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Tip: Compare ROI productivity, with caution

EHR Connection, June 18, 2007

There is no harm in comparing your own release of information (ROI) productivity to that of other facilities, as long as you keep in mind that their situation may be different from your own, says Rose T. Dunn, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, chief operating officer of Maryland Heights, MO-based consulting firm First Class Solutions. If you're asking a colleague about productivity, be sure that you also ask for details about the systems in place, information about how they are integrated, and any other details that can help you understand how the number compares to your own.

In her experience of working with hospitals that have a hybrid record, Dunn says she often sees productivity in the range of 24-30 inpatient records per hour. The inpatient records tend to be better organized, and most of the information is in the record or transcription system, she says. For ambulatory surgery, which is defined differently from one facility to another and can vary from a two-page record to a 30-page record, productivity can be in the range of 48-54 inpatient records per hour. For diagnostic tests, staff members may have to look into several systems to find the necessary information, so there often is a wide variation in productivity--around 30 per hour, Dunn says.
 
"If you find that you have a strangely different number from your peers, much higher or lower, you should look more at how your systems differ and maybe what the other facility is doing to get that number," she says. "Even if your number is much higher, you would benefit from knowing why you have a greatly increased number of charts. Even if there is no problem, you should know what you're doing right."

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