to healthcare for more than 30 years in 135

metropolitan areas across the United States. Their suite of services

includes a coding services division with a staff of more than 400

coders that serve 16 markets and 86 hospitals.

Utilizing the cloud-based

workforce management tool and coding platform at 70 sites, Conifer saw immediate results with an average productivity

increase of 25%. Some markets experienced a

38% increase. Coders no longer

wasted time manually reporting productivity

while management could better understand

and analyze productivity to gain actionable insight

and make informed long-term decisions.

RESULTS

As a revenue cycle services company that relies on a large coder workforce, Conifer faced

two challenges familiar to the healthcare services field that began with reliance on manual

self-reporting productivity.

Manual self-reporting of coder time and production statistics was cumbersome,

inaccurate and decreased coder productivity. The process not only negatively

affected coder efficiency, it lacked a means for detailed monitoring, tracking and

analyzing workforce productivity.

Coding management spent a lot of time validating and consolidating the reported

data, formatting it for presentation to upper management and their clients, as well

as having a reliable formula for consistent reporting.

THE JOURNEY

Conifer and M*Modal’s partnership centered around a shared understanding about the

challenges of managing a dynamic coding workforce. In fact, M*Modal had already developed

an internal workforce management solution to address the shortcomings of its own coding self-

reporting process. The discussions between M*Modal and Conifer determined a need to:

• Automatically track and monitor coder activities.

• Differentiate between production and non-production activities.

• Analyze and compare productivity company-wide with customizable reporting options.

• Utilize a web-based platform to avoid manual installation and maintenance on coder computers.

M*Modal worked closely with Conifer to meet the requirements and redevelop its existing

TimeKeeper workforce management application to work within their Fluency for Coding

platform. By integrating the two technologies, M*Modal offered a solution that automatically

monitored and reported coder activities within a coding workflow platform that only required

an Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) system data feed to capture patient information.

With built-in reporting functionality, the solution embedded detailed insight into productivity

within a tried-and-true coding workflow platform.

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT & DOCUMENTATION CHALLENGES

12

M*MODAL NAMED THIS NEW WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY

MANAGEMENT SOLUTION, FLUENCY TIMECAPTURE.

Fluency TimeCapture delivered Conifer the ability to automatically monitor and track coder

activities with system productivity level details. Its reporting functionality could compare and

analyze time and productivity across the company, whether billable to the client or other paid

employee time. Fluency TimeCapture further streamlined the process by leveraging existing

ADT information from current terms of service customers, which required less data entry for

coders to capture the necessary information.

Finally, as a web-based technology using M*Modal’s secure hosting architecture, Fluency

TimeCapture did not require manual installation on every coder’s computer, saving additional

time and money in the implementation process.

In August 2017, Conifer decided to implement M*Modal’s Fluency TimeCapture and FFC

coding platform at more than 80 sites across the country. Despite the challenges posed

by different markets utilizing various electronic medical records, M*Modal successfully

implemented Fluency TimeCapture and FFC at approximately 70 Conifer sites to date.

M*Modal worked hard to get the sites up and running so that Conifer could begin seeing

immediate results.

FLUENCY TIMECAPTURE OUTCOMES

Since implementation, Conifer has experienced a 25% average

increase in productivity across their customer base, with some

markets experiencing a 38% increase. As of May 2018, all but

one of the 16 markets (70 hospitals) has been implemented.

Even though implementation is not quite complete, Conifer has

been so pleased with the results that they decided to implement

the Fluency TimeCapture solution for 22 additional physician

groups where they provide coding services. That means Fluency

TimeCapture will increase productivity for 110 additional coders

within Conifer’s network.

Conifer can now easily monitor, compare and analyze detailed

productivity data at the individual coder, market or company

level by utilizing Fluency TimeCapture’s reporting functionality

(see reports on next page). Leadership can compare markets and

understand regional differences in processes and productivity.

Non-Coding Production Report by Market (Customized for Client)

Average User Productivity

(Standard Report)

Production

Summary

Report

Production

Summary

Report

M*Modal invests in its partners. Contact M*Modal to discuss how they might be able to address your healthcare documentation and workforce challenges.

Fluency TimeCapture means coders no longer need to spend time

and energy reporting productivity, while management can better

understand productivity and gain actionable insight to make long-

term decisions.

M*Modal surveyed Conifer coders

and coding managers that actively

used Fluency TimeCapture after

implementation.

Here is what they found:

• Training provided the information

needed to perform their role

successfully.

• Fluency TimeCapture has increased

their coding/non-coding productivity.

• They are very comfortable using

the application.

• Fluency TimeCapture is easy

to navigate.

• It saves them time and they

prefer the application to previous

methods, such as SharePoint.

• The application meets their needs,

with robust reporting, and they are

overall satisfied with the solution.

0419© 2019 MModal IP LLC. All rights reserved.

To find out more, visit our website at mmodal.com

or contact us at 866-542-7253.

What is Fluency TimeCapture?

Fluency TimeCapture is a web-based workforce management tool that

empowers coding leadership by measuring and monitoring coder productivity

and utilization. Fluency TimeCapture replaces the shortcomings and

inefficiencies of coder self-reporting and prevents the misreporting of coder

productivity in EHRs. It allows coders to make entries and track productive

coding tasks, as well as non-billable tasks like continuing education, with

system-level detail for tracking and billing purposes, such as why a chart

may have been “touched” multiple times. Additionally, Fluency TimeCapture’s

reporting functionality monitors, compares and analyzes detailed productivity

data at the individual coder, market and company level.

The solution fits seamlessly within the industry-leading Fluency for Coding

workflow platform and utilizes an ADT feed to facilitate the capture of patient

information in order for cases to be coded. The ADT information provides

the type of service description, as well as any admit and discharge date

information, to avoid additional data entry requirements from the coder.

Finally, as a web-based solution, implementation and installation is completed

quickly and allows coders to take advantage of the technology in short order.

PRODUCT SNAPSHOT

0419© 2019 MModal IP LLC. All rights reserved.

To find out more, visit our website at mmodal.com

or contact us at 866-542-7253.